Although Sony's hit a bit of a rut with its smartphones lately. Its new Xperia X failed to live up to expectation, and even the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact before it only provided a very small upgrade over the outgoing Xperia Z3 and its similarly Compact sibling.
Of course, it doesn't help that Sony tends to refresh its smartphone line-up faster than the average length of a British summer, so it often feels like its new handsets aren't really that much better than the old ones.
As a result, the introduction of Xperia M5 have caught people eyes. As you know, Sony does a pretty good job with the latter, as the M5 has a much higher specification than the M4. It has a 5inch, Full HD display, a 21.1-megapixel camera on the rear, and a huge 13-megapixel camera on the front. That's a big upgrade from the M4 Aqua, but at this kind of price, it's also go to compete alongside other £300 phones like the Nexus 5X and Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo.
That's a tough crowd to beat, so the M5 definitely has its work cut out for it. However, from the outside at least, Sony's handset is by far the most attractive one of the lot. With its glossy frame, reinforced corners, and gorgeous frosted rear glass, the M5 is almost the spitting image of the Xperia Z3+, which was one of Sony's 2015 flagship handsets, and the gold version I was sent for review is particularly stunning.
With this kind of build quality, it's a world away from the plastic and faux leather combo of the S5 Neo and even the Nexus 5X's comfy, soft-touch unibody can't hold a candle to it. It's a shame it doesn't come with the same power-button based fingerprint reader as the Z5 and Z5 Compact, instead opting for one of Sony's traditional circular power buttons, but it's not really that surprising when this is still, largely, a mid-range handset.
Battery Life
You'll need to keep tabs on the M5's brightness levels, however, as setting it to 170cd/m2 and playing a video continuously only produced 8h 55m of battery life, which is pitiful compared to the S5 Neo's 16h 27m, and it doesn't compare very well with the Nexus 5X's 10h 14m either. Admittedly, Sony's power-management software is brilliant when it comes to squeezing more out of your phone's 2,600mAh battery, but activating its Ultra Stamina and Low-battery modes do mean you'll have to sacrifice everything but its most basic phone functions.
Specifications
Processor: Octa-core 2.0GHz Mediatek MT6795,
Screen Size: 5in,
Screen resolution: 1,920x1,080,
Rear camera: 21.5 megapixels,
Storage (free): 16GB (10.8GB),
Wireless data: 3G, 4G,
Size: 145x72x7.6mm,
Weight: 143g,
Operating system: Android 5.1.1
Price: £263.98
Click here to order now
 |
 |
No comments: