Sony Xperia M4 Aqua: Style over substance

Overview

First spotted at MWC earlier this year, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is a S$498 mid-range smartphone that looks a bit like a more affordable, plastic version of Sony's new Xperia Z3+ flagship smartphone. In many ways, that's actually pretty accurate. Just like the Z3+, the M4 Aqua boasts a IP68 dust and waterproof build, and at a glance, the two phones actually look remarkably similar, as they both utilize Sony's minimalist OmniBalance design.

That's where the similarities end though. The phone is powered by a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and its 5-inch display is unfortunately has a resolution of just 720p. It also has just 8GB internal storage, although it will support microSD cards up to 128GB in capacity. On the back of the phone, instead of the Z3+'s 20MP shooter, you'll find a 13MP rear camera that’s powered by Sony’s Exmor RS mobile sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.

But with the good looks of the Xperia Z series and an IP68 build that's completely unheard of in this price-range, does the Xperia M4 Aqua provide value-for-money or are you better off saving up for a more expensive smartphone? Let's find out.

Design and handling

One can’t accuse the Xperia M4 Aqua of looking inferior or shoddy despite being a mid-tier smartphone. With a glass front and back, the Xperia M4 Aqua bears more than a passing resemblance to the Xperia Z3+ when viewed at from a distance, although the Xperia M4 Aqua is slightly thicker. The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua comes in three colors: black, white and coral red, so you get to choose instead of being offered just a single color option.

Having the phone in hand revealed that even though the Xperia M4 Aqua’s body is made from polycarbonate (plastic anyone?), it doesn't look or feel cheap and is actually pretty robust. Despite being slightly thicker than the Xperia Z3, the M4 Aqua sits comfortably in the hand. While the side bezels are quite thin, as with the other Xperia phone models, the top and bottom bezels are quite large, which makes the phone look a bit longer than it actually is and also gives the impression of a smaller screen.

Sony's signature round metal power button sits on the middle of the right side of the body, so you won’t have to reach too far to turn the screen on. The volume rocker sits right below the power button, and there’s also a dedicated camera button below the volume rocker. The dedicated camera button makes it easy to get shooting quickly as well as shoot underwater, and it’s nice to see that Sony did not skip on this feature despite the Xperia M4 Aqua being a mid-range model.

We mentioned shooting underwater because as we mentioned, the Xperia M4 Aqua is waterproof. The phone has an IP rating of 68, which means that it's waterproof (in this case constant immersion beyond 1m) as well as being dustproof. The microSD and SIM card slots are all covered to prevent water from entering, and the best part about the Xperia M4 Aqua is that the micro-USB charging port and the headphone port are water resistant without having to keep them covered with flaps.

Display and audio

The 5-inch IPS LCD display has a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels and a pixel density of 293 pixels. It’s not as impressive as top-end models, but it’s still enough to for apps and webpages to look reasonably sharp. Even so, you should take note that there are phones that boast Full HD resolution at lower price points and that works against the Xperia M4 Aqua even though it has a nice design ID and can withstand dirt and water.

As with most Sony displays (including their TV sets), the colors are quite accurate. But the Achilles heel for Sony smartphones still remains; the screen isn’t terribly bright and washes out when you’re outdoors.

Audio on the Xperia M4 Aqua comes from a single speaker located on the phone's bottom, unlike the pricier Xperia Z series which come with stereo speakers. The speakers on the Xperia M4 Aqua are loud enough to be heard from across a small room, though it does unfortunately sound quite tinny at higher volumes. 

User Interface

The good news is that while the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua runs a customized version of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Sony has kept the customization to a minimum. So besides the pre-loaded wallpapers and widgets, there aren't many things that are different from vanilla Android. You can also download themes to change the look of the UI. 

The bad news is that due to the small 8GB internal storage capacity, with all the bloatware that comes pre-loaded with the phone, you don't really have much space left. This essentially forces you to purchase a microSD card to expand your storage. Out of the box you're looking at a measly 1.21GB available for usage.

There are also "Small apps" similar to Samsung's Mini Apps, which launch small apps on your homescreen that look like widgets without having to access the full-fledged app itself. Opening the task manager will reveal a row of them at the bottom of the screen, though you can never disable them. 

Performance Benchmarks

In terms of hardware, like many mid-range smartphones, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, with four cores running at 1.5GHz and the other four running at 1GHz. This is the slower version of the 615, which is also used in the Phicomm P660 and ZTE Blade S6. In comparison, one of the Xperia M4 Aqua's closest competitors, the Xiaomi Mi 4i, uses a faster Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor running at 1.7GHz and four power-saving cores that run at 1.1GHz.



For this review, we will be comparing the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua to the Xiaomi Mi 4i, Xiaomi Redmi 2 as well as the ASUS ZenFone 2.

Sunspider Javascript

SunSpider JavaScript helps measure the browsing performance of a device when processing JavaScript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience.

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua was the worst performer in this benchmark, which was disappointing considering that the Xperia M4 Aqua has 2GB RAM compared to the 1GB of RAM in the Xiaomi Redmi 2 but the Xperia M4 Aqua still fared worse. General web browsing was decent, though we did notice a slight delay when opening new browser tabs and switching between browser tabs.

Quadrant

Quadrant is an Android benchmark that evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics performance. The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua fared reasonably well but fell behind the ASUS ZenFone 2 and the Mi 4i’s second-generation Snapdragon 615 processor.

3DMark (2013)

Originally developed as a PC benchmarking tool, 3DMark is now expanded to support multiple platforms including Android OS. The Ice Storm benchmark is designed for smartphones, mobile devices and ARM architecture computers.

For an in-depth understanding of 3DMark for Android, do head over to our article, "3DMark - Android Device GPU Performance Review." In a nutshell, it is an OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering to run two graphics tests designed to stress the GPU performance of your device and a physics test to stress its CPU performance. The benchmark consists of three test portfolios:- Standard (720p resolution rendering), Extreme (1080p resolution rendering with higher quality textures and post-processing effects) and Unlimited (disabled v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors that make it ideal for chipset comparison).

As all recent flagship smartphones have been maxing out the scores on the Standard and Extreme tests, we will only be looking at the scores for Ice Storm Unlimited.

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua was just behind the Xiaomi Mi 4i in this test, while beating the Xiaomi Redmi 2. Unfortunately the ASUS ZenFone 2 performed far better in this test compared to the other three phones.

Imaging Performance

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua comes with a 13-megapixel camera that's a decent performer, but won't really be impressing anyone with its image quality. Colors were accurate but there was obvious noise and smudging of details, though things aren't so bad when you're shooting with lots of ambient light. 

Battery performance

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua has a 2,400 mAh capacity battery and thus loses out to the Xiaomi Mi 4i's large 3,120 mAh capacity battery. What's surprising is that the Xiaomi Redmi 2, which has a smaller 2,200 mAh capacity battery, actually lasted longer than the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua.

Portability

We measure the portability of a device by calculating its battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua scores pretty well here, with its portability matching that of the Xiaomi Redmi 2, though the Xiaomi Mi 4i's large battery pushes up its score in this test.

Conclusion 

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is one of the better looking mid-range smartphones out there, and its IP68 build is a very interesting feature for this segment. On the other hand, it's a lot more expensive than other mid-range smartphones, and the rest of its specs are fairly average for this category. In fact, its 720p resolution display is worse than a few of the Full HD mid-range smartphones tested in our recent shootout, which means you're paying a large premium just for its waterproof build and attractive design.

For example, compare the M4 Aqua to the Phicomm P660, which has the same processor and camera sensor, and is more compact, lighter, boasts magnesium alloy side panels, and more importantly has a Full HD display. The P660 however costs just S$318. At which point, you have to ask, is the extra S$180 a reasonable price to ask for the M4 Aqua's waterproofing? Unless you have a burning desire to use your phone in the shower or bathtub, or you're frequently dropping your phone in the toilet, probably not. Don't forget, touchscreens don't work very (or at all) under water.

There are other options too, the ASUS ASUS ZenFone 2 (4GB variant) costs $69 less than the M4 Aqua, and comes with a Full HD 5.5-inch display, and a more powerful Intel Atom processor and 4GB RAM that easily beats the M4 Aqua in every performance benchmark test. If you want something even more affordable, the Xiaomi Mi 4i is just $279 and uses a faster version of the M4 Aqua's Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor and has a Full HD display too.

All things considered, the only reason to buy the M4 Aqua is if you really want a Sony Mobile-branded waterproof phone, but the Z3+ is a bit out of your price range. Having said that, considering you can now buy a brand new Sony Xperia Z3 for just $640 or a Z3 Compact for $550, you'd probably be better off paying a little more to get one of those.

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