The device is dustproof and can be submerged in 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. On the plus side, there’s no cap on the microUSB port, so you don’t have to fiddle with it when it runs out of juice.

Snapdragon 615 and Lollipop on board

The Xperia M4 Aqua looks a lot like the flagship Xperia Z3, but it’s an all-plastic design. Still, this is a mid-range device, so we don’t really expect fancy materials.

The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 615 SoC with LTE support. This is a 64-bit octa-core based on Cortex-A53 cores, with an Adreno 405 GPU in tow. The phone 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, and there’s a microSD slot on board as well.

The phone has a 5-inch 720p panel, with a relatively small footprint of 145.5mm x 72.6mm x 7.3mm. It weighs 136g. The phone has a 2400mAh battery, but Sony promises 2-day battery life. The Aqua will ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Cameras galore

The Xperia M4 Aqua has a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture. Since it’s waterproof, you could even use it in murky fishing waters to show off your catch. The front camera is a 5-megapixel affair with an 88-degree field of view. There’s another neat detail that we still miss on most phones – a dedicated shutter button on the side. 

The promo video emphasises camera quality and the fact you can get nice shots in wet and unhospitable environments.

The phone should go on sale in a couple of months, in white, black and coral red colour options. The MSRP is $330, or about €300 in Euroland. It’s not exactly a bargain, and we’d like to see a bit more storage on board given the price. In case you need something (a lot) cheaper, Sony launched the entry-level Xperia E4 last week and it's priced at a relatively modest €129.