Sony Xperia E5 review: Nice ’n easy

Display

Keeping it simple, Sony has equipped the Xperia E5 with a 5" IPS LCD display of 720p resolution. The resulting pixel density of 294ppi is reasonable for the class, but a growing number of phone makers manage to fit 1080p screens in that kind of budget nowadays.

Unlike the Xperia XA, the Xperia E5 is missing the Mobile Bravia Engine 2 technology. Nevertheless, the panel is quite bright at 540nits at its max setting. Contrast is decent too.

Colors are mostly accurate with an average deltaE of 6.3 (max 9.9). It may not sound that well, but you have got to remember that even the Xperia Z5 has a less accurate screen.

You can tweak the White balance from the settings menu. Sony has also provided an adaptive brightness toggle as well as a Smart backlight control, which keeps the screen lit when it needs to be.

The Xperia E5 fares alright in bright outdoor light. It's not as good as the more premium Xperia family members like the XA, M or X, but it's on par with the likes of the Moto G4.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Apple iPhone 6
  3.838
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3.023
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Xiaomi Mi 4S
  2.095
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia E5 comes in single and dual-SIM flavors. The phones can connect at up to 150Mbps speeds thanks to LTE Cat. 4 (50Mbps up) or Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (dual-band) if you prefer a local connection.

Bluetooth 4.1 with Low Energy and audio-focused aptX is on board as well. NFC is available too.

Wireless media connections include DLNA and Miracast. There's no wired TV out, but the USB port does support On The Go for hooking up external storage.

Battery

The Xperia E5 is powered by a 2,700mAh battery - adequate for a 5-incher, especially when the bar is set so low by the Xperia XA's 2,300mAh unit. The MediaTek chipset inside the Xperia E5 is built on the 28nm manufacturing process so it won't be as power efficient as some of the rivals boasting the 14nm build.

Happily, the Xperia E5 did a lot better than the XA and managed to put up a below average endurance rating of 47 hours. At least Sony isn't promising a two-day battery life here.

The biggest drain on the battery came from video playback. Here, the Xperia E5 managed just 6 hours and 45 minutes. We're not impressed either with the web browsing time of 7 hours and 38 minutes. At least, the talk time is as advertised at 30 minutes above 11 hours.

Good thing that Sony has baked in its Stamina Mode feature. It's an advanced battery saving mode, which not only restricts brightness and performance but also display rendering, vibration and background data to further enhance battery life.

Sony can improve the battery performance with future software updates - we used the latest firmware version available at the time of testing - 37.0.A.1.133.