Sony announces the Xperia M2 Aqua, a waterproof smartphone that won't break the bank

Sony has officially taken the lid off its Xperia M2 Aqua waterproof mid-ranger. The smartphone seems to be a mixed bag of awesome and underwhelming. There are the premium Sony features, such as sleek OmniBalance design, a dedicated camera button for the 8MP camera with HDR, Xperia camera apps (Social Live, Picture effect, AR effect, Timeshift burst, and more), a 2330mAh battery, 4G LTE, and again - water and dust resistance, which you don't usually get in a mid-ranger phone. Unless you consider the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini, but that jewel is more like 'upper mid-range', and its price reflects that.

And then, there are the 4.8-inch qHD display (540x960 resolution at a lowly 230ppi pixel density), the so-so Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 graphics and 1GB RAM, a humble 1.1MP front-facing camera, and mono speakers. The Xperia M2 Aqua seems to package the best of Sony's Xperia apps and experience in a middling device, but the phone might be a bit under-powered to perform truly smooth. And a qHD resolution doesn't cut it for a display that's near 5 inches by diagonal.

We'll reserve our final judgements for the moment in which the phone lands in our hands. Until then, be on the lookout for the Xperia M2 this Autumn in Latin America, the Asia Pacific region, and across Europe. The price hasn't been determined yet.