The BQ Aquaris M5 is a budget smartphone which offers premium features at no extra cost. The Aquaris M5 looks to bring a pleasant stock Android experience to its users, whilst also being able to offer fantastic sound quality and an impressive camera. Read next: Best budget smartphones 2016.

The BQ Aquaris M5 comes in three different variants, where you’ll find it with 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM for £209.90. There is also a 16GB and 32GB versions, which both come with 3GB RAM for £229.90 and £239.90 respectively. The phones can be found from various resellers in the UK, including BQ’s very own site and the likes of Amazon UK which also stock the phone. We received the 32GB version that comes bundled with 3GB RAM.

The phone is not currently available on contract but does come with an impressive five-year warranty, which can also be upgraded through BQ Plus for £23.90 a year to cover screen damage, moisture damage, impact, falls and even theft. Read next: Best SIM-only deals 2016.

The Aquaris M5 faces stiff competition from various phone manufacturers across the world that also offer similarly priced and spec’d phones. Smartphones such as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua which can now be found for £148.99, the Honor 5X found for around £169.99, theSamsung Galaxy A5 available for £210 and finally the Honor 6 which comes in at a slightly higher price of £249.99.

We should mention that the BQ Aquaris M5.5 has a bigger 5.5in screen, but also does feature a bigger battery and a different back-facing camera sensor (Samsung S5K3M2 as opposed to the M5’s Sony IMX214). As for the Aquaris M4.5, it’s an entirely different phone that’s aimed at the lower-end of budget phones. Read next: Cheapest 4G smartphones of 2016.

The Aquaris M5 comes with a full-HD 5in 1920x1080 display that has an impressive 440ppi, which means it rivals the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 (431ppi) and even the iPhone 6 Plus(401ppi) by being extremely sharp given its full-HD resolution; text is clear and images are well refined.

The phone’s overall brightness levels were impressive, where in sunny conditions was able to produce a bright image which wasn’t washed out nor hard to see. However, if you’re looking for a dim screen in lowlight conditions, you might need to install a third-party app such asLux Auto Brightness to make the screen even dimmer.

Due to having an IPS display, colours are accurate and with the help of Quantum Color + technology the screen achieves an impressive 90% NTSC  colour gamut, which allows the phone to produce a wider array of colours over traditional IPS screens.

In real-world applications, we found the screen to be a little more vivid and produce vibrant colours whilst not being over saturated unlike AMOLED screens found on certain phones. Whereby, when it came to viewing photos, movies and even playing games we were happy with the overall screen reproduction and the screen’s contrast ratio, which made images pop to life. However, when compared to the iPhone 6s screen, we did find the BQ Aquaris M5 to have a slightly reddish coloured screen.

We found the phone’s viewing angles to be impressive, where we didn’t have any problems seeing its accurate colours at even the most extreme angles.

The phone’s screen is protected by Asahi Dragontrail Glass, which is made to be scratch resistant; however this doesn’t extend to it being fingerprint-resistant. We found ourselves regularly cleaning our Aquaris M5 for fingerprints after short periods of usage. The screen itself is flat and the phone’s display covers a good portion of the phone; we do think the top bezel of the phone could be slightly reduced in order to reduce the overall size of the phone.

Moving on to the build quality of the phone, we found the phone slightly chunky in our hands with its 8.4mm thickness. Where its accentuated sides felt they could have been a little rounded off, in order to make it feel more comfortable in-hand. In comparison to the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua and the Honor 5X the Aquaris M5 felt less premium as it is entirely made out of plastic. It should also be noted that the phone isn’t waterproof.

On the plus side, at the back of the phone there is solar UV protection and anti-fingerprint coating which prevents the phone attracting fingerprints at the back and prevents the phone from heating up in sunny conditions. There is also a dual-LED flash alongside a 13Mp main camera, which sits flush to the phone’s back casing. It should be noted that the phone’s back cannot be removed and therefore its 3120mAh battery is non-removable.

On the right-hand side of the phone there is a micro SD card slot which accepts up to 64GB of additional storage on top of the 16 or 32GB internal storage. Under the expandable storage slot you’ll find the volume rocker and the power button which are located slightly lower than most smartphones. This design element is to aid the overall one-hand operation of the phone, whereby using the phone becomes a little easier for those with slightly smaller hands.

On the left-hand side, BQ have added two 4G micro-SIM slots which run on Dual Standby allowing you to use two different SIM cards at the same time. At the top of the phone there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and at the bottom a micro USB slot alongside a single downward-firing right-sided speaker.

Around the front of the phone there is a 5Mp front camera which also has an LED flash, which proves to be useful for taking selfies in low light conditions. There is also a speaker grill for calls and capacitive buttons (back, home and the multi-task button). 

The Aquaris M5 comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa Core A53 64-bit processor (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53). To power its graphical abilities, the phone comes bundled with a Qualcomm Adreno 405 which is clocked up to 550 MHz. In comparison to other phones in the market, the BQ is seen to be using the same processor as its competitors, such as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua.  The Aquaris M5 comes with 2 and 3GB RAM options, which both are sufficient for most of your daily tasks. We do feel the 3GB version does give you that little extra headroom when multitasking through RAM-intensive apps.

We found the overall experience of the phone’s performance to be fluid with no noticeable stutters or visual problems, even with light-gaming and fast-paced videos. The only noticeable slowness of the phone that we noticed was when we started taking multiple photos at a time. We felt the phone wasn’t able to quickly process the image before moving onto the next one. However, this camera slowness could be easily updated through a software and firmware update.

Looking at its benchmark results we can see that the BQ betters the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua andSamsung Galaxy A5 in its Geekbench 3 results and performed better than the Samsung in its GFXbench scores. We can’t say that its performance was surprising for a budget phone, but it was worth noting that the phone won’t compete with the graphical abilities of a higher-end flagship phone. As said above, we found its performance adequate for light-gaming and movies. Read next: What's the fastest phone.

Finally its browser performance was very good, where we tested its capabilities through the Chrome app and used Jetstream to benchmark the phone.

The BQ Aquaris M5 comes in two separate storage options with 16GB and 32GB, which effectively have 11.8GB and 27.8GB of usable storage available. If you require more storage, you’ll be able to add a micro SD card which can offer you an additional 64GB of space. In comparison to other phones at this price point, we feel the option to expand the storage is a great addition to the BQ’s features. Read next: How to get more storage in Android.

Battery life is adequate, where we didn’t run into any problems using the phone for a full day of medium usage, but when benchmarked, the phone’s battery life only lasted 6:02hrs and scored a very low 2417 through the Geekbench 3 battery test. In comparison, the Honor 5X only lasted 5:12hrs but scored a better 3125 battery score which would seem to indicate that the BQ’s battery isn’t able to hold a full-charge competently. The BQ also doesn't support Quick Charge and charges at a one ampere current. Read next: Best power banks 2016 UK.

The phone, which can be charged through a micro USB port, does not support fast charging nor wireless charging and has an input current of one amp, meaning charging does take some time to fully charge. We should mention that within the packaging you’ll find a micro USB to USB cable included.

Speaker Quality

The Aquaris M5 has great overall sound quality through its speaker, which is a single downward-firing right-hand speaker. Its lows are reasonably well extended, with an emphasis on the mid-bass slam, whilst its mids and highs are extremely impressive, as they deliver a clear and very minor V-shaped sound signature.

However, we did find the speaker’s volume to be a little low in comparison to other smartphones, up until we enabled the Dolby Atmos button. The Dolby Atmos app, which comes pre-installed on the phone, boosts the overall volume and quality of the speaker. We found the speaker volume to go up by 15-20%, whilst also adding a wider and more engaging soundstage to the speaker’s sound quality. Unlike normal Dolby technology, which is often used to recreate a faux surround sound, we found the Atmos inclusion to be hugely beneficial. Read next: Best sounding phone 2016.

It should be noted that when the speaker was boosted through Dolby Atmos, we found the speaker to distort very slightly at maximum volume, where we also felt slight vibrations through its plastic back panel. 

Internal Sound quality

The Aquaris M5 houses the Wolfson WM8281 audio chipset, which enables it to produce some of the best sound we’ve heard from a smartphone. In fact, the Marshall London rated as one of the best sounding phones in our group test comparison ranks the best sounding phone of 2016. We found the Aquaris M5 to be a fantastic phone that houses one of the best smartphone DACs currently available on the market.

We performed all our tests without the Dolby Atmos technology enabled, and found that the lows extended quite well, with a slight cut-off in the sub-bass region. The mid-bass is well presented, providing a nice healthy slam to music and not overly influencing the mids. We found the mids to be slightly recessed due to the mid-bass slam, but they were generally well presented and forward-sounding. The highs do roll off a very slight bit at the top frequencies, but fortunately provide a nice sparkle that adds life and soul to music and movies.

We found its soundstage representation to be a slight mixed bag, as we found it to present a decent width but lack much depth. Instrument separation could have been a little better, but the imaging and positioning is really well presented.

The phone didn’t have any distortions at maximum volume, but did have an extremely hard-to-notice hiss when used with an amplifier. We found the phone to be loud enough through its 3.5mm jack, with us only requiring around 55-60% overall volume to perform our tests. In comparison to other phones, such as the flagship Google Nexus 6P which requires 90-95% for the same volume output volume.

Finally, we found the Dolby Atmos technology to positively impact the internal audio sound too, adding a little extra realism and soundstage to our music. However, we did find it peculiar when we weren’t able to use Dolby Atmos alongside the popular music playerPoweramp, whereas with Google Music the app worked flawlessly. 

The Aquaris M5 comes with dual micro SIM slots, which run on a dual-standby mode, allowing you to have two active SIMs in the phone at the same time, effectively allowing you to have two separate lines. Read next: Best dual-SIM smartphones 2016.

Both SIM slots have the ability to receive 4G (LTE) FDD (800/1800/2100/2600) - (B20/B3/B1/B7), 3G HSPA+ (900/2100) - (B8/B1) and 2G GSM (850/900/1800/1900). Read next: How to tell whether a phone is supported by your network.

With the phone you’ll also have WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS + GLONASS included, which adds great up-to-date connectivity options. We would have liked to see WiFi ac also included as a lot of modern routers now come with it enabled.

The BQ also has NFC (HCE) capabilities, which is great for quickly pairing your phone or using it to pay for purchases.

Unfortunately, unlike the Honor 5X there’s no fingerprint scanner included which would have made this phone a little more secure against thieves who are looking to steal your data.

Finally, we found its vibrating motors, which are used to put the phone to vibrate or for haptic feedback to be very powerful and have a somewhat unique feel through the back of the phone. Read next: Best Android phones 2016. 

The phone comes equipped with a Sony IMX214 1/3.06in sensor, which is able to take 13Mp photos at a ƒ/2.0 aperture with an aspect ratio of 4:3. You’ll also be able to take 16:9 photos, but you’ll be limited to a maximum of 10Mp resolution.

Through the camera app there are various settings, such as enabling the dual-LED flashes, ZSL (zero-shutter-lag) and HDR (High Dynamic Range) modes. The BQ also has the option to adjust its flash, timer, white balance, ISO, exposure time, metering mode, and even enable black and white mode which is great for taking vintage-looking photos. Without using ZSL we found the camera shutter to be a little sluggish, but with it enabled found ourselves rapidly snapping away – do bear in mind that your focus will be automatic and if you’re looking to take close-up macro shots with ZSL enabled, you might find your pictures out-of-focus.

The BQ’s picture quality, both through HDR (pictured below) and standard mode was extremely impressive. Both modes presented us with accurate looking photos which were neither overly saturated nor lacking colour. We were further impressed by its macro ability, which made the Aquaris M5 great for taking close-up photos of objects. The depth of field was also eye catching where we could focus on close objects whilst also have the background out-of-focus. The dual-LED flash was also very bright and produced a good flash tone, but we found the camera’s ability to take low-light pictures remarkable. We found ourselves taking flash off, as even within low-light conditions, the camera was taking bright images. Read next: Best phone camera 2016.

Flipping the camera to take selfies revealed the 5mp camera, which alongside its front-side flash, allowed us to take pictures even at night. This feature might be overlooked by some, but we were pleased to see a front-facing flash, as we like to have the ability to take photos of ourselves in low-light conditions.

The phone’s video capabilities were also good, albeit not flawless. You’ll be able to record full HD 1920x1080, 720p and 480p all of which are recorded at 30 FPS (frames per second). Unfortunately, there’s no option to record at 60FPS nor can the camera take 4K video, so you’ll have to hold back on your fluid dance videos!

We found that video taken with ‘image-stabilizer’ enabled produced slightly choppy video which looked to replicate frames being stitched together. With the option disabled, the slightest hand movements created shaky videos but on the plus side we didn’t notice any choppy frames. Therefore, if you’re looking to take videos, it would be advised to enable ‘image-stabilizer’ and focus the camera in one direction thereby not panning the phone from left to right.

Finally, within the camera app, you’ll also be presented with a set of different camera and video modes, such as panorama mode, slow motion (60, 90 and 120 frames per second) and time lapse, all of which provide you with additional tools to take great memories. 

Android Lollipop 5.1.1 comes pre-installed with the phone, where the Android experience is untamed by any extra Android skin, unlike manufacturer’s like Samsung which have TouchWiz. Using the Aquaris M5 was a fantastic and refreshing feel, as we felt the Android experience was fluid, untampered and flawless. It should also be noted that due to it being stock Android, updates should naturally come faster on the phone, over other manufacturers who need to optimise Android updates with their own interfaces. Better still, the only pre-installed system apps, aside from the stock Google apps, was BQ Plus and Dolby Audio which means there’s no bloatware to slow you down! Read next: Android Lollipop review.

Through Android 5.1.1, you’ll be able to use Google Now, customise your toggles on your notification panel, setup different users, enable features such as battery saver and even unlock your OEM bootloader if you wish to flash your phone on another Android ROM – presenting us with fantastic open-source capabilities. Speaking of which, flashing the phone to another ROM, such as CyanogenMod is permitted and according to BQ’s Head of Technical, Christian Fernández does not void the warranty. We don’t feel that we had to flash the phone to get a closer-to-stock experience, however those looking to further customise their phone, can do so without worrying about warranty. This refreshing approach really does stand behind BQ’s claim of being a phone by the makers and we applaud them for being different from the rest. Read next: Android 6.0 Marshmallow review.

We also liked the ability to edit our images through the gallery app, where we could add different image filters, borders and even adjust the orientation of your images. The ability to edit and personalise your images without any additional editing apps is fantastic and allowed us to manipulate photos before sharing them on with our friends and families. Read next:Best phones 2016.