Sony Xperia M2 Review
Key Features:
- 8 Megapixel rear camera
- Full HD 1080p Video Recording
- 4x digital zoom
- 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8926 Quad Core
- 4.8-inch 960 x 540 pixel screen
- 4G LTE
- microSD up to 32GB
- 8GB built-in memory
- Non-removable Li-Ion 2300mAh battery
Sony Xperia M2 HenyoPinoy Review
I have been using this as my main phone for more than 5 months now. In this review, I will focus not only the features of the phone but also the problems you might encounter on the long run.
Camera
Sony Xperia M2 features 8 Megapixels rear camera with autofocus and Led flash. It has HDR, Geotagging and panorama features. It also features touch to focus and face detection. The color rendition is good, not very saturated. But when you zoomed in, you can see that image is too grainy even at good lights. Over sharpening is also obvious when you look closer. Resolution adjustment is only available on manual mode. On Auto mode, the resolution is automatically set to the highest setting.
Sample image:
The picture it produces are good. But at 100% crop you can see its shortcomings. The picture is grainy and strong amount of sharpening is applied.
100% crop
at 100% crop, you can easily sea the poor details of its camera.
Display
It has 4.8″ 960 x 540 pixel qHD display which is not the best resolution you in the market. It has automatic brightness control but the implementation is not good at dim light. I often find myself manually adjusting the brightness when I am in a dark place because it is too bright for my taste. The display is clear at any viewing angle. Watching HD movies is smooth and clear.
Music player
The music sometimes lag specially when using Facebook at the same time. The headset quality is good but not the best. If you are looking for more bass sound, better buy a separate headphone. You can’t edit the title of the music using the built in music player.
Battery Life
It has non-removable Li-Ion 2300 mAh battery which is good compared to its competitors. For longer battery life, you can activate Stamina Mode. This automatically disables any data transmission and reception when phone is locked. However you can still receive text and calls during phone is in stamina mode. Downloading will be completed before disabling data. With stamina mode, your battery can last up to 1.5 days with heavy usage. For light use, it can last for 4-5 days maybe.
Design Issues -> Hardware
- Power/Lock Button – after 4 months of using, the Power/Lock Button become hard to press. I needed big effort pressing lock button. I suspect that it started when I used it with my hands little bit wet. Maybe small amount of water penetrated the button then eventually corrode the contacts. After several weeks of using it with this kind of issue, the button got damage because of too much pressures applied on the button. Thankfully Sony replaced the buttons and chassis(also damaged because of pressing too much on the button) without any questions.
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Headset – I am a heavy user of the headset because I love music. I am using it for at least 2hrs per day. After 3 months of using, I noticed that the rubber around the earpiece is starting the expand.
- The 3.5mm jack cover also starts to become loose and eventually disintegrates.
Take note that my headset is still working smoothly despite of these issues. - Charger – I have not yet encountered any problem on the charger. But my concern is that the wire on the charger is too thick and hard. My experience on this kind of charger is that the charging port may get damaged.
- Memory – it has only 8Gb of internal memory. The only problem is that you can’t transfer the appps on the sd card. So if you many big applications then you might run out of memory.
Design Issues -> Software
- Music Player – the music lags sometimes.
- Camera shortcut on locked screen – You can still use the camera even when screen is locked. Just by sliding the camera icon on the screen. It annoys me as sometimes I accidentally open the camera when phone is on my pocket.