Sony’s mobile division is in a strange place right now. It’s killed off the Z series and launched the Xperia X and Xperia XA without altering the design formula it’s used for years. Now, the Japanese brand’s flagship phones have come in for a bit of flak from us, but I’ve always liked its more budget and mid-range phones oriented. Last year’s Xperia M4 Aqua was great and the Xperia M5 once again offers great bang for the buck, especially if you’re after a water-resistant phone. Watch – Trusted Explains: Buying a new smartphone Sony Xperia M5 – Design and build qualityEither Sony really, and I mean really, loves its ‘omnibalance’ phone design, or it simply doesn’t have the designers available to make anything different. On first glance, the Xperia M5 looks just like any other Sony smartphone released in the last three years. Related: Best smartphones in 2016  The front and back are flat, while the sides are rounded with prominent corners. Unlike the pricier Xperias, the M5 is mostly constructed from plastic, which means it feels less fancy than its SIM-free price suggests. There’s no fingerprint scanning button on the side like on the Z5, replaced by the more familiar circular lock switch. Below that is the volume rocker, and further down is the camera shutter button. I still appreciate a physical button for the camera – it makes jumping to it from anywhere easy and quick – but they’re a bit mushy and hard to press. The opposite side features a cover that when popped off reveals the SIM card slot and tray for a microSD card. It’s quite tricky prizing out the inner trays, but it’s hopefully something you won’t be doing all that often. Related: Best SIM-only deals It’s compact, perfect for one-handed use and as long as you don’t plump for the awfully gaudy and downright ugly gold option I’m using for review you’ll bag yourself a nice looking phone. Yet, Sony needs to stop resting on its laurels and do something a bit different with its design eventually. One of the biggest selling points for the Xperia M5 is that it’s waterproof. This feature is nothing new for the Xperia series, in fact it’s been one of the mainstays since the Xperia Z hit, but it’s still nice to see it sticking around. The Xperia M5 holds an IP65/68 rating, which means that it can withstand light water jets as well as full immersion, and is thus more water resistant than the Samsung Galaxy S7 and its IP68 rating. It’s rated to handle 1m of water for 30-minutes, though don’t try dropping it in a keg of beer. It won’t end well. Related: IP68 explained Sony Xperia M5 – Screen QualityAt 5-inches, the Xperia M5 is fairly typical and some might deem it a ‘smaller’ phone these days. It still packs a 1080p resolution though, which combined with a smaller size makes for a very sharp display. I loved the screens on the Xperia Z5 and while the 4K gimmick on the Xperia Z5 Premium was an absolute joke, it still had a lovely 1080p panel. Thankfully, the M5 retains this quality as it once again has a fantastic screen. Especially at the price. Aside from the fact it’s an absolute fingerprint magnet, the LCD display is vivid with accurate colours. Viewing angles could be better though as there’s an obvious loss of contrast when you tilt the device to the side. Related: Best phone deals For me, 5-inches is too small to use this as a media device – even though films look great, with deep blacks – but it’s ideal for bouts of mobile gaming. It’s not all perfect, though. By modern standards the bezel above and below the screen is very large, especially given there’s no physical home button. I’d rather see something like the Xperia XA, which almost eliminates the bezels and improves the look no end, but it’s not a huge problem. Brightness is the greater concern. Even on full whack, it lacks any real punch and it pales in comparison to even cheaper phones like the BQ Aquaris X5. How we test phonesWe test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product. Bought it for just around 3 months ago .bought this phone specifically for its camera due to its video call capability but there is problems.... So many defect in this phone... 1st there is an error in camera that said cannot used camera because off it was use by other application but there is no other application using it... 2nd in order to fix the camera problem i have to format everything but to no avail it is still not working . 3rd there is a problem for the usb connection that it cannot connect to the PCC to fix the phone.... So verdict... The phone is now have become a good coaster for my coffee and sony phone?? Never again...
whether the final version of the update is still a Autoshutdown?
Hi .....I was thinking of buying M5 .....so what are the de... I am also thinking to buy that phone bro :) A friend of mine bought M5 a few weeks ago, and as he told me he was very very AMAZED with his Sony M5 !
***edited: Please don't! I just bought it yesterday and the battery is faulty and I am now worrying on how many weeks or months before I could resolve my problem... They won't give a replacement item after THEY have finished tweaking my phone. They won't even give me a refund. They even won't exchange it for another unit that has the same price so I am stuck in waiting for weeks or months...
Hi .....I was thinking of buying M5 .....so what are the defect in it....plz tell me.
The ear speaker on my Sony M5 just stopped working. If I'm ... just try to restart it bro, and make sure that you shutdown ur phone while charging to avoid any problems :v
no more shotdown after update. good job sony
Have this phone and is working pretty nice. Dont believe on the trolls here.
The ear speaker on my Sony M5 just stopped working. If I'm on a call. I can't hear the person on the other end. The phone is only 5 months old. I sent the phone back to the store and they had to escalate the problem. I'm so disappointed in Sony. Now I have to wait for 2 weeks while they try to fix the problem. I think I will switch to a different brand. I'm not the only one that has experienced a problem with the ear speaker on a Sony phone.
For m5 users who updated their devices to Android 6.0 try to go to mobile network and choose Lte only for network connection. I tried it and it worked. No more shutdown.
We purchased one of these phones about 2 months ago and had... ty man i was really looking forward to purchasing this phone but after all the bad reviews i give up on it :(
I really like the spec for this phone but i heard some bad ... We purchased one of these phones about 2 months ago and had trouble with both the original and replacement unit. The phone would overheat and shut down after a few minutes usage.
Absolute rubbish. Shuts down all the time and will not restart without charger. An expensive annoying phone that is completely useless. I am so put off SONY for the lack of recall to fix this terrible device.
I really like the spec for this phone but i heard some bad things about it and the biggest worry is about auto shutdown problem can anyone tell me should or should i not buy this phone, before this i had a sony phone and i was amazed by it's durability and quality
I have had 2 faulty Sony M5's returned. I would just switch off and won't power up again. It seems to have been discontinued in South Africa. Great camera, my previous Sony M2 Aqua was superb compared to its follower!
I'm very.. very.. very.. disapponted with this series. The advertisement was so good. They told us about that smartphone could be "swim" in depth 1.5 and 30 minutes, but the fact is the water fill the phone and phhhuuffff... So, i took it to Sony Center to fix the problem. I waited for almost a month and still found problems, the touchscreen can't use normally. I sent it to Sony Center again, and wait about 40 days. But I found my phone not 100% fixed. I surrendered with this situation. So I suggest you all not to buy Sony smartphone product. |
