Sony Xperia E5 review: Nice ’n easy

Phone

We have a single-SIM Sony Xperia E5, but there is a dual-SIM version if you need an extra phone line. Either model has active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic.

The call log can be filtered by missed, incoming and outgoing calls.

Dialer with smart dial • Call log • Call log filtering • Phonebook

Not to stay behind the curve of the X-family, Sony has given the E5 a unique feature - a built-in answering machine. It picks up an incoming call, plays your greeting and would later replay your friends' messages. You can set up your greeting and pickup conditions.

The Xperia X has a built-in answering machine

Loudspeaker

The Xperia E5 is equipped with a single loudspeaker sitting behind a grille at the bottom. It scores Below Average score in our loudspeaker test. However, turning on ClearAudio+ in the settings boosted it to an Average mark.

Quality is okay with no distortions even at full volume (and that's good since you'll likely crank up the volume slider up and leave it there, it's just too quiet otherwise).

Messaging

The Sony Xperia E5 has a beautiful Material design messaging app. It feels like the instant messengers you might be used to, including conversations wallpapers and cute stickers you can send.

Ours came with panda stickers pre-installed, but you can download more (free and paid sticker packs are available). You can also send your own creations drawn in the Sketch (obviously, this changes the message type to MMS).

Messaging app • Stickers are available, just like in chat apps

For text entry, Sony picked the SwiftKey keyboard. It became popular for its swipe input, but regular tap-typing with text correction is available as well. Typing is quite comfortable and the narrow bezels didn't lead to accidental presses.

The SwiftKey keyboard is highly customizable

The keyboard is highly customizable - you can change the layout, choose what characters are available (accented characters, emoji), enable a number row, resize the keyboard or even undock it. The Messaging app also handles voice input.