Sony’s Xperia Z lineup, in case you didn’t know, has gone away. You might be sad to hear this but there are replacements on the way, in the shape of the upcoming Xperia X line and the newly-dated-for-South-Africa Xperia E5.
The Xperia E5 is a close relative of last year’s Xperia E4 (you think?) rather than a member of a new range but it’s still got some specs to commend it. Sony are giving this 5-inch handset a 720p screen – which makes sense when you see the price – and a Mediatek quad-core, the MTK6735. 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage seem a little slim but the E5 is also packing a microSD slot so you can augment your space if need be, up to 200GB extra.
It’s the camera and the battery life that Sony reckons will grab your attention. They’re claiming two days between charges for the Xperia E5, a claim that we’ll have to see to believe with the 2,700mAh battery. The cameras are normal Sony fare, a 13MP rear and 5MP front shooter with some nifty software features are the highlights there. We’re still waiting for something with optical image stabilisation from the company but this could serve in the meantime.
Sony have given us a local approximation of the Xperia E5’s launch. We can expect to see it in August this year and, when it lands, it’ll be carrying a recommended retail price of R4,000. We assume that no unusual exchange-rate shenanigans will have taken place by then.
