At MWC 2015, Sony announced a flagship Android tablet. You'd expect said flagship tablet to be accompanied by a flagship Smartphone. But that's not how it's going to be. This year, Sony has announced the Xperia M4 Aqua, a mid-range Android Smartphone that is powered by an octa-core processor.

It is clear that Sony hopes to sell a ton of units of the Xperia M4 Aqua. Why else would a company, which traditionally announces flagship Smartphones at MWC and IFA every year, use either of these trade shows as a launchpad for a mid-range device.

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

The Xperia M4 Aqua is powered by a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 chipset. Qualcomm's mid-ranger has 4x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.7GHz, and another block of 4x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.0GHz. Snapdragon 615 has the capable Adreno 405 GPU running the show. The SoC has been paired with 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. A microSD card slot is present.

The Xperia M4 Aqua is only 7.3mm thick. With a 67.6% screen-to-body ratio, this 5-inch handset with an HD (1280 x 720) LCD display is 145.5mm tall. The Xperia M4 Aqua weighs 140 grams only.

The device has a non-removable 2400 mAh battery. Sony promises 2-day battery life from the Xperia M4 Aqua. We'll hold Sony to their word on that. The device is rated for 7 hours talk time, 7 hours video playback, and 779 hours of standby.

Sony has fitted the Xperia M4 Aqua with a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera, which should help with better low-light performance. The rear camera supports up to ISO 3200 sensitivity. Video recording is limited to 1080p@30fps. There's also a 5MP front-facing camera, not forgetting that our present generation is obsessed with clicking selfies, above everything else. I wouldn't have been surprised if Sony had gone for an even bigger front camera module.

Despite being a mid-range Smartphone, the Xperia M4 Aqua shares the same design language as found on the flagship Xperia Z3. It looks very premium, the color options that are available - red, white, and black - are excellent, and the ergonomic touches given to the device are something that you don't see everyday in devices belonging to the mid-range market segment.

Sony has bestowed the Xperia M4 Aqua with IP68 certification, which was expected since this device has the word "Aqua" in its name itself. The Xperia M4 Aqua is waterproof, as well as dust-proof, thanks to the IP65 certification.

Android 5.0 Lollipop runs the show on the Xperia M4 Aqua. Sony has given it the usual Xperia UI overlay, which is light and simple. It sticks close to Google's stock design, although we hope that all of Sony's apps have adopted Material Design guidelines by now.

The Xperia M4 Aqua is priced at €299 (Rs. 20,900). Sony plans to launch the Xperia M4 Aqua in 80 countries across the world in Spring 2015. A 4G enabled version of the Xperia M4 Aqua will be available in select markets. US launch is not a part of Sony's current plan.