**Qualcomm's Mid-Range Octa-Core 64-Bit Snapdragon 615 Powers the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua**
The phone is powered by Qualcomm's mid-range octacore 64-bit Snapdragon 615 with four cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and the other four cores clocked at 1 GHz. It's not as fast as flagship devices, but it's certainly more than usable. One area of concern is the device's heat output - it's not as bad as the Snapdragon 815, but the M4 Aqua gets very hot when doing simple tasks like using the camera or downloading apps. Luckily, the processor does slow down significantly before overheating, but it still indicates a problem that Qualcomm has kind of just swept under the rug.
**Gaming Performance and Audio**
The Dro 405 GPU handled gaming well, and I didn't run into any issues with the exception of a surprisingly warm phone. In addition to supporting cellular networks, the M4 Aqua also works with GPS, 802.11n Wi-Fi, DLNA, and Bluetooth 4.1. Carrier compatibility varies from each model, so be sure to check the frequency bands before purchasing. Unfortunately, the device lacks front-facing speakers, with only side-firing audio. The bottom grill is just a microphone, and the top grill is only used as an earpiece.
**Camera Performance**
The 13-megapixel camera, which I'm assuming is a Sony sensor, took some nice-looking images. It's a capable camera, but I did notice that some images lacked punchiness. Pictures were quite sharp and detailed, however, with the camera app featuring several modes, one being manual, which allows you to select the scene or adjust white balance. Sony also offers additional camera modes, available for download.
**Battery Life**
Sony claims that the M4 Aqua's 2400mAh battery will last 2 days, but that's not what I found in my testing. When I ran my daily usage test, the phone lasted from about 7:00 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. with just over 2 and 1/2 hours of screen on time. I kept the phone in standby for most of the day until in the evening when I started to watch YouTube videos and scroll through Twitter.
**Software**
The software on the Sony M4 Aqua is a slightly skinned version of Android 5.0 Lollipop, with some great features like the ability to customize quick toggles, record a video of the screen (something that usually requires rooting), and a small apps menu. The UI for the small apps does feel a tad unpolished, however, and the phone ships with some bloatware - for example, the hamburger icon in the app drawer is poorly placed and can sometimes get in the way when swiping right.
**Storage and Price**
The M4 Aqua is available in Black, White, or Pink, with 8 or 16 GB of storage. The 8 GB model only has less than 1 1/2 GB of usable storage out of the box, so it's recommended to opt for the 16 GB model if you plan on buying this phone. The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is available in the US, but not officially, and can be purchased from third-party resellers for around $350.
**Conclusion**
The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is a tough sell, despite having a good display, capable camera, and water resistance. There are just too many compromises that prevent me from recommending it - the design is inconsistent, the processor has heating issues, and the battery life isn't as good as Sony claims. While those compromises may have been acceptable 2 years or even a year ago, the competition today is much bolder with options like the Asus Zen Phone 2 and ELAT Tel OneTouch IDLE 3. The M4 Aqua is not only mediocre at best but also overpriced.
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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit seems that each smartphone has a key selling point whether it be price camera battery life or in this case water resistance when smartphone producers choose to focus on a single element of the overall experience other Corners can be consequently cut the Sony Experia M4 Aqua focuses on being waterproof but how well does it perform overall this is Bailey Stein with Android authority and this is my full review of the Sony Xperia M4 aqua the M4 Aqua design is very similar to those of other Sony smartphones and that shouldn't come as a surprise Sony Smartphone iterations are largely incremental when it comes to design and the M4 Aqua is no exception the two glass panels certainly look nice although both are fingerprint magnets the device's plastic frame is kind of disconcerting and to me feels out of place when combined with the glass construction the mix of Premium feeling glass and cheap deer feeling plastic is unsettling and makes the phone feel awkward in the hand the circular power button is positioned nicely although the volume buttons and sim door flap leave little room to rest your thumb on the side of the phone the amount of ports camera button speaker Grill and separate Sim and micro SD card flaps all placed on the frame is overwhelming there's a lot going on for a single frame and it's honestly kind of off-putting and takes away from the minimalism established with the glass panels on the positive side of things the phone is pretty thin and light at 7.3 mm and 136 G the 2400 mAh battery is not user replaceable and there is a notification LED to the left of the Sony branding on the front of the device in addition to that there's also a 5 megapixel front facing camera of course the M4 Aqua is waterproof with ip65 and ip68 certification Sony says that the phone should not be underwater for more than 30 minutes nor should it be under a depth of 1 and 1/2 M the physical camera button also enables underwater pictures since you can't really use the touchscreen when it's exposed to water as long as you follow the instructions you can expose the phone to water without having to worry about damaging it the 5-in 720p display looks good with great viewing angles it is noticeably warm however and colors just aren't as Vivid as they are on other devices in the same price category overall the display is good but not great day-to-day performance on the M4 Aqua was was pretty good and the 2 GB of RAM was enough to run more than a couple of apps at once the phone is powered by qualcomm's mid-range octacore 64-bit Snapdragon 615 with four cores clacked at 1.5 GHz and the other four cores clacked at 1 GHz it's not as fast as Flagship devices but it's certainly more than usable one area of concern is the devic's heat output it's not as bad as the Snapdragon 815 but the M4 Aqua gets very hot when doing Simple tasks like using the camera or downloading apps luckily the processor does slow down significantly before overheating but it still indicates a problem that Qualcomm has kind of just swept under the rug the dro 405 GPU handled gaming well and I didn't run into any issues with the exception of a surprisingly warm phone in addition to supporting cellular networks the M4 Aqua also works with GPS 802 11n Wi-Fi DLNA and Bluetooth 4.1 carrier compatibility varies from each model so be sure to check the frequency bands before purchasing for example my model only supports up to HSPA Plus on AT&T although I was hoping for front-facing speakers given the devices dual front grills the M4 Aqua has sidef firing audio it turns out that the Bottom Grill is just a microphone and the top grill is only used as an earpiece the audio output on the M4 ACA is okay but the volume is on the quieter side and it just sounds tinty and distorted Foods otherwise called partially hydrogenated oils on labels trans fats are used by companies because they give food a longer shelf life enhance texture and stay solid at room temperature the 13 megapixel camera which I'm assuming is a Sony sensor took some Nic looking images it's a capable camera but I did notice that some images lacked punchiness the pictures were quite sharp and detailed however the camera app has a few modes one being manual which allows you to select the scene or adjust white B balance Sony does offer additional camera modes which are available for download Sony claims that the M4 aqua's 2400 mamp battery will last 2 days but that's not what I found in my testing when I ran my daily usage test the phone lasted from about 7:00 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. with just over 2 and 1/2 hours of screen on time I kept the phone in standby for most of the day until in the evening when I started to watch YouTube videos and scroll through Twitter there are a few power saving modes in the settings which you'll likely end up using to extend the phone's battery life the software on the Sony M4 Aqua is a slightly skinned version of Android 5.0 Lollipop there are some great things about it like the ability to customize the quick toggles record a video of the screen something that usually requires rooting and a small apps menu the UI for the small apps does feel a tad unpolished for some reason but the functionality can definitely be useful on the downside the default launcher does have a few issues and the phone does ship with some bloatware for example the hamburger icon in the app drawer is poorly placed it can sometimes get in the way when swiping right which is incredibly annoying and frustrating another negative point is the amount of blow wear on the M4 Aqua AA stocks AVG protection and news from social life are only a few of the many mostly useless pre-installed apps luckily most of them can be uninstalled the Sony M4 Aqua is available in Black white or pink with 8 or 16 GB of storage the 8 GB model only has less than 1 1/2 GB of usable storage out of the box so you should really opt for the 16 GB model if you plan on buying this phone although the phone isn't officially available within the US just yet it can be purchased for around 350 from thirdparty resellers for that price the Sony xeria M4 Aqua is a tough sell while it does have a good display capable camera and water resistance there's just too much about the M4 Aqua that prevents me from recommending it the design is inconsistent the processor has heating issues and the battery life just isn't as good as Sony claims and while those compromises may have been acceptable 2 years or even a year ago the competition today is much Bolder with options like the Asus Zen phone 2 and elcat Tel OneTouch idle 3 the M4 Aqua is not only mediocre at best but also overpriced thank you for watching this video and please make sure to give it a thumbs up below if you found it helpful or informative also please make sure to subscribe to the channel if you'd like to see more content and feel free to leave a comment below finally be sure to visit the Android Authority website for additional coverage as we are your source for all things Androidit seems that each smartphone has a key selling point whether it be price camera battery life or in this case water resistance when smartphone producers choose to focus on a single element of the overall experience other Corners can be consequently cut the Sony Experia M4 Aqua focuses on being waterproof but how well does it perform overall this is Bailey Stein with Android authority and this is my full review of the Sony Xperia M4 aqua the M4 Aqua design is very similar to those of other Sony smartphones and that shouldn't come as a surprise Sony Smartphone iterations are largely incremental when it comes to design and the M4 Aqua is no exception the two glass panels certainly look nice although both are fingerprint magnets the device's plastic frame is kind of disconcerting and to me feels out of place when combined with the glass construction the mix of Premium feeling glass and cheap deer feeling plastic is unsettling and makes the phone feel awkward in the hand the circular power button is positioned nicely although the volume buttons and sim door flap leave little room to rest your thumb on the side of the phone the amount of ports camera button speaker Grill and separate Sim and micro SD card flaps all placed on the frame is overwhelming there's a lot going on for a single frame and it's honestly kind of off-putting and takes away from the minimalism established with the glass panels on the positive side of things the phone is pretty thin and light at 7.3 mm and 136 G the 2400 mAh battery is not user replaceable and there is a notification LED to the left of the Sony branding on the front of the device in addition to that there's also a 5 megapixel front facing camera of course the M4 Aqua is waterproof with ip65 and ip68 certification Sony says that the phone should not be underwater for more than 30 minutes nor should it be under a depth of 1 and 1/2 M the physical camera button also enables underwater pictures since you can't really use the touchscreen when it's exposed to water as long as you follow the instructions you can expose the phone to water without having to worry about damaging it the 5-in 720p display looks good with great viewing angles it is noticeably warm however and colors just aren't as Vivid as they are on other devices in the same price category overall the display is good but not great day-to-day performance on the M4 Aqua was was pretty good and the 2 GB of RAM was enough to run more than a couple of apps at once the phone is powered by qualcomm's mid-range octacore 64-bit Snapdragon 615 with four cores clacked at 1.5 GHz and the other four cores clacked at 1 GHz it's not as fast as Flagship devices but it's certainly more than usable one area of concern is the devic's heat output it's not as bad as the Snapdragon 815 but the M4 Aqua gets very hot when doing Simple tasks like using the camera or downloading apps luckily the processor does slow down significantly before overheating but it still indicates a problem that Qualcomm has kind of just swept under the rug the dro 405 GPU handled gaming well and I didn't run into any issues with the exception of a surprisingly warm phone in addition to supporting cellular networks the M4 Aqua also works with GPS 802 11n Wi-Fi DLNA and Bluetooth 4.1 carrier compatibility varies from each model so be sure to check the frequency bands before purchasing for example my model only supports up to HSPA Plus on AT&T although I was hoping for front-facing speakers given the devices dual front grills the M4 Aqua has sidef firing audio it turns out that the Bottom Grill is just a microphone and the top grill is only used as an earpiece the audio output on the M4 ACA is okay but the volume is on the quieter side and it just sounds tinty and distorted Foods otherwise called partially hydrogenated oils on labels trans fats are used by companies because they give food a longer shelf life enhance texture and stay solid at room temperature the 13 megapixel camera which I'm assuming is a Sony sensor took some Nic looking images it's a capable camera but I did notice that some images lacked punchiness the pictures were quite sharp and detailed however the camera app has a few modes one being manual which allows you to select the scene or adjust white B balance Sony does offer additional camera modes which are available for download Sony claims that the M4 aqua's 2400 mamp battery will last 2 days but that's not what I found in my testing when I ran my daily usage test the phone lasted from about 7:00 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. with just over 2 and 1/2 hours of screen on time I kept the phone in standby for most of the day until in the evening when I started to watch YouTube videos and scroll through Twitter there are a few power saving modes in the settings which you'll likely end up using to extend the phone's battery life the software on the Sony M4 Aqua is a slightly skinned version of Android 5.0 Lollipop there are some great things about it like the ability to customize the quick toggles record a video of the screen something that usually requires rooting and a small apps menu the UI for the small apps does feel a tad unpolished for some reason but the functionality can definitely be useful on the downside the default launcher does have a few issues and the phone does ship with some bloatware for example the hamburger icon in the app drawer is poorly placed it can sometimes get in the way when swiping right which is incredibly annoying and frustrating another negative point is the amount of blow wear on the M4 Aqua AA stocks AVG protection and news from social life are only a few of the many mostly useless pre-installed apps luckily most of them can be uninstalled the Sony M4 Aqua is available in Black white or pink with 8 or 16 GB of storage the 8 GB model only has less than 1 1/2 GB of usable storage out of the box so you should really opt for the 16 GB model if you plan on buying this phone although the phone isn't officially available within the US just yet it can be purchased for around 350 from thirdparty resellers for that price the Sony xeria M4 Aqua is a tough sell while it does have a good display capable camera and water resistance there's just too much about the M4 Aqua that prevents me from recommending it the design is inconsistent the processor has heating issues and the battery life just isn't as good as Sony claims and while those compromises may have been acceptable 2 years or even a year ago the competition today is much Bolder with options like the Asus Zen phone 2 and elcat Tel OneTouch idle 3 the M4 Aqua is not only mediocre at best but also overpriced thank you for watching this video and please make sure to give it a thumbs up below if you found it helpful or informative also please make sure to subscribe to the channel if you'd like to see more content and feel free to leave a comment below finally be sure to visit the Android Authority website for additional coverage as we are your source for all things Android\n"
