So I've had the pleasure of testing out the new Sony Xperia M4 Aqua. I have to be honest I wasn't really expecting a phone that could upstage my Galaxy Note. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cameras on the Xperia M4 compared very well. In fact in many cases when using this phone outshone the Note.

The Power of the XPERIA M4 Aqua

• The processing speeds are fantastic! I ran into no problems backgrounding multiple apps and gaming.
• The Cameras front and back are fantastic. The only issue... the screen quite often doesn't do your photos justice. Only once exported onto a higher-res screen do you really get the full effect and image quality.
• The Battery life is good on standard mode but AMAZING on Sony's Stamina mode. For me, I receive mass amounts of social notifications. The Stamina mode also doubles up as a good way to silence them with out putting your phone on mute or vibrate. For those two reasons I'm a big fan of stamina mode.
• Durability and Waterproofing. Now I did accidentally drop this and its so lightweight it kind of floated down like a feather...OK I exaggerate but I did take the knock very well. Had it been Apple's crystal sapphire unbreakable un-scratchable glass I think I'd have been in trouble.
• Last but not least Micro SD. Need I say more? ;)

The Weakness of the XPERIA M4

• The good thing about weakness is it can be strengthened in many cases. In my field test video I mentioned how I could not install my usual apps due to space. Since then Sony surprisingly rolled out an Xperia update, eradicating some of their bloat-ware (unnecessary apps). Which now means I have the ability to install everything I need and shift most of the data to external memory.
• Battery life really suffered when using GPS. So I made a journey from London to Manchester which is about 3hrs I lost 80% battery before lunch that day. Not cool.
• No Google Cardboard / VR Video support. For me as a creator of 360 content I was sad to see this not available.
• It feels hollow like it lacking soul. While I appreciate the light weight the emptiness of it makes it feel a little flimsy to the touch.

FINAL THOUGHTS 

The Xperia M4 Aqua is a super fast, durable, energy efficient mid range phone. With cameras to rival and defeat many, if not all of its nearest competitors. The design is the usual SONY style omni-balance. Which I must admit makes it difficult to know if it the right way up when in my pocket... Stuff like that is important to me(I know first world problems...I know).

However the more I use this phone, the more content I am with its performance and features. It will be interesting to see if it will improve and sharpen up with age and updates. Or whether is will become soft and flimsy as wear and tear sets in and as takes on board the new Android Marshmellow.