Sony has unveiled a mid-range device to add to its current crop of Android smartphones, the Xperia M.
The Xperia M comes with a lot of the features you would expect in a high-end phone such as a dual-core processor and NFC. However we can’t help but feel a little let down by the lacklustre camera, only 5MP — although we will have to wait and see how it performs in the real world.
We also can’t help but feel disappointed by Sony’s inclusion of Android 4.1, which is almost a year old now, and would have liked to have seen them put 4.2 on here instead. Those of you looking for stock Android will also be sorely disappointed, as the Xperia M comes with Sony’s own custom skin — although it’s made a touch more bearable with the inclusion of many Google apps, such as Maps and Google Chrome.
The 4-inch display included can push out a resolution of 854Ã’480 pixels, which is a long way from HD — but for a device targeted at a lower price point, that’s to be expected. There isn’t much storage either, with only 4GB included, although that will be expandable to 32GB using the MicroSD card slot on the device.
If the design of the Xperia M looks familiar, that’s because it is. Sony has recently been following a new design language called ‘OmniBalance’, which has currently been used on a whole host of recent Sony devices — including the Xperia Z and Xperia L. The design works, although this budget device isn’t quite as slim as it’s more expensive sibling, with it coming in at 9.3mm compared to the Xperia Z’s 7.9mm. On the bottom of the device there is a strip which illuminates when you receive a notification — and what’s more is that you can actually customise the alerts on a per-app basis.
It will also come with Sony’s STAMINA mode, which the company promises will help the phone’s battery go a lot further, touting a 10 hour 18 minute talk time.
When the device launches in Q3 2013, it will launch in two iterations, one with a dual SIM slot and one with the standard single SIM slot. This inclusion of a dual SIM model, makes us think that Sony will be targeting emerging markets. Sony is also planning to release the Xperia M in a variety of colours, including black, purple and white — with the Xperia Mdual coming in an exclusive yellow.