The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is a great device. For €299 ($335) for the 8GB storage variant, you get an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, a 5" HD display, a 13MP rear camera with 1080p recording as well as a 5MP front camera with 720p recording, and even Micro-sd card slot for support up to 32GB. The device features the same minimalistic design pattern followed along in the Sony flagship lineup, and is even IP68 certified for being dustproof and waterproof. Surely, this is the perfect device trying to create healthy competition and choice along with the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.

Except, it may not be as perfect. At least the 8GB internal storage variant won't be.

As reported by XperiaBlog, the Xperia M4 Aqua has its own Achilles Heel. The base storage variant comes with an advertised 8GB of Internal storage along with SD card support up to 32GB. However, an out-of-the-box M4 Aqua actually sports only 1.26GB of free internal storage for the user, which is rather crippling for a mid ranged device.

Out of the 8GB internal storage, the system takes up 4GB of storage right off the bat. The device was running Android 5.0 on firmware build 26.1.A.1.100. If you thought that was outrageous, the pre-installed apps chew up another 2GB of storage. This is the case on a device that was purchased on retail, SIM free, so the situation will only worsen with carriers insisting on adding more of their own "goodies" when they offer this device along with their contract plans.

After everything else accounted for, the 8GB storage variant of the Xperia M4 Aqua comes with only 1.26GB out of the box for the user to store his personal data and for additional apps. The issue is worsened by the fact that most pre-installed apps (like Kobo Books, AVG etc) cannot be completely uninstalled, so you are essentially limited to apps which you may never use while giving up storage for apps that you would like to use.

Something to offset this situation by a small margin is the fact that the M4 Aqua does come along with a micro SD card slot, offering capacity for 32GB external storage if you wish to go that route. This offers relief by giving an option for storing your personal data and media on a more abundant local storage.

For average users who may never hear the words "root" and "custom rom", this is a really crippling scenario which they were led to through false advertising. With the general increase in the quality of Android hardware available, apps have also grown to take advantage of this increase in potential. As most apps are made with universal targeting and compatibility in mind, future apps may simply be too large to have on devices with such low storage. Even in the present scenario, "heavy" games like Fifa 15 or Asphalt 8 will barely leave any room for anything else to be stored in the internal storage.

But of course, this is XDA. For the power users who can take the risk associated with rooting and custom softwares, there are options. As someone who has personally used a device with 160MB of internal storage for 3 years, there are methods available which can help such a scenario. For starters, after acquiring root, unused apps can be completely uninstalled. You can even repartition the existing layouts on your phone to get more free space through a smart mix of reallocation and custom ROMs. Even if you would like to retain the existing system of your phone, options in such a scenario include force moving apps to the SD card, with a better and neater alternative being re-partitioning the SD card and using scripts or apps like Link2SD to make your SD card be emulated as internal storage.

However, at the moment, as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua does not have root methods available, the options are really limited. Early adopters are already complaining about the limited internal storage and the lack of root is only worsening the bad soup.

Has anyone been able to successfully root the M4 Aqua please, and if so, how? I've had the phone for 3 days and I'm already fed up of seeing "not enough storage space" due to the ridiculously small amount if internal storage available. If I could root it, I could, in theory, use a third party app to repartition my sd card to convince it that part of it is internal storage, or, at the very least use Links2SD.

- MetalOllie, XDA Senior Member

Neither Towelroot or Kingroot work. Kingo have suggested their app *may* work, but I'm not sure how secure that app is, so haven't tried it. I badly need to root this phone, so I can partition the sd card and use Links2SD. As it stands, I have about 600mb of my "8gb" free, after installing a few apps. I'd like to zap most of the Google apps, and some of the other preinstalled software. Without root, this phone is next to useless if you want to install many, or large, apps.

- MetalOllie, XDA Senior Member

Android M does bring some good news on a generic and wider scale, as it brings extended support for SD cards in the form of "Adoptable Storage Devices". This should help future devices launched with Android M, or upgraded to Android M, use their SD card (and even drives on USB OTG) seamlessly as internal storage. However, whether the Xperia M4 Aqua will ever see an official update to Android M is unknown at this stage.

We do hope Sony does take action to try to fix the low internal storage. Because otherwise, in its current state, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua 8GB storage variant will be a nightmare to use. The phone has a lot of positives going for it, but such an oversight on a 2015 mid range device will only result in a terrible user experience which would sour future sales. If you are looking to buy an otherwise capable device, skip the 8GB storage variant and opt for the 16GB storage variant to avoid regrets.

What do you think about "low-storage" issues in a 2015 mid-range device? Can this be termed as false advertisement? Have you ever used a device with extremely limited storage? How did it affect your experience as a user? Let us know in the comments below!

Screenshot Credits: XperiaBlog