Today, Sony launched a new smartphone in its low-end E-series called the Xperia E4. The device's most compelling feature seems to be its rather large (for a low-end phone) 2,300 mAh battery. Combined with an efficient quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 processor from Mediatek (MT6582) and a lower resolution screen, that leads to the phone's two-days of battery life.
Sony has seen some success with its smartphones that come with two day (or longer) battery life, and now the company seems to be capitalizing on that. The arrival of touchscreen smartphones has drastically cut the battery life of an average phone from a few days to a week for feature phones to one day or less for most smartphones being sold today.
Unsurprisingly, many consumers want smartphones that can last at least half as much as their old feature phones used to last. Sony may be on the right track here by focusing on battery life that beats that of its competitors' phones.
The Xperia E4 has a 5" IPS screen that has a resolution of 960 x 540 and comes with other specs such as 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, microSD support, a 5MP rear camera with autofocus and flash, a 2MP front-camera, and 3G connectivity. The device seems to lack 4G, which may be a problem for some in the Western markets. The phone will be offered as a single-SIM and dual-SIM version.
From what we can see in the pictures, the Xperia E4 takes its design cues from the latest Z3 flagship, which has more rounded edges compared to previous Sony Xperia devices. Sony is one of the few mobile companies that puts good design and build materials even in its lower-end devices, so it's good to see that hasn't changed.
The Sony Xperia E4 will come in the classic white and black colors. The phone can be further customized using Sony's own theming engine, which allows the user to give different looks to the phone's user interface.
Sony hasn't mentioned a price for the Xperia E4 smartphone yet, but the device should come out soon, possibly in the middle of February. Although it's a low-end phone, Sony tends to price the E-series devices somewhere in the 150-200 dollars/euro range, so potential customers should expect something similar in this case.
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