Key Features : 4.8-inch 960 x 540 pixel screen; Snapdragon 400 CPU
Manufacturer: Sony
Sony Xperia M2 review | First Impressions
Who really needs to spend £500 on a phone?
The Sony Xperia M2 is the cheapest phone in Sony's Android line-up to
offer a look that's pretty high-end. Sony's mid-ranges phones are
pretty popular, and this one offers some pretty significant design
upgrades that – on first impression – make it pretty close in some
surface respects to the Sony Xperia Z2 .
However, this phone costs less than half the price – around £180.
There are a few cut-down specs that mean it's not the bargain a Moto
G is, but some people will be willing to pay the extra for that Sony
style, and the Sony name.
SEE ALSO: Xperia M2 vs Moto G
Sony Xperia M2 – Design
A new design is probably the most important upgrade the Xperia M2
offers over the Sony Xperia M. That older phone is popular, despite
having a fairly ordinary design and spec list.
The original M's plain plastic body has been traded-up for one that
looks more like the Xperia Z2's. It's still largely plastic, but now
there's a sheet of what appears to be glass on the back. It could be
hard plastic, but my usual glass identification trick of tapping it on a
tooth would probably have gained me some unwanted attention from
Sony's staff. We'll look for clarification on this.
It has also adopted Sony's 'Omni-balance' design – the sort of term
that sets off our nonsense radar. What this means in practice is that
the eye-catching power button on the side sits bang in the middle of
the phone. There's not much to it, but I do think the M2 is a solid
aesthetic upgrade over the original Xperia M.
There's a flap on the phone's side that covers the Xperia M2's SIM and
microSD card slots, but unlike the Xperia Z2, this is not a water-
resistant phone. You'll find an exposed microUSB socket on the left
edge, further reducing the symmetry that Omni-balance promises (not
that it matters).
This is a good-looking phone, and a decent impersonation of Sony's
more expensive phones. It doesn't feel as expensive, though. It's
lighter, and in-hand it is fairly clear that the Xperia M2 is made of
plastic rather than metal. It is thicker too, but at 8.6mm it's hardly
chunky.
Flappy? Yes. Waterproof? No
Sony Xperia M2 – Screen
Aside from the loss of waterproofing, the design is pretty good for a
sub-£200 phone. However, there are some clearer compromises in the
screen.
Resolution is the most serious issue. It's a 960 x 540 pixel screen that
is 4.8-inches across. This gives a relatively low pixel density of 229ppi,
and you can tell. Text looks less sharp than it would on a Z2 or – more
importantly – a Motorola Moto G. This is a shame, and it's the one
part of the phone I find genuinely disappointing. Sony boasts about
having the largest-in-class qHD screen in its release materials, but
that's actually a bad thing.
However, the Xperia M2 does seem to benefit from the screen
calibrations improvements Sony has made recently with phones like
the Xperia Z1 Compact. Colours appear nice and vivid without
oversaturation. However, I was looking at the phone under the
unnatural lighting of the MWC 2014 show floor, so won't come to any
conclusions just yet.
In use the phone is also slightly held back by some residual visual
stuffiness in the custom Sony interface – things like the unnecessary
'outlining' of app icons in the apps menu. Sony seems to have cut this
out of the Xperia Z2, so we don't know why it's still here.
Sony Xperia M2 – Camera
If the screen is one area where the Xperia M2 loses out to the Moto
G, the camera should be one where it can win. It has an 8-megapixel
sensor that I'd bet will be of the standard 1/3.2 inch size.
Despite the Exmor RS lens we're not expecting a smartphone camera
star, but it could be able to comfortably outperform many sub-£200
rivals.
Sony Xperia M2 – Other Specs
I've compared the M2 a few times to the Moto G, and they are natural
rivals on some level. However, the M2 does have a bunch of things
missing from Motorola's budget star. You get 4G mobile internet with
this phone, and NFC.
Their processors are the same, though – a quad-core Snapdragon 400.
It's a solid mid-range CPU that will easily be able to handle most high-
end games, especially given the low screen resolution.
First Impressions
It has a few screen limitations, but I expect the Sony Xperia M2 will
sell well on the high street. It has much of the visual snazziness of
Sony's more expensive phones while selling at a fraction of the price.
However, if you're a bargain hunter and don't mind missing out on
4G, the Moto G offers a pretty alluring alternative.

Average camera
Not everyone has the money to
shell out for a top-end handset, and
to be honest even if you do have
the money you might be well
advised to take a look lower down
the scale anyway. As my end of
2013 roundups showed, you can get
some superb mid-range and entry-
level handsets right now.
Sony has recently wowed us with it
top notch Xperia Z1 Compact , but
the company also has its eye on the
important mid-range and entry
level sectors. So, the Xperia M is a
sub-£200 handset that sits in a
pretty crowded part of the market –
and a part of the market that
Motorola has recently made its own
with the Moto G.
Sony has made the Xperia M fit
with its current handset line-up in
design terms, but there have been
clear compromises in build quality
and also in terms of the aesthetics.
So, on the plus side, we have the
tell-tale circular silver on/off button
just above the mid-point on the
right edge. There’s a dedicated
camera button on this edge, too,
which has the usual ability to
launch the camera if you give it a
long press – then it will focus on a
half press and take a shot on a full
press. There’s a volume rocker on
this edge, as well.
There’s also a good quality
backplate with a grippy rubber-feel
finish. Mine was black, though
there are white, purple and yellow
options too. The backplate hugs the
sides of the handset providing
protection there and ensuring a
snug fit and a tough, resilient feel.
Rather than the sides of the handset
continuing the rubbery feel, they’re
given a metal-look finish. It’s a
touch of distinctiveness I rather
like.
There’s a characteristic “thinner in
the middle” styling to the overall
design which helps make the Xperia
M comfy to hold in the hand. Its
relatively small size should increase
its appeal for those with little hands
and pockets.
The Sony Xperia M is tall, though –
far too tall, actually, for its 4in
screen. There’s a fair bit of side
bezel and a huge amount of top
and bottom bezel. I measured
18mm between the top of the screen
and the top of the handset, and a
slightly less but still plentiful 15mm
at the bottom.
Part of that bottom bezel is given
over to a horizontal notification
light. It glows red when you’re
charging the phone, and green
when the charge is complete. You
can specify colour settings for
missed calls and SMS, incoming
calls and SMS, and for alarm
notifications – white, turquoise,
yellow, green, red, blue and purple
lights are available. For some this
will be a welcome spark of
individuality, for others it will be
irritating. The latter group will be
pleased to know that as well as
having all those colour choices you
can select none and just do away
with the feature.
At 4in the screen is pretty small for
a modern handset, and it doesn’t do
justice to websites and video. The
resolution of 854 x 480 pixels does it
no favours and, because it lacks
Sony’s display frills – Triluminos
and X–Reality are absent – it’s a
pretty standard looking screen.
Viewing angles aren’t great. The
Motorola Moto G, which is selling
online for around £140 sim-free as I
write, has a 4.5in 1,280 x 720 pixel
screen. On that basis alone it is a
better buy in my book.
While I am grumbling about the
screen, it is worth pointing out a
couple of other annoyances. A strip
along its bottom edge is used for the
Android touch buttons, so you miss
out on a bit of viewing area. The
keyboard is tiny, and I found
accuracy to be an issue. Viewing
angles aren’t great either and the
keyboard seems rather a long way
under the glass front, as it were – it
looks rather last generation in that
respect.
The camera shoots stills to 5-
megapixels which is really an entry-
level specification these days, and
you’ll only get that if you don’t
mind giving up on wide 16:9
resolution in favour of 4:3. If you
want 16:9 then you’ll get 3-
megapixel snaps. You have to hold
that side button down for a fair
while before the camera app pops
up, but on the plus side there’s an
HDR option with saves the camera
from being a disappointment.
There’s also a VGA front camera on
board.
Sound is delivered through a back-
mounted speaker which goes fairly
loud, but is not of the highest
quality.
The general specifications are also
less than stellar. The processor is
dual-core and runs at 1GHz, and it’s
only got 1GB of RAM in support. To
be fair, it’s not sluggish, but still,
this does seem a bit last generation.
Even worse, Android is way back in
the dark ages at version 4.1.
A big problem with the Sony Xperia
M is its lack of storage space.
There’s just 4GB of memory
installed, but a quick check of my
review sample straight out of the
box showed just 2GB of this was
free. You’ll need a microSD card
pretty quickly – but note that the
card lives in a slot under the
backplate next to the microSIM, so
hotswapping is a bit painful.
Fans of NFC will be pleased to see it
present in such a low cost handset,
but the real silver lining has to be
battery life. I found that it easily
extended past the full day mark. Of
course if you want to game or
watch video for hours on end you’ll
deplete the 1,700 mAh battery
rather more quickly. But still,
Sony’s very useful power
management utility is a winner.
You can select three power options.
One of these lets you leave Wi-Fi off
in the knowledge that it will turn
on automatically when it comes
near a saved Wi-Fi network.
Another lets you specify what the
handset should do when the battery
gets below 30 per cent. Options
include turning off Wi-Fi, vibration,
GPS, Bluetooth, auto-sync and
mobile data, and changing the
screen brightness and time-out
settings. And a third option,
stamina mode, lets you specify
which apps will remain active when
the battery gets low.
You get the usual gamut of Sony
add-on apps which will please fans
of the company’s ecosystem, though
as already noted these and a few
additional extra apps are
responsible for eating into the fairly
slim storage capacity of the phone.
Verdict
This handset is clearly a budget
effort, and while it does have a few
pleasing features there’s not enough
of the good stuff present to warrant
any kind of strong
recommendation. Like every other
maker sniffing around the £150 to
£200 mark, the Moto G looms large
as a key rival, and quite simply,
unless you are a diehard Sony fan,
you should be looking at the Moto
smartphone rather than this one.
Specifications
Network 3G
Processor 1GHz dual-core
Qualcomm
Ram 1GB
Memory 4GB
Memory expansion microSD
Display 4in, 854 x 480 pixels
Main camera 5 megapixel
Front camera VGA
NFC Yes
Wi-Fi Yes
GPS Yes
FM radio Yes
Battery 1,700mAh
Size 62 x 9.3 x 124 (WxDxH)
Weight 115g
OS Android 4.1

The Xperia Z is the jewel in the
Sony smartphone crown at the
moment, but there are some
interesting things happening
further down the scale, like the
Xperia L, which combines style
and capability for around half
the price.
It's on sale now for around £229.
As you can guess from the price,
the Xperia L lacks the HD screen,
quad-core processor, 4G
connectivity and waterproofing
of the Xperia Z , but it does have
a few items in its favour.
Design
It's a good-looking handset, with
Sony's dynamic curve design that
gives it a distinctive arcing
shape. It's not especially slim at
10mm but that curve makes it
seem thinner than it is. Top and
bottom have an unusual looking
slant to them too, which shows
off the metallic strip that runs all
the way around the handset. At
the bottom there's also a rather
attractive LED effect that pulses
when you receive alerts.
Sony Xperia L Sony
On paper, the 4.3-inch
touchscreen sounds like a step
too far down towards budget
level, with a resolution of
854x480 pixels -- well below the
Xperia Z's full HD 1,920x1,080. At
228ppi it has roughly half the
pixel density of the Xperia Z, and
even behind some midprice
rivals like the Google Nexus 4
(320ppi). But while it's perhaps
lacking a bit in detail, it still
manages to deliver rich and
vibrant colours with good
contrast that show off movies to
good effect.
Android, software and
processor
It's running Android 4.1.2 Jelly
Bean which is a perfectly fine
operating system, but one that's
now starting to look a bit old,
especially with version 4.3
already starting to appear. Still,
the age isn't immediately obvious
since Sony has updated its user
interface and you can now
arrange the icons on the various
screens in different ways --
alphabetical, most used or your
own custom arrangement.
The dual-core processor is backed
by 1GB RAM which is pretty
much the least we'd expect on a
phone of this price these days. It
does a decent if unspectacular job
of keeping all its various
processing balls in the air,
though it did start to lag just a
little with a handful of apps
running at the same time. In our
AnTuTu benchmark test it
managed 10,918 -- not bad, but
noticeably behind Samsung's
recent S4 dual-core devices like
the S4 Mini and S4 Zoom.
Sony Xperia L test photo Dave Oliver
Photography
The 8-megapixel camera includes
an LED flash, autofocus and
Sony's Exmor RS sensor for
better capability in low light. It
starts up very quickly and you
can get it going even quicker
with the Quick Launch mode,
which takes a snap or starts the
video running as soon as you
switch on. Other features to play
with include HDR, panorama
mode, image stabilisation and
calibrated smile detection (you
can set it to detect different levels
of smile). Picture quality is pretty
good overall, with nice sharp
edges and accurate colour
balance.
There's 8GB of memory on board,
though you can bump that up by
a further 32GB via microSD card
-- not for apps though, just pics,
vids and music. The battery held
up reasonably well too, giving us
around a day and a half of
steady use.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia L is far from the
cutting edge of smartphone
development, but it's a good
looking, solidly built low to
midrange device with a decent
screen and a pretty good camera.
The processor is a little lacking,
and it's a shame it's not running
the latest version of Android but
it's a solidly capable handset for
the money.

Design and Features
Unsurprisingly, where the Xperia U feels most budget is in its design
and build, but not in the way you’d expect. Its combination of a matt
white unibody chassis and glass screen is as classy as most premium
handsets, while the clear plastic strip that runs below the screen is a
nice touch, just as it is on the rest of the Xperia lineup.
No, where the budget leaning is most obvious is the size of the thing.
Although the screen is technically the same 3.5in diagonal as that of
the iPhone, it’s considerably narrower and all told the phone looks and
feels small. What doesn’t help is the thick bezel that makes the display
look even smaller than it is.
Otherwise, there are just a few subtleties that further take the edge
off, such as the thick black trim round the screen’s edge and the
rather obvious gaping hole for the front facing camera, but neither of
these are close to being deal breakers.
What’s more that smaller size makes this a superbly easy handset to
handle. It weighs just 110g and with dimensions of 112 x 54 x 12mm
it’s an easy fit in the hand. As with the rest of the current Xperia line,
those stylishly squared corners do dig into the hand a little but not
enough to really worry.
One point to note is that the matt finish of this white version does pick
up dirt quite easily, which is something to be aware of if you’re a
regular newspaper reader.
That removable end cap simply pulls off and alternates slide on. There
was a spare yellow one in the box of our review sample which we tried
and then promptly ditched – we weren’t all that impressed with the
combination. You can also get a black version of the phone that comes
with an alternative pink end cap. Gimmick? Yeah, pretty much.
Adding to the overall ease of use are a great selection of buttons and
other features. Below the screen are three nicely responsive touch-
sensitive buttons for navigating the main interface while the right edge
is home to the three other main controls, the power, volume and
camera shutter buttons.
The power button isn’t quite so easy to reach in left-handed use but
for right-handers it falls perfectly under your thumb making for easy
one-handed use. Likewise the volume rocker is easy to reach, and the
shutter button is great for controlling trickier shots – hold it down and
it’ll jump straight to the camera even when the phone is locked too.
Up top is a headphone jack while on the left edge is a microUSB
socket for charging and hooking up to a computer to transfer files.
There isn’t, however, a microHDMI socket for hooking the phone
straight up to a TV.
You can remove the backplate to access the 1290mAh battery and
(normal size) SIM slot but there’s no microSD slot for expanding upon
the 8GB of built in storage. This latter point could be the deal breaker
for many as in fact only about 4GB of this is user accessible. This will
mean regularly having to remove and backup images captured on the
camera to make room for more, swap in and out different music
depending on your mood and possibly even having to uninstall some
apps to make room for others.

After years of extensive testing, I have determined the perfect screen size for watching YouTube videos in bed. It's just over 5 inches. Anything larger and you have to hold the device too far from that ideal chest-perching point, anything smaller and you might as well not bother. Obligingly, Sony has released a new phone designed specifically for my needs. The Xperia Z2 has a 5.2-inch screen, a fast processor, a long-lasting battery, and front-facing stereo speakers. That is, of course, hardly unique in the highly specced world of Android smartphones, and Sony itself will sell you a 10-inch version with the Z2 Tablet — should your screen-size needs be bigger than mine. So why should I make the Z2 my new go-to device for kicking back with Dota 2 VODs? And can a 10-inch Android tablet finally match the usability of smaller devices? The challenge that Sony is tackling with its new products is twofold: it wants to close one gap, that between smartphone and tablet, while opening up another, between its own hardware and the plethora of alternatives you can buy today. Looking good, under the right light Sony starts its quest to be the best with the most important component on any device: the display. Muted and lifeless LCDs were a chronic weakness of the company’s previous Xperia devices, so the new Live Color LED screens on the Z2 and Z2 Tablet make for an incredibly gratifying upgrade. Colors stay true and vibrant, contrast is strong enough to make blacks appear truly black, and viewing angles are almost (but not quite) as good as on the excellent HTC One and iPhone 5S. At long last, the flagship Sony smartphone can stand alongside its direct competitors. Still, even with the widest color gamut of any mobile device and 1080p resolution, Sony’s new IPS screens only bring it up to the same level as the rest — they are not tangibly better than the industry’s standard setters. And in one important respect, they are markedly worse. AWESOME IN THE BEDROOM, BUT A LIABILITY OUTDOORS Take the Z2 outside and you’ll be confronted by its biggest shortcoming: it’s practically unusable on a sunny day. Even with brightness maxed out, half of my sample photos for this review were composed through guesswork due to the screen being too dim and reflective to provide any useful information outdoors. This vampiric aversion to sunlight is somewhat forgivable on the Z2 Tablet — which is less likely to be used on the move — but is basically a deal- breaker on the Z2. While I appreciate everything Sony has done to make my YouTube experience better, a mobile phone is meant to be mobile. I should be able to see who's calling me even if I'm not in a dark room. Is this the new one? Coming just six months after the Xperia Z1, the Z2 can be easily confused for its predecessor. Its screen is larger at 5.2 inches instead of 5 and it now has a second front speaker, but those changes have been accommodated by a reduction in the bezel. You’re basically looking at the same device. Glass covers both the front and the back, a single-piece aluminum frame provides rigidity, and waterproofing flaps cover up the microSD and USB ports. WITHOUT A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN DESIGN, THE XPERIA Z2 CARRIES OVER BOTH THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE Z1 It's still awkwardly large and lacks the ergonomically curved back of something like the HTC One. The uncompromisingly blocky shape that Sony prefers for its phones is attractive and masculine, but it doesn’t make for a comfortable feel in the hand. Then again, now that the One and Samsung's Galaxy S5 have both grown in size — to the detriment of their own usability — Sony is essentially moving forward by just standing still. The Xperia Z2 occupies the middle ground between the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S5, with the front-facing stereo speakers and premium materials of the former and the water resistance and hardiness of the latter. In fact, Sony’s phone is certified to the higher IP58 standard, making it waterproof rather than just splash-proof (and no, you still can’t use the touchscreen underwater). From among the three phones, the Z2 is the one I'd trust to last longest and look best after a few months of intensive use. The glass back may pick up a few scratches over that time, but those tend to be imperceptible and Sony’s OmniBalance design has now proven its durability over multiple generations. The Z2’s angular shape actually works much better on the larger Z2 Tablet, which isn’t meant to nestle into the palm in the same way. I also prefer the tablet’s soft-touch plastic back to the colder feel of the phone’s glass. What’s truly noteworthy about the Z2 Tablet, however, is how astonishingly thin and light it is. At 6.4 millimeters, it’s nearly 15 percent thinner than the iPad Air and it weighs a tiny bit less too. Everything that's good about the Air's ergonomics — the casual ease of use that comes from an aggressively svelte device — is present in Sony's Z2 Tablet. You can pick it up by just one corner, hold it up for long periods of time without fatiguing, and use it in most of the same ways you would a much smaller device. One- handed operation may still be unfeasible, but the Z2 Tablet crosses that intangible threshold where its larger screen size no longer demands a compromise in ergonomics. With a set of front-facing speakers and the same waterproof protection as the Z2, The Z2 Tablet also adds some things that Apple's tablet can't offer. Devices like the Nexus 7, Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX, and even Nokia's underrated Lumia 2520 offer a diversity of choice, but in terms of pure industrial design, the Z2 Tablet is the best one so far. LOOKING GOOD HAS NEVER BEEN DIFFICULT FOR SONY Not since the current MacBook Air design was introduced in 2010 have I felt this disarmed of ammunition for criticism. Sure, you can quibble about the USB port being covered up and the large screen bezel (about the same size as on a 27-inch iMac), but Sony has gotten almost everything right here. Like a racing car engineered for pure speed, the Z2 Tablet is stripped down to its barest essentials, and instead of feeling like a compromise, that approach actually makes for much greater comfort and usability. The literal burden of technology has been reduced to the point where it really is just the user and the user experience. Aside from their differing cameras and batteries, the Z2 and Z2 Tablet share a common hardware platform. There's a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, and of course Sony's favorite neglected wireless standard, NFC. That basic spec sheet is becoming the norm this year and doesn't materially improve on what the Z1 (or the dramatically cheaper Nexus 5, for that matter) offered months ago. A quad-core smartphone with a 1080p display no longer sells itself; now it's just a good foundation on which to try and build a compelling experience. MORE POWER THAN YOU'LL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH Sony's hardware engineering team still makes an effort to set itself apart with a pair of improvements. The switch to stereo speakers really pays off on the Z2, and moving them from the side to the front is equally advantageous on the Z2 Tablet. HTC's One handsets are still far in the lead in terms of smartphone audio, but the Z2 also produces very good, natural sound. Call quality is similarly high, underlining Sony's consistency with getting the fundamentals right. The other highlight is the battery capacity. The Z2 Tablet retains the same size battery as on its predecessor Tablet Z, but fits it into a smaller device that actually lasts longer. Scoring 10 hours and 39 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, the Z2 Tablet reaches the same heights of endurance as the iPad Air. The Xperia Z2 is also among the leaders in its category, with a time of eight hours and six minutes (before the 10 percent battery warning kicked in) ranking just behind the LG G2 and Sony's own Z1 Compact. The Z2 will chew through YouTube streams and 4K video recording without jeopardizing your chances of getting through the day on a single charge. More casual use could easily stretch into two days and beyond, and Sony's Stamina mode can extend that even further. Don't look too closely Other than Nokia, Sony is the only major phone maker to tread beyond the 20 megapixel mark with its cameras. The 20.7-megapixel sensor from the Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact returns in the Z2, reprising its role at the heart of a uniquely frustrating camera system. It's physically large, at 1/2.3 inch, and thus capable of capturing photos most other phones aren't, but Sony's software still handicaps it severely. Focusing is neither particularly fast nor accurate, leaving pictures looking a touch soft. Sony's Bionz image processing doesn't help matters, as it adds artificial saturation and edge sharpening while blurring areas of consistent color to disguise image noise. As with the Z1 Compact, I felt compelled to try the Z2 with a different camera app — downloading the recently released Google Camera from the Play Store — but that only seems to affect the focus and shutter speed. You'll still get the same unnatural- looking results. I wouldn't mind if the Z2's camera was simply bad. The problem is that every time I'm ready to give up on it, it sneaks up on me and takes a stunning, perfectly balanced shot. It's the Ben Gordon of smartphone cameras. Sony's biggest changes come on the video front, where the Z2 adds 4K recording at 30fps, new SteadyShot stabilization, and a slow- motion mode when shooting in 720p. 4K video shot with the Xperia Z2 takes up roughly 400MB per minute, meaning a half hour's footage will take up 12GB of storage. The Z2 processes video in the same way it does images, too, so you'll still find unpleasant blotches of color in low-contrast areas of the frame. Focus also tends to hunt around when shooting moving subjects, so even though it's fast, it can sometimes ruin an otherwise good video.