The budget Sony Experia E4 was unveiled earlier this month as the successor to the Xperia E3, but there was one missing feature that may have disappointed some: 4G connectivity. Sony will rectify that with the new Xperia E4g, a smartphone that changes little from the Xperia E4 but adds 4G capabilities.
The Xperia E4g comes with a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, which is a step up from the quad-core 1.3 GHz chip that the Xperia E4 had. It's not clear whether this is a Cortex-A53-based chip like the Snapdragon 410, which also comes with integrated LTE, or just another Cortex-A7-based chip that's higher clocked. If it's Cortex-A7 and it uses the same 28nm process node, it may be slightly less efficient in terms of battery life.
The device has a 5" qHD (960 x 540) screen, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, 5 MP/1080p rear camera, a 2 MP/720p front camera, and the same 2,300 mAh battery as before; it will also come with Android KitKat out of the box. However, it will receive the Lollipop upgrade later on. Being a budget phone, it's also likely to be the last update the device will receive until Sony states otherwise, so that should also factor into the purchase decision.
Fortunately, although it has received a slightly faster chip and LTE connectivity, it will retail for the same price that the Xperia E4 did initially, 129 euro. The Xperia E4 has dropped to 120 euro in order to distinguish itself from the LTE-based Xperia E4g.
The device also comes with some interesting features such as the Xperia Transfer App, which allows users to transfer photos, bookmarks, apps, music and messages from Blackberrys, Windows phones or other Android smartphones.
The camera app comes with an Auto Scene Recognition mode, which can recognize up to 52 modes to help users capture better photos in whatever environment they're in. Thanks to NFC support, those photos can also be easily shared with other phones.
Sony advertises the device as having two days of battery life, which is believable if we're talking about moderate use, considering it doesn't have an especially high screen resolution and the processor, either Cortex A7 or Cortex A53, should be quite efficient.
However, the battery life can be further expanded with the STAMINA Mode, which Sony has had on its devices for some time, as well as with an Ultra STAMINA Mode that can keep the phone lasting for a full week with only the core phone functions enabled. That's a feature that many would probably like on other phones, as well.
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