Sony has announced the new Sony Xperia E3 smartphone during its press conference at IFA in Berlin. The new, 'affordable' smartphone has a 4.5in display, features a similar design to the flagship Xperia Z3 and comes with reasonable specs across the board. Read on to find out about the Sony Xperia E3 release date, UK price and specs. See also: Best smartphones 2014
Sony Xperia E3: Release date in the UK
Sony used its keynote at IFA 2014 in Berlin to unveil the Xperia E3, alongside the new Sony Xperia Z3, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact the SmartBand Talk and SmartWatch 3. See also: Sony SmartWatch 3 hands-on review
We know that the Xperia E3 is due to be released this month, and we'll update this article as soon as we find out the exact release date in the UK.
See also: Sony Xperia Z3 hands-on review
Sony Xperia E3: Price in the UK
Similarly to the release date, we're awaiting confirmation of a price for the Sony Xperia E3, though Sony has said that it will be "affordable," suggesting a sub-£200 price tag.
Sony tells us that the E in E3 stands for entry-level, while the M in the Xperia M2 stands for mid-range. However, in its press release, Sony describes the E3 as a mid-range smartphone so there's some confusion surrounding that. We'll decide for ourselves when the official UK pricing is announced.
We'll bring you the latest pricing details as they are released by Sony but for now, Clove has a price of £162.
Sony Xperia E3: Design
Sony has designed the Xperia E3 to look like its flagship sibling the Xperia Z3. It comes compete with resilient corners and a scratch-resistant screen made with tempered glass that's designed to help make the phone more durable.
Colour options for the Xperia E3 include white, black, lime and copper.
The Xperia E3 has a 4.5in IPS display, which is smaller than both the Xperia Z3's 5.2in screen and the Xperia Z3 Compact's 4.6in screen.
It measures 137.1 x 69.4 mm so is fairly compact, and is 8.5mm thick. That's thicker than the Xperia Z3's 7.3mm, but thinner than the Z3 Compact's 8.6mm. It weighs 143.8 grams, which is lighter than the full-size Z3 but heavier than the 129g Z3 Compact.
Sony Xperia E3: Specs
The Sony Xperia E3's aforementioned 4.5in display is 854 x 480 pixels, giving it a rather measly 217ppi pixel density trumped by many of its rivals.
Inside the Sony Xperia E3 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz processor, the same processor you'll find in the budget Motorola Moto G and the HTC Desire 610. It also has an Adreno 305 graphics processor.
That's coupled with 1GB RAM and 4GB built-in storage, expandable via microSD by 32GB.
The camera found on the rear of the Xperia E3 is 5Mp, and offers HDR too. It's capable of recording HD 1080p videos. On the front of the smartphone is a VGA camera, meaning its sensor is less than 1Mp so not great for selfie lovers.
The Sony Xperia E3 offers 4G LTE compatibility, too, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi.
Sony offers a dual SIM version of the Xperia E3.
When it comes to the battery, the Sony Xperia E3 sports a 2330 mAh non-removable battery that the company says will offer up to 12 hours of talk time and 7 hours of video layback time. There's also STAMINA Mode for 14 per cent longer battery life according to Sony.
Sony Xperia E3: Software
The Xperia E3 runs Android 4.4 KitKat overlaid with Sony's own user interface, which includes various Sony apps including the Walkman app, Sony Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited with a free 30-day trial for those services.
The Camera app includes features such as Timeshift, Burst and AR effect, and the Social Live app and Live on YouTube by Xperia app both help make sharing your videos and photos easier.
The shake to start feature lets you customise shortcuts to apps for quick and easy access. By shaking your wrist, you can launch an app such as Facebook or Twitter, for example.
