Sony Xperia E5

The premium brand Sony arrives with one of its most affordable E-series model, Xperia E5. Priced at Rs. 14,990, Sony Xperia E5 is all set to face the fierce competition of the mid-range budget flagship market.

However, Sony Xperia is not a desirable handset. It comes as a mediocre set with poor performance and battery which seems incapable of staying afloat in the fierce competition of the flagship market.

Sony Xperia E5 has a signature Sony design – a rounded rectangle which chunky bottom and top bezels. It’s a bit thicker than its predecessor, and due to the polycarbonate build and matte finish, it feels and looks good. One significant departure from its predecessors is that this phone does not come with a dedicated camera button. There is also no fingerprint scanner which is a reasonable expectation from modern phones. E5 also doesn’t get the signature circular power button as Xperia Xa but a plastic lozenge-like power button with a volume rocker on it. It is difficult to reach which a flaw in the otherwise excellent design.

Sony Xperia E5 has a 5-inch display like the Sony Xperia X, XA, and X Performance and features a resolution of 720×1280 pixels, similar to Xperia XA. It has a pixel density of 294ppi. It is adequate in relation to the size and makes the image sharp and easy to read. However, compared to higher-resolution phones, the display turns out to be just decent. It provides realistic colours, and the brightness can be turned up for outdoor legibility. It can go low as well at night to kill the glare. However, the phone has poor viewing angles and dims down when viewed from corners.

Xperia E5 carries a quad-core MediaTek MT6735 processor running at 1.3GHz. It is partnered with a Mali-T720 GPU but comes with a limited RAM of 1.5GB. As expected, there are slight delays when you are loading a new app, and there are odd stutters during multitasking. While casual games run without a problem, there are stutters when high-end games like Asphalt 8 is run on this set in high settings. Heavy games can also warm up the phone. There is also the concern about whether performance will take a further dip once the phone gets more apps downloaded on it. Benchmark scores placed Xperia E5 at an unimpressive 539 for single-core and 1485 in multi-core, which is quite behind when compared to the multi-core scores of Moto G4’s 3104 and Oppo F1’s 3030.

The Sony Xperia E5 has a 13MP primary camera with features like autofocus, object tracking, and HDR. In good light, E5 can get you lovely shots, and HDR activated shots boosts the image quality, making it clear and more detailed. The default 9MP camera shots are good with a steady hand. The camera app is essential and allows different scene choices, and the ability to tweak white balance and exposure levels. However, it does take time to load. Low-light images are just decent, capturing a bit of noise and losing out on details.

The 5MP selfie camera works great and clicks decent selfies though there is a lot of noise that is also captured. It requires a steady hand or else it may result in blurring.

The Sony Xperia E5 can capture 1080p videos at 30fps, but there are issues with focusing, and the object tracking does not work well. The final product is quite grainy. Plus, any phone movement may result in blurs, especially in low-light.

Sony Xperia E5 has a mediocre battery of 2,300 mAh. However, it does perform well in real life, and moderate use can put it through a single day. However, heavy gaming like Asphalt 8 saw it dropping 5% every 10 minutes – a drainage not expected from a 720p display. Running a 90-minute HD video at full brightness with Wi-Fi syncing occurring in the background saw it drop to 74% by the time the video ended. This 26% loss is quite significant compared to the 17% of Moto G4 and 15% of Oppo F1 – though it did better than Xperia XA, which has the same battery but lost 29%. On top of that, Xperia E5 does not support fast charging, and it takes two hours to get from 0% to 100%. Compared to that, Moto G4 comes with turbocharging and takes a lot less time.

Sony Xperia E5 has a decent display and quality camera which delivers when the right conditions are present. However, the internals of the phone is a letdown. The processor is quite average and paired with the stingy RAM capacity, it becomes below the average standard. The battery is mediocre too. It is a recommended phone for someone who wants a Sony phone; otherwise, it does not stand out in the budget market. It is better to opt for Moto E4 Plus –  a trusted brand with much better specs.