The successor to Xperia E3 drops LTE support in favor of a slightly larger display and more internal memory

May 24, 2015 22:12 GMT  ·  By

Sony continues to launch budget-friendly smartphones to some mildly success, especially in emerging markets like India. The company's Xperia E lineup comprises cheap Android smartphones that offer decent enough features.

Obviously, the low price requires some trade-offs, meaning that consumers will have to give up some specs in order to benefit from a cheap solution.

The Xperia E4 drops LTE support that its successor Xperia E3 includes, in favor of a larger 5-inch display. The trade-off might not be worthy for some since the Xperia E4's screen has low resolution.

That's probably one of the reasons that Sony launched a 4G variant of Xperia E4, so customers can choose to take advantage of LTE support but for a slightly higher price.

In fact, Sony launched four Xperia E4 models because some of them have been specifically tailored for emerging markets. For example, the Xperia E4 Dual is available for purchase in India and a few other countries, but it hasn't been rolled out globally.

Speaking of price, Sony Xperia E4 can be had for around €130 ($145), while the 4G version costs no more than €155 ($170) outright.

Design

The Xperia E4 is not the most attractive Sony smartphone launched in the last couple of years. Its thick body and cheap plastic doesn't really make it stand out from other devices in the same price range.

The back cover seems sturdy enough, but I'm not sure whether or not it will become wobbly after longer use. Sony Xperia E4 measures 137 x 74.6 x 10.5 mm and weighs around 144g (battery included).

One thing that differentiates the Xperia E3 and E4 are the rounded corners of the latter in comparison with the former's.

The bezels seem to be slightly smaller for the Xperia E4, but not by much. Overall, I believe Xperia E4's look and feel is a step forward for the E series, even though the size doesn't really advantages it over other smartphones in the same price range.

The Xperia E4 has a front-facing camera to the left of the Sony logo, above the display. There's also a lock on/off button and the volume key on the right side of the phone, both within the reach of your fingers.

The left side of the handset features a small microUSB port, while 3.5mm audio jack has been placed on top side. On the back, there's a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. In order to reveal the microSD and SIM card slots, you will need to remove the back cover.

Sony Xperia E4 (right side)
Sony Xperia E4 (right side)
However, the battery can't be pulled, so you can insert memory cards without having to power off your smartphone. Unfortunately, the back cover doesn't seem to mold too well on the phone's chassis and looks more like a bumper case rather than a solid part of the phone.

Otherwise, the Xperia E4 seems pretty sturdy when held in hand and there are no apparent faults into its build.

Display and camera are a mixed bag

One of the improvements the Xperia E4 brings over its predecessor is the larger display. While the Xperia E3 sports a 4.5-inch display, Sony Xperia E4 comes with a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution.

The phone's display has 220ppi (pixel per inch), but neither this nor the low resolution is disappointing. The thing that does seem to ruin the overall experience is the plastic screen coating, which is way too reflective.

The images don't look that clear on the screen in comparison with other smartphones in the same spec range. Another downside would be the fact that Xperia E's sunlight legibility is very low, which makes it uncomfortable to use while outdoors.

Moving on to camera, it's worth mentioning that Xperia E4 isn't meant to offer the best features possible. Still, that doesn't mean it comes with the worse camera on the market.

The 5-megapixel camera on the back, features LED flash, autofocus and full HD (1080p) video recording, and it can shoot pictures with maximum resolutions of 2560 x 1920 pixels.

The camera interface is similar to that of Xperia smartphones, but with the few missing features that are only included in high-end devices.

The volume button on the right side of the phone can be set to be used as dedicated camera button, which makes it easier to capture pictures.

Xperia E4 has some nice camera features like HDR, Panorama, Superior Auto shooting mode, Augmented Reality effects, as well as a Social streaming mode that can stream video directly to your Facebook page.

When it comes to quality, Xperia E4's camera shots quite decent pictures, but at a closer look the noise and oversharpening seem to take their toll on the quality.

Even though there's quite a lot of noise in pictures taken with the 5-megapixel camera, contrast and colors make the photos look decent enough.

Sony Xperia E4 camera sample
Sony Xperia E4 camera sample
Sony Xperia E4 can also capture full HD (1080p) video at 30fps, which is quite impressive for such a cheap smartphone.

Another strong point of the camera would be the fact that it features digital image stabilization, though when you enable it, the field of view (FoV) will be lowered.

While the samples that we shot at maximum resolution aren't something that you would want to brag about, they're still more than enough to make you want capture another video with your favorite moments.

Power and performance are not among its strengths

Sony Xperia E4 is powered by 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor and a Mali-400MP2 graphics processing unit. While MediaTek's processor shows its muscle in benchmarks, the GPU is rather obsolete even for a budget-friendly smartphone, and will not allow you to run 3G games, as they won't work well.

Moreover, the smartphone is equipped with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory, but only slightly less than 5GB are user accessible. Luckily, Xperia E4 packs microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

However, if the only things you plan on doing with the Xperia E4 are make calls, listen to music, do some web browsing and occasionally play light on CPU games, then this smartphone will serve you very well for a long time.

Menu and Software

Unfortunately, Sony doesn't seem capable of launching a budget-friendly smartphone powered by the latest version of Android yet. As such, the Xperia E4 runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat operating system right out of the box, and it will stay on this version until the end of life status kicks in.

The smartphone's UI looks very much like that of Xperia smartphones, so expect the same level of functionality and high amount of customization features.

You will be able to add widgets and screenshots on any of the five panes that are included by default. Obviously, you can add new ones (up to seven) or remove those you don't need.

In the notification area, you can swipe down to access to the Quick Settings tab, but only when using two fingers. There are more than 20 toggles you can choose from, but you can only have as many as 12 in the Quick Settings tab.

Sony Xperia E4 comes with the “small apps” feature, which can be accessed through the stock Android stock manager. This feature allows users to pop up small widget-like apps directly on the homescreen, which can be moved around and used without opening the application.

Not all apps included in the phone work in this mode, but there are at least seven that are compatible with “small apps” functionality.

The app drawer comprises multiple pages, which are populated with apps and service. They can be sorted by name or you can choose your own order.

While Xperia E4 is not the snappiest smartphone out there, I haven't encountered any issues while browsing the menus.

Connectivity

As mentioned in the beginning of the review, Sony Xperia E4 dropped LTE support in favor of a larger display than its predecessor. However, if you absolutely need that feature you can always grab the Xperia E4g.

Sony Xperia E4 comes with plenty connectivity options, including Bluetooth 4.1, HSDPA, GPS with AGPS support and GLONASS, Wi-Fi and microUSB 2.0.

It lacks IR blaster and NFC (Near Field Communications), but that was to be expected form a budget-friendly smartphone.

One other thing you can use your Xperia E4 for is to share media over DLNA, as well as connect to a PlayStation DualShock 3 or 4 wireless controller.

Battery

Sony Xperia E4 is powered by a non-removable 2,300 mAh battery, which is rated by the manufacturer for up to 695 hours (653 hours in 3G mode) of standby, or up to 12 hours (13 hours in 3G mode) of talk time.

In truth, your battery will get depleted after two and a half days of average use, but it will only get you one and a half day if you're using it heavily.

The good news is the smartphone comes with Stamina mode, so enabling it will squeeze more usage time at the expense of some of the Xperia E4's features like Wi-Fi, screen brightness, mobile data and others.

Sony Xperia E4 battery
Sony Xperia E4 battery

The Good

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Xperia E4 is the low price. Considering that this is a Sony product, you can't help thinking that you will get a high-quality device for a low price, even if that would mean to give up on some specs.

Almost every piece of hardware inside the Xperia E4 offers mixed results. For example, the 5-megapixel camera takes noisy pictures, but the video captured is quite decent.

The MediaTek processor is powerful for this type of smartphone, but the graphics processing unit is seriously outdated.

The good news is the software you get on the Xperia E4 is packed with lots of features, which is one of the positive things about the device. Pity that an Android 5.0 Lollipop is highly unlikely.

The overall build of the smartphone is quite sturdy, though the cheap plastic is prone to scratches. Also, the fact that you can choose to purchase a LTE-enabled version for slightly higher costs is another plus.

The Bad

Unfortunately, the thing that should have been advantage over the previous Xperia E model turned out to be a disappointing component of the smartphone. The 5-inch display has a low sunlight legibility and a low resolution as well (qHD).

Another disappointment might be the fact that the 2,300 mAh battery is non-removable, along with the outdated GPU and mediocre 5-megapixel camera.

Since this is a budget-friendly smartphone I didn't find any other downsides that would worth mentioning. However, if you can get past these, then Xperia E4 will probably satisfy you until the next model in the E-serie gets released.

Conclusion

The latest addition to Xperia E series isn't the best in the lineup. In fact, Sony Xperia E4 is kind of a mixed bag, especially for those who own the Xperia E3 and are thinking to upgrade to this model.

Sadly, I can't say that it's worth the upgrade, as you will be better off keeping the Xperia E3. The new device doesn't look any better and the slight improvements (larger display) turn out to be downsides in the end.

The fact that the Xperia E4 comes with double the amount of storage in comparison with the previous model doesn't really justifies the upgrade.

Still, for a first smartphone or for those who don't own the Xperia E3, the current model might be a good choice considering the low price.

Our Rating

looks 2
build 3
speed 2
battery 3
calls 2
camera 2
video 3
apps 3
screen 1
signal3

final rating 3

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