This is the Sony Xperia M2 review – the successor to one of the best-selling Sony, model Xperia M. Therefore, this model was given the task of repeating that success. To help him, Sony has given this model a great design taken from the Z series model, but without the always practical water resistance, which is certainly a good trump card when coming out in front of customers, but this is still primarily a mid-range device.
Xperia M2 is also looking for a shortcut to customers at a reasonable price. The target category is those who are willing to pay and which euro more to have a great Sony design.
Sony Xperia M2 design
At first glance, the Xperia M2 looks almost identical to the Xperia Z2, which is a big deal in itself. Sony generally takes care of the look of its models, so the potential bestseller Xperia M2 is no exception. The phone as a model has slightly beveled edges and a flat front and back. Of course, the Xperia M2 is smaller in size and lighter than its larger cousins. As expected, the phone in your hands does not leave that strong impression as the magnificent Z2, but it is far from being a cheap phone.
What distinguishes this phone from the premium class is the absence of an aluminum frame on the edges. Instead, Sony used a cheaper, anti-slip tire. Like its Xperia M predecessor, the phone is made of plastic, but which is much better now. The background looks glassy, and that’s what is required.
The Xperia M2 has 139.7 x 71.1 x 8.6 mm and somehow that (with a 4.8-inch screen) seems quite enough for one device to retain the necessary convenience. Of course, far from the Xperia M2 being a small device. We would rather say that it is dark. Another thing is missing here, which would make this phone a higher class device. It is waterproof. However, this also has one advantage, which is reflected in the open MicroUSB port, so access to it is now much easier.
The phone has a built-in speaker on the bottom, which is an unusual and likable solution. Xperia M2 is produced in several colors (black, white, and purple). Also, the dominant figure is the main silver button located in the middle of the right side.
Sony Xperia M2 screen
The 4.8-inch screen comes with a resolution of 960 × 540 pixels, which offers 229 pixels per inch. This tells us that this is not the best screen in its class, but that shouldn’t worry you too much, because the picture is pretty good. The colors on the screen are as strong as expected, as are the viewing angles, so a couple of people can view the content on it without any problems.
The text on the screen looks a little worse than expected. It lacks sharpness, so in this respect the M2 lags far behind the great Z2 model, but also the main and cheaper competitor of Motorola’s Moto G! If it’s any consolation, this is the biggest screen in its class, but that’s exactly the price of poor image quality. Visibility in daylight is quite solid.
Sony Xperia M2 camera
Unlike the new Z-labeled models, the Sony Xperia M2 is unlucky enough to “host” a 20MP camera. Instead, here is a classic 8MP camera. However, even that is enough to be better than the competition, which is still struggling with 5MP. As with similar models, the camera interface has a lot of options and shooting modes. Among them, Superior Auto mode is in the lead, which automatically adjusts the camera for the best possible result, but in a resolution of 5MP.
Photo quality is variable. On a sunny day, the quality is good, with a lot of details. However, if you take photos indoors, noise accumulates, but in essence, they look good, thanks to the post-processing, which largely removes them, although the camera sometimes knows how to overdo it. 1080p video is of acceptable quality, especially if the brightness is good. The front camera is VGA resolution and it is pretty bad, but it can be used for some selfies.
Sony Xperia M2 specification and performance
The phone runs on the Jelly Bean Android operating system, but an upgrade to KitKat has been promised. And without the new software, the Sony Xperia M2 works quite nicely. Smooth operation is provided by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 with a clock speed of 1.2GHz. It is also important here that the phone has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory is not stingy either (8GB) and can be expanded as needed.
Sony didn’t want to overload the phone with a demanding interface, so that may be a good reason why it works very well. There is no downtime. Applications open at normal speed, so that’s okay. The interface looks nice, as do the animations. Sony has, as expected, installed its own applications for music and similar content.
The Xperia M2 uses a 2300mAh battery, which allows for about 14 hours of talk time over a 3G network. If you are an average or moderate user, you can easily count on the whole day with one charge. There is also a special mode that, when the battery reaches a certain level, interrupts all networks in order to save the remaining energy.
Sony Xperia M2 conclusion
The design that the Sony Xperia M2 has is really at a high level. The phone looks more expensive than it really is. And while visually reminiscent of its Xperia Z series cousins, the Sony Xperia M2 offers significantly more modest performance compared to them.
However, the Sony Xperia M2 is intended for a wide range of users, so a solid screen and the same feeling in your hands are quite expected. The absence of KitKat Android can be compensated, but not water resistance. It is difficult to say whether that is enough to make the phone more marketable than many competitors. Many of them offer more, and for less money, and the best example is the Motorola Moto G.