Sony Xperia M2 hands-on

So, the Xperia M2 is the leaked Xperia G that was supposed to challenge the Moto G.

Here’s a quick video demo of the Xperia M2 along with our initial impressions of the device.

The Xperia M2 has the traditional OmniBalance styling and a roomy 4.8″ screen. At qHD (540 x 960) resolution, this makes a relatively low 229ppi.

The 4.8″ screen could have used some more pixels

The M2 is a full centimeter taller and half a centimeter wider than the 4.5″ Moto G. The Sony is three millimeters thinner though.

While the screen of the M2 is not too impressive, the Xperia has a number of advantages over the Moto G.

For one, the camera on the back is an 8MP unit with an Exmor RS sensor and 1080p capture (vs. 5MP / 720p for the Moto). The camera also borrows the Background Defocus and Motiongraph features from the Xperia Z2.

8MP / 1080p camera with LED flash on the back

Since those 1080p videos will quickly eat up the 8GB of built-in storage, the microSD card slot is welcome. The Xperia M2 also features a 2,300mAh battery, which Sony says is enough for 14 hours of talk time.

There’s more – the Xperia M2 has a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chipset, which is similar to the Moto G’s but supports LTE and NFC. Connectivity also includes MHL and Miracast for wired and wireless video output.

The traditional OmniBalance design with aluminum Power key • microSD card slot and shutter key

The Sony Xperia M2 will launch in April on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean at $300 / €220. The color options are identical to the Z2 flagship – White, Black and Purple.