Sony unveils waterproof smartphone Xperia M2 Aqua; Micromax Canvas Knight Cameo available for Rs 11,500

Just yesterday, we had written about how Micromax is inching closer to Samsung for supremacy in the overall mobile phone market in India. The home grown handset and tablet manufacturer has now further expanded its Canvas range of smartphones in the country with Canvas Knight Cameo A290. While the company has not officially launched the device, it is available for purchase on a number of e-commerce stores for Rs 11,500.

In addition, Sony Mobile Communications has also further expanded its portfolio of Xperia smartphones. Christened Xperia M2 Aqua, it is the first smartphone to bring Sony's waterproof technology to a mid-range price point. A waterproof version of the of the Xperia M2, the device sports a 4.8 inch display and runs on the Android operating system.

"The popularity of Xperia M2 showed us that there was a demand for premium Sony features at an affordable price point. Following consumer feedback, we've now taken this a step further by bringing our waterproof expertise to a mid-range smartphone with Xperia M2 Aqua," said Calum MacDougall, director of Xperia marketing at Sony Mobile.

Here is a look at the specifications of the devices.

Canvas Knight Cameo for Rs 11,500

The smartphone has a 4.7 inch IPS HD touchscreen display (1280x720 pixels resolution) and runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. It is powered by a 1.4 GHz MediaTek MT6592M octa-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 8GB that can be further expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

Canvas Knight Cameo has an 8 mega pixel autofocus rear camera with Flash that can also record videos, as well as a 5MP front facing camera for video calling. Additional features of the camera include touch focus, face detection, and smile detection, among others. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, as well as a microUSB port and a microSD card slot.

The company has provided a 2,010 mAh battery in the device that it claims will provide up to 7 hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby time. The smartphone comes with dual-SIM capability, has GPS (with A-GPS support), and is available in black/gold, white/gold, and pure black colours. Micromax has also pre-loaded a number of apps in the device like Amazon, BookMyShow, Hike, Opera mini, Saavan, and Spuul, etc.

Xperia M2 Aqua

This one sports a slightly larger 4.8 inch qHD touchscreen display (960x540 pixels resolution) with 230 ppi pixel density and runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor (with Adreno 305 GPU) and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 8GB that can be further expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

Xperia M2 Aqua features an 8MP autofocus rear camera (has Sony Exmor RS for mobile image sensor) with Pulsed LED Flash that can also record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second, as well as a 1.1MP front facing VGA camera for video calling. Additional features of the camera include Steady Shot (video stabilisation), geotagging, red-eye reduction, and High Dynamic Range (HDR), among others.

Also, Xperia camera apps like Social Live allow users to broadcast special moments live to their Facebook account, while Picture effect and AR effect allows them to add animations and colours over their photographs. Timeshift burst takes 31 pictures in just two seconds to ensure you capture that perfect moment. Here is an introductory video of the smartphone.

On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G LTE (depending on the region), as well as a microUSB port and a microSD card slot. The dimensions of the device are 140mm x 72mm x 8.6mm and its weight is 149 gm. Sony has provided a 2,330 mAh battery in the device that it claims will provide over 11 hours of talk time, 8 hours of video playback, and 641 hours of standby time.

The smartphone comes with Near Field Communication (NFC), has GPS (with A-GPS support), and will be available in white and black colours. In addition, Xperia M2 Aqua uses Sony's NFC technology to allow one-touch connectivity with a range of other Sony devices like SmartWear, headsets, speakers, home audio, and TVs, etc.

While an exact launch date or pricing for India is not available as of now, the smartphone will roll out next month to markets including Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe.