The Sony Xperia E4 Dual is a no-frills smartphone with a sub 8k price tag. Competition is pretty tight in this range, especially with compelling options form both local and foreign handset makers. Can the E4 keep up in this competitive landscape? Lets find out.
Sony Xperia E4 Dual key specs:
- 5.0 inch IPS display (960 x 540; 220 ppi) with scratch-resistant glass
- 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor
- Mali-400MP2 GPU
- 1 GB / 8 GB with microSD up to 32 GB
- 5 MP main camera w/ autofocus and LED flash
- 2 MP front camera
- Dual Micro SIM; Dual Standby
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, apt-X
- FM Radio
- Android 4.4.4 KitKat
- Dimensions 5.39 x 2.94 x 0.41 in; 144 g
- 2,300 mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery
- Colors: Black, White
- PHP 7,440
Design
The Xperia E4 Dual is not like its sleeker (and more expensive) brothers that use Sony’s omnibalance design. The phone used a more straight forward look, opting for a rectangular shape with curved edges. On the hand, the device feels chunky. The sides jut out from the edge of the display, making it look a wider.
The back panel uses a polycarbonate plastic material highlighted by a shiny Sony logo. It looks inexpensive, but feels sturdy. The phone itself has good build quality with a solid feel.
On the top sits the 3.5mm audio jack. The volume rocker and power button is found on the right, with the micro USB port on the left near the top.
Display and Performance
The E4 Dual uses a 5 inch IPS display with a 960 by 540 resolution and a pixel density of 220 ppi. Colors look good, but the pixel density coupled with the size of the display makes details soft. Still, the screen is reasonably bright and text is legible.
The smartphone is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, a Mali-400MP2 GPU and 1GB of RAM. Overall performance is average. The UI is generally smooth, but heavy operations can cause some lag from time to time.
Benchmarks
In AnTuTu Benchmark, the phone was able to get a score of 18,467. On Geekbench 3, it got 352 on the Single-Core test, and 1,168 on the Multi-core.
Camera
Image quality from the phone’s 5MP camera is good for social media. Images appear warm with natural looking colors. Sharpness is lacking though, as fine detail look soft.
Here are some test shots. The photos have not been edited in any way. I just resized them for web on Photoshop with quality set at 70.
Conclusion
All in all, the Xperia E4 Dual is a no-frills smartphone with a solid build quality. Retailing for PHP 7,440, the device will most likely attract customers who already know and trust the Sony brand. But with better options in the sub-8k and sub-10k market, others might be tempted to look the other way.
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