Review of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual smartphone: downward trend. Sony Xperia E4 review: one of the longest-lasting smartphones
- Class: state employee
- Form factor: monoblock
- Case material: matte plastic
- Operating system: Android 4.4.4
- Network: GSM/EDGE, WCDMA (microSIM)
- Platform: MediaTek MT6582
- Processor: Quad-core 1.3 GHz
- RAM: 1 GB
- Storage memory: 8 GB, microSD memory card slot (64 GB cards supported)
- Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.1 (A2DP, EDR, aptX), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset,
- Screen: 5’’, capacitive, IPS matrix, 960x540 pixels (qHD), automatic backlight level adjustment, no oleophobic coating
- Camera: 5 MP, video recording at 1080p (1920x1080 pixels), LED flash
- Front camera: 2 MP
- Navigation: GPS/GLONASS (A-GPS support)
- Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor, gyroscope, light sensor
- Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, capacity 2300 mAh
Equipment
- Smartphone
- Charger
- PC cable (also part of the charger)
- Documentation
Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly
From a design point of view, this device does not stand out in anything special (except for one button), it is similar to hundreds of other Android smartphones with rounded edges.
On the front side there is a five-inch display, above it there is a peephole. front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as an indicator light. Below it is a speaking microphone.
On the left is a microUSB connector, on the right is the power button and volume rocker. Both keys have a short press time with a characteristic click. The power button inherited the corporate design from Sony; it is the only detail (other than the logo) that outwardly distinguishes the device from most of its competitors. The location of both keys is convenient, your thumb rests directly on the power button. However, sometimes when you take the device with your left hand, you accidentally hit the rocker.
At the top you can see a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and in the lower right corner there is a hole for a strap.
At the back there is a main 5 MP camera and an external speaker. It has an average volume level, but you will hear a call in a noisy place. The back cover itself is made of matte plastic, slightly rough to the touch. The material is tactilely pleasant and very practical.
The cover is removable, but it is very difficult to remove; to do this, you need to pry it at any corner with your fingernail. Hidden underneath is a non-removable battery, as well as slots for a microSD memory card and a microSIM SIM card. By the way, there is also a version of the device with two SIM cards; if you notice, in our sample the second slot was simply sealed.
Thanks to the rigid design of the back cover, there are no backlashes or gaps in the device.
Dimensions
| Height (mm) | Width (mm) | Thickness (mm) | Weight (gram) | |
| Sony Xperia E4 | 137 | 74.6 | 10.9 | 144 |
| Huawei Honor 4c | 143.3 | 71.9 | 8.8 | 162 |
| Apple iPhone 6 | 138.1 | 67 | 6.9 | 129 |
| Asus Zenfone 5 Lite | 148.2 | 72.8 | 10.8 | 160 |
| Lenovo Vibe X | 144 | 71 | 6.9 | 120 |
Compared to Apple iPhone 6
The device is slightly lower than most of its competitors, but at the same time a little wider and thicker, but 20 grams lighter. The thickness of E4 is especially noticeable; the other parameters, in my opinion, are within normal limits.
It is convenient to hold it with one hand, but for comfortable use you will need both, otherwise there is a risk of dropping your smartphone.
Screen
The first thing that all major brands save on in budget phones is the display. And Sony, unfortunately, is no exception. The technical characteristics of the screen are right before your eyes, so I’ll move on to commenting right away.
Let's start with the fact that qHD resolution is still too small for a five-inch display. However, Sony chose the fonts very well, so I personally hardly noticed any graininess, even on the battery icon, where the numbers are quite small.
Although an IPS matrix is used here, it feels like one of the cheap modifications was chosen. At the right angle, the image looks good, but if you rotate the device at different angles, the picture simply fades and fades. Of course, part of this problem is due to the air gap between the display and the glass.
There is no oleophobic coating, and this is also a minus. The device is difficult to wipe off fingerprints, and the finger glides very poorly across the surface of the display.
But the range of maximum-minimum brightness pleased me. Despite the fact that the information is not very visible in direct sunlight, it is still readable. And the minimum brightness is sufficient for comfortable reading.
From additional functions I will note the ability to adjust the white balance on the screen and the backlight control function.
operating system
The device runs Android 4.4.4 with a proprietary shell from Sony. I had great pleasure using it. In my opinion, it is quite thoughtful and convenient. We already had detailed review Xperia UI, those interested can familiarize themselves with it using the link below.
Performance
I often see this chipset in budget devices, and it does its job well even at higher resolutions. In most tasks, the Xperia E4 “flies”, and its speed is at a comfortable level.
The exceptions are the most productive games (they run on medium/low settings) and the built-in keyboard. Apparently, the company underoptimized something, but this keyboard does not work very quickly, so I recommend replacing it with a third-party solution.
Autonomous operation
To be honest, in part battery life I didn’t expect any miracles, and in vain. In my mode of use, the smartphone was only discharged by 20% in half a day, which is already surprising (about an hour of screen activity). And this despite the fact that I didn’t even turn on the Stamina mode. One day of light the E4 will work for sure, but if not active use It will last great even for two days.
Camera
The resolution of the main camera is 5 MP, the front one is 2 MP. There is an LED flash. The quality of the images is quite mediocre, low detail and poor white balance, plus the smartphone takes pictures slowly, shooting takes 2-3 seconds. Footage taken during poor lighting, also look bad. Here is a short commentary from Roman Belykh on camera.
- Most photos have their white balance set to warm tones.
- Extremely low detail - weak module, weak optics with F2.6 aperture.
- In low light, aggressive noise reduction kicks in and the photo turns into a pixelated mess.
Below are examples of pictures and videos taken with the main camera. By the way, the maximum video resolution is 1080p, 30 fps.
Wireless interfaces
Among the pleasant features, I note support for Bluetooth 4.1 and aptX, as well as a very fast cold start of the GPS module, which is not typical for MediaTek chipsets. But the lack of USB-OTG was an unpleasant surprise.
Conclusion
There are no complaints about the quality of speech transmission. You and your interlocutor can hear each other perfectly.
Three variants of this model are sold at retail:
- Sony Xperia E4, standard model, average price – from 9,200 rubles,
- Sony Xperia E4g, model with LTE support on MediaTek chipset MT8732, average price – from 10,300 rubles,
- Sony Xperia E4 Dual, average price – from 9,000 rubles.
Initially, I was quite skeptical about this model: “Expensive, expensive, expensive! And there is no oleophobic coating!” But after using it for a while, I began to notice advantages, such as the speed of the smartphone (except for the keyboard and camera) and long battery life. However, E4 has quite a lot of competitors, and all of them are very serious.
Asus ZenFone 5. The price of this bestseller has decreased again, and now it can be found for 10,000-11,000 rubles. In ZenFone better display, there is an oleophobic coating, and the camera works much better.
Huawei Honor 4c. The new product from Huawei boasts a higher resolution display and camera, and this model is also a little thinner. By the way, the Honor 4c has an oleophobic coating, although, according to Roman Belykh, it is quite weak.
Xiaomi Redmi 2 . If the brand is not so important for you, then you can look towards Redmi 2 from Xiaomi. This model runs MIUI v6, has HD resolution, support for two SIM cards and LTE, and can be found here for 8,000 rubles.
Effire A7. I tested this smartphone for our promotional article, but I really liked it. For the same 10,000 rubles you get support for two SIM cards, LTE, a high-quality display with oleophobic coating, HD resolution and no air gap, fast camera And separate button shooting.
Lenovo Vibe X. This smartphone can now only be found in stores selling “gray” equipment. But they only cost 8,000 rubles, which, in my opinion, is a great price for FHD resolution, the absence of an air gap, and the small thickness and weight of the smartphone. But the Vibe X is inferior to the Xperia E4 in terms of operating speed, this is important.
Perhaps Sony's main advantages over these competitors are its long battery life and, of course, its brand. Otherwise, all four competitors look more attractive than the E4.
Updated version of the cheapest one Sony smartphones
The most inexpensive, budget line of Sony smartphones, consisting of simple mobile devices of the Xperia E series, has been replenished with several models under the general name Xperia E4. This small subfamily includes both modifications with support for one or two SIM cards, as well as models that support operation in 4G networks. Models with 4G support differ not only in the additional network module, but also have noticeable external differences: design and materials of the case. We will return to this modification later, but for now we have in our hands a model without LTE support, but able to work with two SIM cards. This modification has the internal classification index E2115, and it was this modification that became the heroine of today’s review.
Main characteristics of Sony Xperia E4 Dual (model E2115)
| Sony Xperia E4 | Sony Xperia E3 | Philips S398 | LG L Bello | Elephone P6000 | |
| Screen | 5″, IPS | 4.5″, IPS | 5″, IPS | 5″, IPS | 5″, IPS |
| Permission | 960×540, 220 ppi | 854×480, 218 ppi | 1280×720, 294 ppi | 854×480, 196 ppi | 1280×720, 294 ppi |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7 @1.2 GHz) | MediaTek MT6582 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz) | MediaTek MT6582 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz) | Mediatek MT6732 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz) | |
| GPU | Mali-400MP | Adreno 305 | Mali-400MP | Mali-400MP | Mali-T760 |
| RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Flash memory | 8 GB | 4 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory card support | microSD | microSD | microSD | microSD | microSD |
| operating system | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 |
| Battery | non-removable, 2300 mAh | non-removable, 2330 mAh | removable, 2040 mAh | removable, 2540 mAh | removable, 2700 mAh |
| Cameras | rear (5 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP) | rear (5 MP; video 1080p), front (0.3 MP) | rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP) | rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (1.3 MP) | rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP) |
| Dimensions and weight | 137×75×10.5 mm, 146 g | 137×69×8.5 mm, 147 g | 144×71×9.7 mm, 170 g | 138×71×10.7 mm, 137 g | 144×72×8.9 mm, 165 g |
| average price | T-12117545 | T-11028556 | T-11744036 | T-11036010 | T-11853900 |
| Sony Xperia E4 Dual offers | L-12117545-10 | ||||
- SoC MediaTek MT6582, 1.3 GHz, 4 cores ARM Cortex-A7
- GPU Mali-400MP
- Operating system Android 4.4.4
- Sensory IPS display, 5″, 960×540, 220 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, internal memory 8 GB
- Micro-SIM support (2 pcs.)
- Supports microSD memory cards up to 32 GB
- 2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- 3G Communication: WCDMA 900/2100 MHz
- HDPA+ data transfer up to 21 Mbps
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz), point Wi-Fi access, Wi-Fi Direct
- Bluetooth 4.1
- GPS (A-GPS)
- Camera 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash
- Camera 2 MP (front)
- Proximity sensor, lighting sensor, accelerometer
- Battery 2300 mAh, non-removable
- Dimensions 137×75×10.5 mm
- Weight 146 g
Equipment
The Sony Xperia E4 Dual smartphone is sold in a slightly different shape, flatter, but also slightly larger, a box made of thin unvarnished cardboard, atypical for the line of budget Xperia E devices, with one small internal pocket made of the same cardboard. The packaging, like its contents, does not pretend to be premium; everything is simpler here. However, even the most expensive products of the Japanese company do not have the most luxurious packaging.
The set of accessories consists of a compact charger (5 V, 850 mA), a short ten-centimeter Micro-USB connecting cable familiar to the E series, as well as a stack of paper documentation. The headset was not included in the kit, and there were no other additional accessories in the box.
Appearance and ease of use
It is curious that, unlike expensive flagship models, Sony does not maintain continuity in design at all in its budget line. The next new product from the Xperia E series, number 4, has no similarities at all with its predecessor, the Xperia E3. And it should be noted that this did not do her any good: the Xperia E3 could definitely be proud of its design. The appearance of the smartphone was liked by everyone who picked up this nice, strict and even somewhat solid device, thanks to the preserved features of the Omni corporate design and protective polycarbonate inserts cut into the corners, even though it was an inexpensive device. In contrast, the Xperia E4 model has completely lost all its originality and complexity, turning into an ordinary inconspicuous “remnant” assembled from two halves with strongly rounded edges. There are no straight edges, sharp corners, and even less polycarbonate inserts - there is absolutely nothing for the eye to catch on, and such a device is now indistinguishable in appearance from numerous nameless Chinese handicrafts.
The small-sized body of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual has enough simple device: most of it is made up of a one-piece plastic casing, which fits onto the frame and forms not only the back cover, but also the sides - a kind of trough made of cheap matte plastic. The weight of the smartphone is small; due to its small dimensions, you can comfortably hold the device in your hand. Its surface cannot be called scratchy, although the matte plastic here is hard and even a little slippery - a slightly rubberized soft-touch effect would definitely not hurt it. By the way, the case of the Xperia E4g modification has one, and this pleasantly distinguishes the model with LTE support from the regular modification that we tested.
The outer cover does not have any special hooks; to remove it, you just need to pull it anywhere from the glass, and then remove it entirely. At first it seems inconvenient, but you get used to it quickly, you can get the hang of it, although the method of fastening is not the most sophisticated.
All mechanical buttons are attached to a removable cover, so when the cover is removed, it becomes impossible to use the smartphone. The keys do not always work perfectly, but in general there are no special complaints about the mechanical controls.
Inside, under the cover, all three card slots are located in a row: two for SIM cards and one for a microSD memory card. The SIM card slots are equivalent in their capabilities; both support Micro-SIM cards. SIM card slots do not have spring-loaded gripping mechanisms; the cards are held only by friction and are sometimes quite difficult to remove, especially if an adapter is used.
The front body is completely covered protective glass with a very poor oleophobic coating or even without it at all - the glass instantly becomes covered with fingerprints and is very difficult to wipe off. There are two symmetrical slots in the glass at the top and bottom - for the speaker and for the microphone. In the upper part above the screen, in addition to the front camera eye and sensors, there is also the following useful element, How led indicator notifications - a dot glowing in different colors notifies you of charging status and incoming events.
Unlike older models, there are no two speakers - the bottom slot with a grille serves only to accommodate a microphone. There are also no buttons under the screen; the system and applications are controlled using virtual on-screen buttons, so empty space The bottom area below the screen looks a little redundant.
Accordingly, the main speaker is placed on the rear side through a slot in the lid. There are no protrusions near the hole, so the sound is significantly muffled when the smartphone is lying on a hard surface with the screen facing up.
At the top of the back wall there is a main camera module next to a single-section LED flash that can work as a flashlight using a pre-installed program.
The universal Micro-USB connector located on the left side, to our surprise and unlike the Xperia E3, does not support connecting additional devices and flash drives in OTG mode. The connectors are not covered with covers, since the device is not protected from water and dust. There is no support for wireless charging either. But the strap mount was returned in this modification (it had to be removed in the Xperia E3 due to the polycarbonate corners).
As for the color design of the new smartphones, Sony continues to unpleasantly surprise in this regard: in contrast to the bright lemon and copper shades available for choice among the Xperia E3 modifications, here everything is limited to a dull list of two standard black and white options. In general, we can say with confidence that in terms of appearance and design, the new product called Sony Xperia E4 Dual is much inferior to the previous Xperia E3 model, and this is sad.
Screen
The Sony Xperia E4 Dual smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix with a small diagonal size by modern standards, especially considering its considerable physical size with a five-inch diagonal. The screen dimensions are 62x110 mm, the diagonal is 5 inches, but the resolution is only 960x540 pixels. Accordingly, the pixel density here is low: it is only 220 dots per inch.
The frame around the screen is quite wide (at least 6 mm on the sides), the width of the frame at the top is 12 mm, and at the bottom - 15 mm.
To adjust the brightness level, you can use automatic adjustment based on the operation of the ambient light sensor (the first models of the series did not even have one). Multi-touch technology here allows you to process 5 simultaneous touches. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Activating the screen by double tapping the glass, operating with gloves or wet fingers—the budget model from Sony didn’t get any of this from the developers.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are much worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). The surface of the matrix itself under the glass is matte, so the screen reflects both direct light sources (by the external surface) and scattered light (by the surface of the matrix), this reduces readability in conditions of strong external illumination. For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Sony Xperia E4 Dual, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual is noticeably lighter. On occasion, I would like to ask the creators of this device what they were guided by when ordering matrices with a matte film glued on them. Both the sticker stage and the film itself cost some money, and the result is a significant reduction in consumer qualities. The ghosting of reflected objects in the Sony Xperia E4 Dual screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to smaller number boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. True, in this case, the possible improvement in anti-glare properties is completely neutralized, leaving only the low maintainability of the screen. There is no special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen, so fingerprints are difficult to remove and appear instantly.
When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 330 cd/m², the minimum was 17 cd/m². The maximum brightness is low, and, given the disgusting anti-glare properties, readability on a sunny day outdoors will be basically non-existent. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the logo on the front panel). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness, the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 55 cd/m² (high), in an artificially lit office (about 400 lux) it sets it to 150 cd/m² (normal), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 330 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is how it is needed). It turns out that the automatic adjustment function works more or less adequately. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering.
This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. In the micrograph, if desired, you can see the subpixel structure typical for IPS:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
At the same time, we present another micrograph with a focus on the film covering the matrix:
Visible dots are artificially created surface defects that create the effect of a matte finish. These defects are small relative to subpixels, which causes the virtual absence of the characteristic “crystalline” effect.
The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen and without inversion (except for the very darkest when the view is deviated along one diagonal) of shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m² (across the white field in full screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:
Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:
Color reproduction is good and colors are rich on both screens. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed very much on both screens, but the contrast on the Sony Xperia E4 Dual has decreased to a greater extent due to greater black bleaching and a significant decrease in brightness. And a white field:
The brightness of the screens at an angle decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual the drop in brightness is noticeably greater. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted to an average degree absolute values, but very much considering the drop in the overall brightness of the image. In this case, the black field acquires a violet or red-violet tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is approximately the same!):
And from another angle:
When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average, since along the edge in several places the black is slightly lightened:
The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is low - about 670:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 29 ms (16 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 41 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The power function fit exponent is 2.03, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2, so the image is slightly brightened. In this case, the real gamma curve slightly deviates from the power-law dependence:
Color gamut is close to sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:
As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is acceptable, since the color temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there is no color balance of great importance, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
This smartphone has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors. That's what we tried to do, the result is data signed as Corr. in the graphs above. As a result, we significantly reduced ΔE on white and brought the white point a little closer to 6500 K. However, at the same time, catastrophic changes for the worse occurred in the rest of the gray scale. Yes, it's better not to interfere.
Let's summarize. The screen has low brightness and has disgusting anti-glare properties, which are deliberately spoiled by the matte film on the matrix. As a result, it will be impossible to use the device outdoors on a clear day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flicker, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance. Significant disadvantages include the absence of an oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, low black stability due to gaze deviation from perpendicular to the screen plane, and a strong decrease in image brightness at an angle to the screen. In general, given the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality is low.
Sound
In terms of sound, the Xperia E4 Dual smartphone is quite simple and no different from its predecessor. There is only one speaker, the sound it produces is simple, rather muffled, low frequencies It’s not noticeable, there’s no richness of colors either, the smartphone sounds cheap, and the maximum volume level is not high. In conversational dynamics, the voice of the interlocutor, the intonation and timbre of a familiar voice remain recognizable, the voices sound natural and natural, there are no problems with this, conduct telephone conversations with using Xperia E4 Dual is quite comfortable.
To play music, the device uses its own proprietary player, traditionally called a Walkman, but in terms of sound quality, the Xperia E4, like the entire budget line of Sony smartphones, is far from a music solution. As standard, in the settings you can use sound enhancement technologies Clear Phase, xLoud or virtual surround sound. Most settings are available if the complex ClearAudio+ function is disabled, otherwise sound control is carried out automatically.
Traditionally, there is an FM radio as standard, but again there is no voice recorder. The radio cannot record programs and will not work without connected external antenna headphones. The smartphone also cannot record telephone conversations from the line using standard means.
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Camera
Sony Xperia E4 Dual is equipped with two modules digital cameras with a resolution of 5 and 2 megapixels (in the previous model of the series, the resolution of the front module was limited to only 0.3 megapixels). Accordingly, in the Xperia E4, the front-facing camera has become much better, and this is one of the most noticeable differences between generations in the line, especially for those who like to take selfie-style photos. Although, of course, there is no possibility of automatic focusing and its own front flash, but the quality of the resulting images was significantly better than the front camera of the Xperia E3.
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The main camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel module with f/2.6 aperture. Sony's proprietary Auto Sensing feature detects up to 36 types of shooting conditions and adjusts the settings accordingly. This mode is the camera's default setting and will also turn the HDR feature on or off depending on conditions.
By default, the camera, as standard for all Sony smartphones, shoots in automatic mode with the settings already set. To achieve maximum resolution, and also to be able to manually change the settings yourself, you need to set the camera to manual mode. In addition to automatic and manual, the software Sony cameras The Xperia E3 has several more shooting modes familiar from previous Sony models, such as Timeshift burst or an augmented reality mode called AR effect, which makes it possible to combine pictures with animation. There is a Social live function that allows you to immediately upload footage to social media. Using a special online service, you can download and add other modes.
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The camera can shoot video in maximum resolution 1920x1080, video quality is modest.
- Video No. 1 (29 MB, 1920×1080, 30 fps)
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Good sharpness across the field and plans. Shadows are too harsh and dark due to the low dynamic range, but look good in places. |
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The car number is visible. The noise reduction grain is large, but not very noticeable. |
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Small branches are well worked out. |
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In general, the camera does not do too bad when shooting indoors. |
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Sometimes the camera can handle macro photography as well. |
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The license plates of nearby cars are distinguishable. Even in distant shots the sharpness is quite good. |
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Judging by the filming of the shield, the camera can handle the text quite well. Sometimes an area of blur appears on the left side of the frame, as in this photo. |
It turns out that a 5-megapixel camera can be quite good. It is, of course, worse than “ultrapixel” (with the same formal resolution, HTC), but not by much. If you close your eyes to the low resolution, then the camera can be considered good for a budget smartphone. A little narrow dynamic range, so the shadows are quite harsh and mostly dark. Due to the low resolution, noise reduction grain is noticeable, but it handles details well. When shooting indoors, the camera does a good job, although not always. But it is especially worth noting the good sharpness in the field of the frame and in the plans and attention to small details even at this resolution.
The camera is quite suitable for documentary shooting, and in some situations it can also cope with artistic shooting.
Telephone and communications
The Xperia E4 Dual smartphone works as standard on modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks. There is also a modification of the Xperia E4g on sale that supports the fourth generation networks used in Russia (LTE Cat 4 with a theoretical speed of up to 150 Mbit/s), but not in the case of the hero of the review. The modification we tested, which works with two SIM cards, does not support LTE, and its wireless data transfer capabilities are limited to 3G mode (maximum HSDPA+ speed up to 21 Mbit/s for downloading).
Rest networking opportunities are also very modest: there is no support for NFC, and the device does not support the second Wi-Fi band (5 GHz). The connection mode is also not implemented external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG). The operating speed of the navigation module does not cause any particular complaints, but only the GPS network is supported, domestic system There is no Glonass and the Chinese Beidou System (BDS). An element necessary for the functioning of an electronic compass in navigation programs, such as a magnetic field sensor, is also not built in. In general, it can be stated that the network capabilities of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual model are primitive today.
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The smartphone supports dual SIM cards. However, there is no way to pre-assign one of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls or sending SMS messages; this is only possible for data transfer. When dialing a number, you must always select the desired card in the context submenu. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G networks, but only one of the cards can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. There is only one radio module, but Sony has introduced an automatic card-to-card forwarding function here, so it is possible to use two SIM cards at the same time. While you're on a call on one SIM card, you can answer a call on the other instead of having it go to voicemail. This way you can put one call on hold and answer another. The same function called " Active mode» has already been seen previously in “dual SIM” Samsung devices.
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OS and software
As operating system The latest version of the Google Android 4.4.4 software platform is used. A proprietary graphic is traditionally installed on top of it. user interface Sony. The interface is standard, well known from the manufacturer’s previous models, nothing has changed here, in this regard Sony does not have such a big gap between top-end and budget models, the interface of any smartphone from the Japanese company always remains uniform, familiar and familiar in everything. All branded services and pre-installed applications in their places.
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Performance
The Sony Xperia E4 Dual hardware platform is based on the entry-level MediaTek MT6582 single-chip SoC. This outdated 32-bit platform, which is quite weak in its capabilities, has 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores operating at a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz. Graphics processing is handled here by the low-power Mali-400MP video accelerator. The amount of RAM is 1 GB. MicroSD memory cards up to 32 GB are supported; there is no support for connecting external devices to the USB port in OTG mode.
The device initially has about 5.5 GB (out of 8) of its own memory available for user needs, and this is the biggest advantage of the new model over its predecessor, the Xperia E3. That one's built-in memory was limited to 1GB and was really not enough even to install the most necessary applications. Here things are better with this.
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According to the testing results, the platform showed expectedly very modest results, below the average value (~18K in AnTuTu). At this point it is worth noting that the new product did not demonstrate the slightest progress in big side in terms of increased performance compared to the previous Xperia E3 model, the results of the old and new models in all tests are almost identical.
Now, if Sony had built their new budget model on the MediaTek platform of a more recent generation, MT6732, which is also intended for entry-level smartphones, but already demonstrates incredibly high results for its class, then the model would clearly sparkle with completely different colors. But this did not happen, and the smartphone, which was quite dull in appearance and capabilities, turned out to be equipped with the same dull, outdated and underpowered platform. So, in terms of the performance level of the hardware platform, the Sony Xperia E4 Dual smartphone cannot be classified as an average level; by today’s standards, this is only an initial level. The device's capabilities are enough to perform basic organizational tasks, but this is not a multimedia solution.
What would have happened if the Japanese had not been greedy to install the more recent MT6732 platform into their smartphone was clearly demonstrated by the review of Elephone P6000. For comparison, we have placed the test results of this model in comparison table. The result of the comparison requires no comment: the same budget, but incomparably more powerful 64-bit SoC MT6732 demonstrates one and a half, or even two times higher results than the outdated 32-bit MT6582 with its Cortex-A7 cores.
Testing in latest versions comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:
All the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the most latest versions popular benchmarks, we have summarized them in tables for convenience. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark,GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).
| Sony Xperia E4 |
Elephone P6000 (Mediatek MT6732/ Mali-T760) |
Sony Xperia E3 (Snapdragon 400/ Adreno 305) |
Philips S398 (Mediatek MT6582/ Mali 400MP) |
LG L Bello (Mediatek MT6582/ Mali 400MP) |
|
| 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better) |
2120 | 4989 | 2887 | 2073 | 2127 |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better) |
2871 | 7974 | 4912 | 2872 | 2881 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen) | 9 fps | 18 fps | 17 fps | 7.1 fps | 9.8 fps |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen) | 4 fps | 11 fps | 6 fps | 4.1 fps | 4.2 fps |
| Bonsai Benchmark | 1912 (27 fps) | 3647 (52 fps) | 2468 (35 fps) | 1250 (18 fps) | 2112 (30 fps) |
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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Playing video
To test omnivorousness when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, for example subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, don't expect mobile device decoding everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.
According to the testing results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.
| Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Standard video player |
| DVDRip | AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL SD | AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL HD | MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3 | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ | |
| BDRip 720p | MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3 | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
| BDRip 1080p | MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3 | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; The standard player does not have this setting
Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.
We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.
According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. The exception is files with 60 fps, in which two frames are skipped per second due to the screen refresh rate reduced to 58 Hz. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades do not differ in brightness from black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.
Battery life
The non-removable battery installed in the Sony Xperia E4 Dual even has a slightly less capacious battery than the previous model with a capacity of only 2300 mAh. The hardware platform in a smartphone is low-power, the screen has a low resolution - they are not too demanding in terms of energy resources. Accordingly, the device demonstrated good battery life, but it should be remembered that the hardware capabilities of this smartphone not enough to adequately handle demanding multimedia tasks. Yes and previous model The Xperia E3 turned out to be more advantageous in terms of power consumption in all tests without exception. It is also worth noting that the Xperia E4 Dual, like all other Sony smartphones, has a proprietary Stamina power saving mode.
| Battery capacity | Reading mode | Video mode | 3D Game Mode | |
| Sony Xperia E4 Dual | 2300 mAh | 13:00 | 09:00 | 5:00 a.m. |
| Sony Xperia E3 | 2330 mAh | 16:30 | 11:00 am | 6:00 am |
| Philips S398 | 2040 mAh | 12:00 pm | 7:00 am | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Micromax Nitro | 2500 mAh | 16:30 | 9:30 a.m. | 4:00 am |
| Acer Liquid E700 | 3500 mAh | 15:30 | 11:00 am | 5:00 a.m. |
| Fly Tornado One | 1920 mAh | 13:00 | 7:30 a.m. | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Fly Tornado Slim | 2050 mAh | 10:30 a.m. | 7:00 am | 3 hours 10 minutes |
| LG L Bello | 2540 mAh | 14:00 | 10:20 am | 4 hours 50 minutes |
| Acer Liquid Jade | 2100 mAh | 13:20 | 8 hours 40 minutes | 4 hours 30 minutes |
Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted until the battery was completely discharged for about 13 hours, and when continuously watching YouTube videos (360p) at the same level brightness via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 9 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for 5 hours. Full charging time is almost 3.5 hours, because there is no proprietary fast charging technology, such as in Qualcomm platforms.
Bottom line
If Sony approached the issue of creating last year's budget smartphone with imagination, at least providing its youth device with bright colors and an attractive design, then this is not observed in the next model. The next device in the Xperia E series turned out to be perhaps the most uninteresting in terms of appearance, if we recall the previous ones bright and original inexpensive representatives of the E series. As for the characteristics and hardware capabilities of the smartphone, there is also nothing to brag about: the relatively large screen is not of high quality, neither is the sound, network capabilities are primitive, the camera produces photos of modest quality, battery life, contrary to expectations, is also not a record. On the other hand, a smartphone costs about 10-11 thousand rubles in official retail, this is not much at the current price level, and for a product positioned for the entry level, much of the above can be forgiven.
Sony Xperia E4 is a smartphone with a good battery, characteristics sufficient to perform basic tasks, a good design and a reasonable price tag. Of course, any device has its own nuances, and a budget device usually has even more of them, so the E4 is no exception. Without wasting a minute, let's move on to review.
Equipment
The packaging, familiar to other products in the Xperia line (thick cardboard with good printing), hides inside the phone itself, a charger, a Micro USB cable, and that’s probably all. Sony have not been seen to be generous with various bonuses for buyers before, so we go straight to the appearance and ease of use.
Design
The appearance of the smartphone is simple, uncomplicated and at the same time interesting. The smartphone is quite wide, even unusually wide, when compared with devices from competitive companies. However, it fits well in my fairly wide palm. Those with narrow hands who are thinking about purchasing should definitely try the device in person. Your impressions may be completely different from mine.
Since we're talking about the convenience and size of the phone, it's worth taking a look at the dimensions plate.
| Length | Width | Thickness | Weight | |
| Sony Xperia E4 | 74,6 | 10,5 | ||
| LG Leon | 129,9 | 64,9 | 10,9 | |
| Huawei Honor 4C | 143,3 | 71,9 | ||
| Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime | 144,8 | 72,1 |
The back cover is made of plastic and covers all the sides of the smartphone. On the right side there are volume keys and a power button, made in the corporate style of Omni Balance.
The buttons on the cover are just repeaters of the keys that are located directly on the body, under rear panel. It is clear that pressing them without the battery compartment cover installed is not easy, and in general it is not necessary.
Surprisingly, the Japanese did not install a separate physical key to release the camera shutter. The presence of the latter has always been typical even for devices that could not boast of photo quality, but now the policy has apparently changed course. Where? It's not clear yet. Instead, any of the volume keys is responsible for taking photographs. And what, in principle, is an option.
There are no elements at the bottom except for the hole for attaching a lanyard to the device. By the way, Sony is perhaps one of the few manufacturers who still continue to equip their products with lace loops. Maybe the president of the company carries his phone this way?
On the top part, right in the lid, there is a hole for connecting headphones - a standard 3.5 mm output. There's nothing else here.
The Micro USB connector is located in a non-standard place - on the left side of the device. Whether it is convenient or not - let everyone decide for themselves. But it’s a little unusual, that’s for sure.
At the back is the main camera lens, and next to it is an LED flash. In the middle is the company's logo, and closer to the bottom there is a slot for a multimedia speaker.
The volume of the latter is average; on a noisy street, especially if the smartphone is in your bag, it costs nothing to miss an incoming call.
The back cover is interesting to remove. Anywhere along the perimeter of the sides, just pick it up with your fingernail and the lid will give way. Contrary to expectations, the battery here is not removable - it is hidden deep in the case and you cannot replace it yourself without voiding the warranty.
There are also slots for installing SIM cards (Micro) and memory cards. One of the recesses is tightly sealed. This means that a dual-SIM variation of the phone is found in nature and is even sold here - Sony Xperia E4 Dual. Later we will definitely talk about the modifications existing on the market, since there are plenty of them available.
Located above the display standard set elements: front camera, speaker, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor. Brightness adjustment is generally correct.
The hole for the earpiece is located symmetrically to the same slot, which is already under the screen. A speaking microphone is hidden here.
The manufacturer successfully played with this moment and did not make additional holes around the perimeter of the case. Touch keys system controls are part software interface, so when playing games or watching videos it’s convenient to hold the smartphone in landscape orientation - random clicks are missing.
The display itself is covered with protective glass. There may be an oleophobic coating, but it does not fight fingerprints in the best way. When the device's screen is in bright sunlight, greasy fingerprints make it difficult to see the interface details - you have to hide the device in the shade.
There is a small edging around the display frame that protrudes slightly above the body. It is plastic and quite sharp to the touch, but fortunately it does not cause any inconvenience.
Two color variations will be available on our market: black and white. You can’t really go wild, of course, but the most popular colors are there – classic in a word.
Display
The manufacturer installed a 5-inch diagonal screen in the smartphone with a resolution of 960 x 540. The pixel density per square inch does not exceed 220 ppi. This, of course, is not much, so it is quite easy to distinguish individual pixels. You don't need special eyesight for this.
Viewing angles are good. The image does not invert, does not fade, and remains fully readable at any tilt angle. It is clear that the brightness decreases, but this is typical for all liquid crystal screens.
Technical characteristics of Sony Xperia E4 (E2105):
- MediaTek MT6582 processor with a frequency of 1.3 GHz (4 cores)
- Mali-400 MP2 video chip
- RAM 1 GB
- built-in storage 8 GB (4.78 GB actually available)
- Micro SD memory card support (up to 32 GB)
- display 5’’ (TFT) 960 x 540 pixels, Multitouch (up to 4 simultaneous touches)
- front-camera
- main camera 5 megapixels
- sensors: accelerometer, light and proximity sensor
- battery 2300 mAh
- connectors: 3.5 mm, Micro USB (2.0)
- OS Android 4.4.4
Wireless interfaces:
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz, UMTS HSPA+ 900, 2100
- Wi-Fi (b/g/n/), Bluetooth 4.1
The system on a chip (SoC) MediaTek MT6582 is used as the “brains”. It is based on a relatively old (late 2013) processor with four Cortex-A7 cores. The chip is produced on the basis of a 28-nm process technology and includes a Mali-400 MP2 video accelerator with an operating frequency of up to 500 MHz.
UMTS / HSPA+ (3G) modules, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS wireless interfaces are built directly into the SoC. This explains the lack of 4G support - this requires a different processor, which is installed in a more advanced version of the Xperia E4g.
Our hero does not shine with performance. You can play modern games only by setting low graphics settings. Some games may not start at all.
Quite serious slowdowns are observed even in AR Effect camera mode. Virtual gnomes jump onto the screen with a long delay, and during the shooting process they move with visible delays. Using this feature on a smartphone can hardly be called comfortable.
No obvious or serious brakes were noticed in the system interface. Yes, the device is thoughtful and does not instantly open any installed applications, but the proprietary shell is generally well optimized. It is comfortable to work with when performing ordinary, non-resource-intensive tasks.
At the conclusion of the section, of course, the results of synthetic tests are in their rightful place.
Camera
Front camera 2 megapixels with maximum image resolution up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. There is no need to talk about any special mode for selfie maniacs. The front module is quite good for video calls, but much worse for personal portraits.
The main photo module is represented by a 5-megapixel sensor, which is capable of taking photos in a resolution of 2560 x 1200 pixels.
The shooting quality can be called satisfactory. It often happens that the sensor misses the exposure or focus, resulting in frames that are either blurry at the edges or overexposed in some places.
The only way to combat this is by taking 3-4 pictures at a time. This can partly save the situation.
In general, what can I say. Everything can be seen in detail using the example of photographs taken on a Sony Xperia E4 camera.
Of course, like all other devices of the company, there is a whole bunch of different interesting shooting modes. You have already become a little familiar with the AR Effect when describing the device’s performance and from the example images above. The most interesting scenario is Timeshift Burst. Using an example, we described this technology in detail, but in the case of E4 it can only work as a cool feature. Still, the initial level of photographic materials does not reach the necessary level.
The smartphone can record video at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at a frequency of 30 frames/sec. Apart from the problems described above, the quality of the videos is quite good.
Battery life
The manufacturer claims over 10 hours of talk time on 2G or 3G networks, continuous music playback for 48 hours, and video playback for up to 7 hours. All this is possible thanks to a non-removable 2300 mAh battery.
In practice, battery life is the most strong point devices.
E4 can work under load for a full two days. With moderate use, this figure can be improved to 3-4 days of operation without connecting to a charger.
And if you consider preset modes energy saving, then four days is not a record.
Models and prices
Our review is about the Sony Xperia E4, which is also known under the symbol E2105. More advanced is the Sony Xperia E4 or E2003 model. The modification differs for the better due to MediaTek processor MT6732 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz versus 1.3 GHz in regular version, Mali-760 MP2 video accelerator, as well as support for LTE frequencies (bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 28). Of course, the cost of the latest device is higher (from 10,490 rubles).
The E4 Dual or E2115 modification is no different except for the presence of a second SIM card (only 2G on the second slot). The same processor, the same video chip, and so on. The price is slightly higher and amounts to 9,990 rubles.
I hope now you have a complete picture in your head of what Sony offers consumers in the budget range.
Bottom line
Model currently on the market Sony Xperia E4 Can buy for 8,990 rubles and this price can be considered quite adequate. In return, you get an ordinary, modern budget device that can perform almost any (see non-resource-intensive) tasks and lives on a single battery charge for a little more than a day more than products from other manufacturers.
Yes, they could install a display with a higher resolution here, a better camera, and also equip the device with support LTE networks, but, following the realities of the market, it would already be something in the range of 12 - 13 thousand rubles.
However, Sony, apart from the cool and, so to speak, plump design of the E4, did not offer anything interesting that would make the smartphone stand out from its competitors. Yes, the device is reliable, working, the price is reasonable and that’s all.
The smartphone has only one competitor, which beats it on all fronts (except for battery life) - Huawei Honor 4C. The latter stands out from its competitors due to its very good characteristics and very affordable price. However, there was a fly in the ointment - the Chinese won’t be able to buy this just like that. Read more in.
Already on sale Price: 8,990 rubles
In our opinion, the Sony Xperia E4 smartphone looks simple and quite cheap. Its dimensions are 137x74.6x10.7 mm. The body of the device is small in height, but wide. As a rule, budget phones, for example, Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime or Philips S398, are a little longer and narrower. The device has an impressive thickness - up to 10.7 mm; the smartphone clearly does not pretend to be a thin device. The weight of the new product is 145 grams, the same weight as a 5-inch YotaPhone 2 or HTC Desire 610.
As for the appearance, it seems that the design of the Xperia models has already become boring for the company itself. Now the smartphone has a more rounded shape, there is a removable cover that “envelops” the body, almost like Lumia smartphones(however, it’s strange that the phone’s battery is not removable). By the way, the cover is not so easy to remove. The display panel rises slightly above the rest of the body.
But the shape and location of the buttons remains the same: the round power key and volume rocker are on the right side. The speakers are located on the front panel at the top and bottom, and another one on the back at the bottom.
The main material of the case is inexpensive plastic. The Sony Xperia E4 smartphone can be purchased in white and black colors (we tested the white model). The build quality is good, but the removable lid creaks and clicks if you press on it.
Screen - 3.5
The display diagonal of the Sony Xperia E4 is 5 inches. The display resolution is typical budget - 960x540 pixels, which gives a pixel density of 220 per inch. On such a screen, you can notice individual pixels. If display quality is the determining criterion for you when choosing a smartphone, then we recommend that you pay attention to Acer Liquid Jade or Philips S398 with HD displays.
Matrix type is IPS, viewing angles are average, which is good for the price. According to the test results, this is quite bright screen. The maximum measured brightness was 431 cd/m2 - this is a good indicator. Minimum brightness white background was 18 cd/m2, which is noticeably bright when reading in the dark. The display settings do not have “sophisticated” modes, like the company’s flagships, but there is a smooth white balance adjustment. We also found that the display reacts well to the sun: information remains readable, despite the fact that the protective coating of the display noticeably glares. The smartphone has an auto-brightness function, which works quickly, but, in our opinion, in a rather narrow range of brightness changes.
As we expected, the Sony phone does not have a glove mode, but the display does not collect fingerprints as actively.
Camera
The Sony Xperia E4 phone has 5 and 2 MP cameras. The main camera has an LED flash, autofocus and a mode for improving the detail of shadowed and highlighted areas of the frame. It recognizes faces and smiles, takes a series of photos by holding your finger, adds retouching effects and takes panoramas. In addition, there are funny virtual effects: You can superimpose virtual scenes onto your video, such as gnomes or walking dinosaurs.
The maximum photo resolution is 2560×1920 pixels. Moreover, in auto mode the resolution will be lower unless you change the frame format from 16:9 to 4:3.
The detail of images from the main camera is typically low for 5 MP (2560x1920 pixels). During tests, we noticed that the camera takes quite a long time to shoot (a lot of time passes between frames), so it is better not to shoot moving objects. In addition, the quality of the photo depends on the lighting: when the lighting deteriorates, “noise” immediately appears in the pictures. Many photos turned out too bright or overexposed. However, the problem is partially solved in HDR mode. It works efficiently.
The 2 MP front camera takes photos with a resolution of 1600x1200 pixels and HD video at 30 fps.
Photo from camera Sony Xperia E4 - 3.5
Photos from the front camera of Sony Xperia E4 - 3.5
Working with text - 5.0
The Sony Xperia E4 keyboard has extensive customization options. It supports the function of continuous text input using strokes (Swype), work with dictionaries and has several covers for the keyboard. In the settings, you can adjust auto-corrections, use your writing style (the smartphone will analyze the words you wrote on social networks and mail client to use them in tooltips). There is also voice input, marking of additional characters and a separate key for emoticons. Switching to another language is done using a separate key.
You have the option of using a one-handed keyboard mode if the screen seems large to you. In it, you can move the keyboard to the right or left for easy one-handed typing.
In our opinion, the keyboard is well thought out, which is why we rate it highly.
Internet - 3.0
The Sony Xperia E4 has Google Chrome as its browser. Its main feature is synchronization with the desktop version. We checked the operation of the browser - in general it works fine, but sometimes it slows down on the pages. There is no multiple page scaling or a separate reading mode in this browser. But you can scale it once to a pre-selected size - to do this you need to double-click on the screen. There is also an on-page search and a traffic reduction mode.
Communications - 1.0
The set of interfaces on the Sony Xperia E4 is typical for a budget smartphone. Available on the phone: Wi-Fi (b/g/n) with Wi-Fi mode modem, Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy consumption and support for A2DP, A-GPS and GLONASS. Note that its predecessor, the Xperia E3, worked with LTE, but there is no such option here. We checked the operation of the interfaces - everything worked fine.
The smartphone works with Micro-SIM cards; there is a dual-SIM version of the device and a version with LTE support to choose from. There are connectors: for a headset and a simple Micro-USB 2.0 without MHL or USB OTG for connecting devices to the phone.
Multimedia - 4.6
The Sony Xperia E4 audio player supports many formats and plays MP3, FLAC, WAV files and a number of less popular formats. In the tests, only AC-3 or DTS formats were not played. It's a pity, but the Xperia E4 does not come with headphones, but there is a proprietary Walkman application with good customization options, including an equalizer.
With video, everything is also generally good, but the player did not want to play videos in MPG, FLV format and some MKV format videos. The built-in video player has a number of settings, including support for subtitles.
Battery - 2.8
The Sony Xperia E4 smartphone has a non-removable lithium polymer battery with a capacity of 2300 mAh (recall that the Sony Xperia E3 had 2330 mAh). In our tests, the smartphone's battery showed good results for a budget phone. The device played HD video at maximum brightness for 6 hours and 15 minutes. In music listening mode, with the screen turned off, the device was discharged in 54 hours (more than two days). In less intensive use mode (Wi-Fi turned on, occasional browsing, a couple of calls a day, listening to music, one movie a day and casual games), the battery lasted for 1-1.5 days.
The kit comes with a 0.85 A charger. At the same time, the smartphone takes a long time to charge: it took us about three hours to fully charge the Sony Xperia E4.
Performance - 1.7
The Sony Xperia E4 smartphone is equipped with a mid-level chipset - quad-core Mediatek MT6582, operating at a frequency of 1.3 GHz. The transition from Qualcomm to the more budget MediaTek looks very strange; apparently, Sony decided to save money on the budget line. The amount of RAM is 1 GB, the Mali-400MP2 accelerator is responsible for graphics. By standards Android smartphones Xperia E4 runs quite quickly and without brakes. When actively browsing with several open pages the device begins to “slow down”, but not critically.
The Sony Xperia E4 smartphone is suitable for most applications and undemanding games. According to the results of our synthetic tests, the smartphone occupies an average position. In games, the Sony Xperia E4 performed averagely. Games like Asphalt 8 will have to be played on low graphics, but Minion Rush runs smoothly. In synthetic tests, the smartphone showed results typical of mid-range hardware. Thus, in the AnTuTu benchmark, the smartphone received an average of about 19,000 points, and in 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited it fell slightly short of 3,000. The hardware is far from flagship, but the smartphone works fine and allows you to run most games.
Memory - 3.5
The total amount of internal memory on the Sony Xperia E4 is limited to 8 GB, of which 4.78 GB is available to the user. This is not much, but you can buy a memory card separately. Sony Xperia E4 supports microSD cards up to 32 GB. In this case, you can “hot-swap” a memory card without rebooting - just remove the cover and insert the card into the slot.
Peculiarities
The smartphone runs on the Android 4.4.4 operating system with a proprietary interface from Sony: all standard applications (from SMS messages to galleries) have been redesigned and have original look. As of today, the Sony Xperia E4 is not on the list of smartphones that will receive an update to Android 5.0, and this is unlikely to happen. Features include a removable smartphone cover in combination with non-removable battery and a proprietary Walkman application with a good equalizer.