Sony Xperia M

Sony is clearly aiming to have an Android phone at every price point and its latest effort is the Xperia M. This is a budget-conscious smartphone has very competitive price tag but lacks 4G support.

Sony's current Xperia smartphones put a big emphasis on design and while the Xperia M is no different, there's less that stands out on this model. There's a built-in notifications light that can be illuminated in different colours and the handset is constructed from a skeleton frame, but there's no glass back panels or transparent elements here.

At 115g and 9.3mm thick, the Xperia M is a very light and thin smartphone. Combined with a 4in screen, it is likely to suit potential users who find the current range of flagship smartphones too large. The phone will be available in black, white, purple and yellow colour variants.

The Xperia M is targeted at budget conscious consumers, so its specifications sheet is about what you would expect from an inexpensive smartphone. There's a 4in TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 854x480, a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. Thankfully, there's a microSD card slot supporting memory cards up to 64GB in size.

The Xperia M has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with Sony's Exmor RS sensor and single LED flash, while a front-facing VGA camera handles video calls. Other features include a 1750mAh battery and NFC-connectivity, though there's no 4G connectivity.

The Xperia M comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though the software is once again skinned with Sony's own UI. The Battery Stamina mode feature seen on the Xperia Z is also present here. It prevents applications from running when the screen is locked, therefore saving power.

The Sony Xperia M is available in Australia through Vodafone pre-paid for $199 and also sells for $249 outright through Sony retailers.

Sony Xperia M Android 5.0.2 Lollipop Update [CyanogenMod CM12 Custom ROM]

Popular mobile software developer team, CyanogenMod has released the latest CM12 series update to Sony's 2013 mid-range smartphone Xperia M.

Last year, Sony officially ended the software support for the Xperia M with the final release of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Sony Xperia M owners never got to taste the chocolate-wafer flavoured KitKat update nor got to experience the sweet candy Lollipop firmware.
Well, the things are about to change big-time for Xperia M owners thanks to hard-working Cyanogen team. For the first time they have released the CM12 custom ROM which comes incorporated with all the goodies of Android Lollipop, more custom features, performance tweaks and a lot improvements to enhance user experience.

The new CM12 series custom ROM is based on the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) 5.0.2 Lollipop OS. However, this CyanogenMod custom ROM is a nightly version. It is unstable and has some un-tested bugs in it.
So, we advise our readers go through the whole tutorial article first before going ahead with the custom ROM installation.
Some of the features that are missing in the CM12 nightly version are:

1. Theme Engine
2. Quick Settings reorganisation and customisation
3. Quick Settings Ribbon mode
4. Navigation bar reorganisation and customisation
5. Sound panel customisation
6. Lock-screen quick unlock

[Note: Cyanogen has confirmed that they are on final stages of the development (85% complete) of the stable firmware and would release it soon. Until then users can upgrade their device with the nightly update.]

Sony Xperia M  Full specifications

Network                    4G+3G + 2G
Dimension/Weight    124X62X9.3mm/115 gm
Display                      IPS LCD (16M Colours) 480X854 Pixels, 4.0 inches
                                  Multitouch (4 Fingers) with protection.
Sound                        Mp3,WAV ringtones with Loudspeaker, 3.5mm Jack
Memory                    Inbuilt 4GB, Expandable MicroSD upto 32GB
Data                          GPRS,EDGE,Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n),Bluetooth 4.0,USB

Camera                     VGA Front Camera, 5MP Back(2592X1944)Pixel with LED flash and 

                                  -Face Detection

OS                             Android 4.1
Chipset                      MSM8227
CPU                          Dual Core 1 GHz Krait
GPU                          Adreno 305
NFC                          Enabled