It’s fair to say that the Sony Xperia L3 wasn’t the most exciting of phones, but the newly announced Sony Xperia L4 looks set to be rather more interesting, and an upgrade in a number of ways.
First up, this has a 6.2-inch 720 x 1680 21:9 screen. That makes it bigger and marginally higher resolution than the Xperia L3, but arguably more important is that aspect ratio. It’s something few companies outside Sony have embraced, and this is sure to be a cheaper way to get it than the Sony Xperia 5 or even the Xperia 10.
Of course, not everyone will want such a screen, but Sony notes that it’s good for running two apps side by side, and for capturing and viewing videos and images in 21:9.
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The Sony Xperia L4 also has a triple-lens camera on the back, with a 13MP f/2.0 main sensor, a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Not the best of specs on paper, but having three lenses at all in what’s likely to be an entry-level handset isn’t bad.
Other notable features of the Sony Xperia L4 include its notch, which Sony had previously resisted in favor of a full bezel, and its 3,580mAh battery, which the company claims should easily see you through a busy day. It also supports fast charging.
The rest of the specs and features are less interesting – there’s an 8MP front-facing camera, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Android 9, 64GB of storage, a microSD card slot, 3GB of RAM, and a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset.
Those last two specs are the same as the Xperia L3, so disappointingly it doesn’t sound like the Sony Xperia L4 will be any more powerful.
If you’re interested in the Xperia L4 you’ll be able to buy it in a choice of black or blue in select markets from sometime in ‘Spring 2020’, which presumably means between March and May. The big remaining question is how much it will cost, but for reference the Xperia L3 was £169 (around $225/AU$315), so the price might be similar here.
- See what we thought of the Sony Xperia 10 Plus
