The waterproof cellphone Xperia-nce

The Sony Xperia M2 Aqua was tested in pools, mountain springs and more, and came out a winner.

The Sony Xperia M2 Aqua was tested in pools, mountain springs and more, and came out a winner.

Published Jan 26, 2015

Share

Johannesburg –I’m a big fan of waterproof cellphones. This is especially true in summer when South Africans spend a lot of time around the wet stuff, refreshing and cooling, yes – but deadly to unprotected electronic gadgets.

Japanese tech company Sony has been a real pioneer in this regard. Its top end smartphones and tablets have been water and dustproof for several years now, including its latest flagship, the lustworthy Xperia Z3.

But flagship devices are pricey. The Z3, for example will set you back close to R11 000 if you buy it without a contract. That’s well out of reach for most consumers. So I was excited when I heard Sony had introduced a dunkable version of its more affordable midrange smartphone, the M2.

As the name suggests, the M2 Aqua is certified waterproof (using the independent, internationally recognised IP Code standard) to a depth of 1.5 metres for 30 minutes – just make sure the flaps covering the charging and SIM and SD card slots are properly closed.

I went out of my way to put this to the test using the review unit I was lucky enough to spend much of the school holidays with. I submerged it in swimming pools, Berg streams and seaside rock pools with equal abandon, and it passed with flying colours, leaving me with some memorable underwater snaps and videos.

The M2 Aqua is also dust resistant, something I was grateful for on several windy, sandblasted days at the beach.

Okay, so it’s water- and dustproof. But how does it perform as a smartphone?

The specifications list is pretty underwhelming at first glance. The 4.8 inch screen has a resolution of just 540x800. But I found it bright and readable, although a tad too reflective in strong sunlight.

The M2 Aqua is powered by a decidedly late 2013 combination of a quad core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM, but I have to admit I never found it laggy or unresponsive, even while playing fairly processor intensive games. It runs on the penultimate version of Google’s Android operating system, 4.4 Kitkat.

The 8GB of onboard storage is a little miserly, but that’s easily remedied with the addition of an aftermarket micro-SD card.

The 8MP camera performs well in bright sunlight and the dedicated camera shutter button is a real asset underwater when the touchscreen stops working properly. Low light shots, however, are pretty fuzzy.

Although it’s encased in plastic, rather than aluminium and glass like its more upmarket siblings, the styling is very similar and, thanks in part to the matt, non-slip back, it feels solid and secure in the hand.

If you’re in the market for a good quality, reasonably specced, midrange smartphone that’s not afraid of a bit of water and sand, the Sony Xperia M2 Aqua is well worth its R4 000 or so price tag.

Related Topics: