Review of Sony Xperia M2 - any feedback is appreciated

[Silver Knight]

Sony Xperia M2

 

 

 

 

So i noticed that we have this here But i already noticed it after i posted this on another board... So guys, sorry...

 

So, here i am, posting it again

 

Okay, i got this phone on Friday, and i've been playing with it. Now, i don't know how to write reviews, so i'll use PhoneArena's rating system.

Now, keep in mind that i upgraded from Samsung Galaxy Ace - s5830- and i've never really owned, or used for longer periods of time, any flagship, or a high-end phone!

And i also need to tell you guys that i never give scores, only my opinion(s).

So, let's start:

- Build quality - I'm pretty satisfied with the build quality of this device. It feels pretty solid in the hand, it's got mat finish, so it doesn't feel slick and slippery (like my Ace feels when i'm using white back-cover). Of course, even if it has mat finish, that's only for the sides. Both back and front have a slippery feel, which won't bother you, unless you have sweaty hands (like myself). All in all, this phone feels very premium in the hand, despite being made from plastic.

- Internet - Oddly enough, this carrier (Telenor) sells LTE version of M2, but they only offer 3G speeds. Anyways, internet is pretty fast, pages load quickly, and download time is pretty good (of course this dependent of your carrier).

- Reception - Despite reading about how it has bad reception, i was pretty surprised how good it was. And Wi-Fi reception was also pretty good. I could catch a pretty good signal from places where i could only catch a pretty weak signal (router is on the 2nd floor, and my room is on the "0" floor).

- Call quality - It's pretty good. The sound is crisp and clear, and i also sound crisp and clear. The volume is pretty high, so i don't have any problems hearing the person i'm calling

- Multimedia - I grew up hearing how Sony is the best at making anything used for consuming media (movies/music...), and i expected a lot from this device, it being a Sony and all. When i first entered the app for listening music, Walkman, i was pretty disappointed, because it was pretty hard to navigate through, but after using it for a bit, i see that i got used too it pretty fast. The same was with other apps. At first they were pretty hard for me to use, but after learning how to do that, everything just got easier. Now, i don't like some stuff Sony did with their apps, but i'll leave that for another day.

- UI Speed - UI Speed is marvelous. I came from a TouchWiz (a skin i utterly hate) device to a Sony device, and while i knew that Sony's skin was a lot lighter, i was still surprised how a device can be that fast. Everything feel instantaneous (even if it isn't), without any lag or any bugs (atleast till now). The design of the skin is a little bit... But that's just my personal preference (there are some minor things i don't like, like status bar...). All in all, this UI rocks

- Everyday usage - This device is pretty solid for everyday usage. It runs on a Sony custom skin, which is very light, and doesn't create any noticeable lag at all. A normal user, even someone who's a little of a power user will be very pleased with this device! It runs FB, Twitter, What'sUp, YB... without any lag (the apps the most of normal users use!).

- Text input - I'm not really a typer (but i found myself typing a lot on this device), but this device's keyboard is pretty solid (again, i'm coming from a Samsung device). The reaction time is extremely good, and haptic feedback is also very good.

- Battery life - This phone uses a 2300 mAh battery, and coupled with it's 229 ppi screen and Sony's marvelous Stamina mode, it can last you a pretty long time! I used this phone for a whole day of chatting over FB, What'sUp and Skype, playing games around 1,5-2 hours and browsing the net, a lot (reading... stuff), and all of this while having Stamina mode on and adaptive brightness, and i'm currently (the time now is 1:50 AM) on 47-48%!

- Display - Display, while being good, and me not needing an extremely good one, i find that it lacks brightness/colours... I know that when i read some manga (webtoons actually), it didn't show the black-ish parts of the picture, and only when i upped the brightness on max and zoomed in did i see that black-ish part. Otherwise, the screen in marvelous, but i think it lacks more colour dept (for the reference, i did compare it to my sister's boyfriend's S4 Mini, which uses Super AMOLED screen!). All in all, the screen is pretty good, and while you can't see the pixels, i think it needs more brightness and colour dept.

- Camera - And at last it's it's camera! I read a lot of reviews saying it has bad camera, but me thinking that it's Sony, so it's probably false (and seeing my friend's Z1 in action), and that i don't really need it, i didn't pay any attention to it. Now, i'm not really much of a picture guy, but this phone has a very poor camera quality in the darker places... The picture quality is just... bad, or not up to Sony's standards... This think is the worst part of the phone, but because i rarely use the camera, it doesn't really matter... The front facing camera is also bad (it being VGA and all...)...


All in all, this is a solid mid-ranger good for daily use, and i recommend it to everyone who wants a good phone, and doesn't mind a bad camera and a mediocre display


This is the end of my amateur review. If you have any questions about the performance of the phone, or something similar, just ask

Also, if anybody is interested, i could try comparing shots from Sony Xperia M2, my sister's iPhone 4S and her boyfriend's Galaxy S4 mini, all of which have 8 Mpx camera

If you have any comments about this review, please say so

Of course, if anyone wants any screen shots, just ask

[Aniallation]

Is the walkman app still the one I had on my Xperia Ion where every time music was playing and you went back into the app it showed the Now Playing screen, and pressing back would exit out of Walkman rather then go to the songs list? That drove me nuts!

[Silver Knight]

Okay, i noticed 2 more things that bother me:

 

1. I'm using an orange Teracell case for M2, and under the sunlight i can see a green hue on the phone's sides and angles... Now i find it original (having a green Xperia M2 ), but it can be frustrating...

 

2. After filling it with more songs, and spending a lot more time listening and so on, i noticed something i didn't really pay attention to before. Volume buttons are beneath power button, and that means that they're pretty low... And i'm subconsciously afraid that when i move my fingers to reach those buttons, i don't drop the phone (It's easier than it sounds...).

 

@Aniallation - I don't know about the app then, but now when you're in the "music playing" screen, and go back, you go back to the app's "home" screen... 

[Aniallation]

@Aniallation - I don't know about the app then, but now when you're in the "music playing" screen, and go back, you go back to the app's "home" screen... 

 

Oh okay then. Yeah on the last two Xperias I had, this was how it worked.

 

If you opened the app with nothing playing, you were presented with the Walkman app's home screen (songs, artists, albums, etc). Once you chose a song and it went to the Now Playing screen, if you pressed back, you would go back to the list of music.

 

However if you play music, leave the Walkman app and open another app, regardless of what you were doing in it before, going back into the Walkman app later on will go straight to the Now Playing screen. Pressing the Android back key from here is pretty much the same as pressing the home button (music keeps playing, and phone goes back to homescreen). To access your music list when music is playing, you have to open the app, then click the app's built-in back button at the top left of the Now Playing screen.

 

It drove me nuts!

[ZacDaMan72]

What's the display res?

[Silver Knight]

What's the display res?

Display is qHD (540x960) with 229 ppi.

[Silver Knight]

Update

 

Now, after using it for around 1,5 months, i noticed a few more things:

 

1. This is probably due to the software, but screen sometimes tends to flicker, and for someone who uses their phone for reading is pretty nerve-wrecking, but luckily it doesn't last long, like 10 minutes, but only for a short while.

2. I noticed that when i'm hanging up the call, sometimes when i remove the phone from my face, the screen is still black and it doesn't respond! Only when i go over the sensor with my finger, or hand, does the screen turn back on... 

 

I also kinda determined the batter life, and with the brightness on minimum, mobile network and stamina mode i can use it for 12-14 hours of continuous reading (yeah, without any breaks, except when eating).

 

And game performance on M2 is pretty sweet I installed Injustice: Gods Among Us, and it runs it without any lag, but that game is a total battery hog...

 

I didn't get any force app close messages, and this UI is buttery smooth

 

Also, if anybody is interested, my AnTuTu score for M2 is 17816!