Sony Xperia L4 Full Review

Introduction

The Sony Xperia L4 inherits its predecessor Sony Xperia L3. The most striking innovation is the long display format in 21: 9, which the more expensive devices Sony Xperia 1, Sony Xperia 10 and Sony Xperia 10 Plus have been carrying for a year and which also suits the new models Xperia 1 II and Xperia 10 II. The L4 inspires at first glance, but when you look closely there are weaknesses.

Housing lesson

The Sony Xperia L4 comes with a 6.2 inch (15.7 cm) display in 21: 9 format. The L3 had a 19: 9 format of 5.7 inches. The advantage: Despite the rather large diagonal and its somewhat thick display edge, Sony's Xperia L4 remains relatively narrow (71 millimeters) and is therefore safe to hold. The width has a noticeable effect just a few millimeters. Typical for Sony, the design is straightforward and rounded without being sucked too much. In my opinion, the non-slip plastic surface of every glass surface and every high-gloss plastic comes out on top. The L4 is not constantly littered with fingerprints. Like a good cover and much more solid than its predecessor. This entry-level phone looks pretty good.

The whole thing is rounded off by a notification LED and a flush-mounted main camera! The L4 is stable on the table. In short: the cheap plastic housing is not only chic and really good, but in my hands it is even more pleasant than all the glass top models. There are two things to complain about: The fingerprint sensor is easily accessible on the side, but the on / off switch is not integrated as in the more expensive models, but is less accessible under it. And even though Sony has pulled out the L4's casing, the front camera with a tear-shaped notch in the LC display is annoying.

Display for dark hours

For a diagonal of 6.2 inches, there is a resolution of 1680x720 pixels. Even if you would have liked Full HD +, HD + is sufficient. The sharpness is far from the biggest problem of the display. In the interior, the L4 pleases with a decent sharpness and colorful display. In the open air, especially when the sun is shining, the fun stops quickly. Brightness and viewing angle are too low and make it difficult to read when exposed to sunlight. The really practical feature does not comfort you that you can split the long screen to see two apps at the same time.

Cameras

The smartphone has a triple camera on the back, with only two lenses really taking pictures. The third lens (with 2 megapixels) is a ToF lens ("Time of Flight", literally: "flight time"), which measures distances and thus assists with blurring effects aka bokeh. The Xperia L4 takes pictures with 5 megapixels (17 mm) or 13 megapixels (26 mm), whereby the 5 megapixel ultra-wide angle already goes in the direction of a fisheye look. The front camera in the notch has a resolution of 8 megapixels. In good lighting, photos were sharp and colorful, significantly better than a Samsung Galaxy M31 that was compared and almost as good as a Galaxy A51. However, the Xperia L4 fell significantly behind in poor lighting. Party photos are nothing, but that's not so important at the moment.

Speed and Memory

Too bad: Only a Mediatek 6762 ensures manageable speed. The main memory is 3 gigabytes (GB). So far, the values ​​are unchanged compared to the Xperia L3 - so the L4 does not win a benchmark duel. It can be worse, for example with a Nokia 1.3 or Nokia 2.3, but they don't even cost half and a Galaxy M31 or A51 adds up double the points in 3DMark. And even that is at best mediocre. Sony should have added a little chip here. Even if the operation is usually quite acceptable, you have to reckon with stuttering and lean frame rates in complex games. Compared to its predecessor, the L4 with 64 gigabytes has twice the device memory. If that is not enough, the phone swallows a microSD card for expansion - but this then occupies the dual SIM memory space.

Battery

The power storage has a capacity of 3,580 milliamp hours (mAh). The L4 lasts a little longer than the L3 with 3,300 mAh. The endurance is decent, but not outstanding. Because the endurance runners in the battery comparison test bring up to 6,000 mAh. And these are not the expensive devices! The Xperia L4's battery charges via USB Type-C. Recharging with the included power adapter is not really quick. In one hour the state of charge rose from 50 to 89 percent.

Android and equipment

The Xperia L4 comes with Android 9 by default. Android 11 is already casting its shadow and Android 10 has long been available. With Android 9, the navigation can not be so extensively adapted to your own preferences. The virtual buttons are always shown. If you download the support app, you will find the sad entry under "Next Android Version": "No new version planned". The radio connections are comparatively completely assembled with WLAN a / b / g / n / ac in the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz band, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC for contactless payment. Pleasing from yesterday are the headphone jack and the status LED.

Prices and availability

The Sony Xperia L4 is already on the market. The recommended retail price (RRP) is 199 euros. It is available in black and blue.

Conclusion

The Xperia L4 has become beautiful and it could have been nicer if Sony hadn't been so stingy with the processor. The L4 is also cushioned by cheaper cell phones in terms of performance. The somewhat low resolution is far less annoying in everyday life than the poor brightness. Even with a convincing feel and a modern form factor, you won't even become an insider tip for less than 200 euros. In addition, you can also expect the current Android version in this price range.