Sony has announced the mid-range Xperia M2 during its press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, alongside its new flagship - the Xperia Z2.

The Xperia M2 is being described by Sony as "the best smartphone technology in its class", with Sony claiming it is the slimmest 4G smartphone with the best camera and largest display for under €220.

The 4.8-inch display on the Xperia M2 provides a 960 x 540 pixel resolution that gives you a pixel density of 229ppi and there is an 8-megapixel rear camera with the Sony Exmor RS for mobile sensor on board.

The camera offers auto scene recognition and HDR, as well as Xperia camera apps such as Social live, Timeshift burst and Picture Effect, and a front-facing camera for all those selfies.

In terms of design, the Xperia M2 follows the same principles as other handsets in the Xperia Z range, offering the same OmniBalance style with the signature side power button. However, the Xperia M2 swaps the aluminium frame found on Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z2 for a rubber material and ditches the waterproof feature, allowing the Micro-USB charging port to be open.

READ: Hands-on: Sony Xperia M2 review

Under the hood, a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor runs the show, supported by 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, while a 2330mAh battery with the company's Stamina Mode 3.0 is there to keep it going. That gives it typical specs for mid-range or "mini" versions, although the advantage here is a larger than average display.

Specific height and width measurements haven't been detailed, but the Xperia M2 is 8.6mm thick and offers NFC, Bluetooth and 4G LTE connectivity. There will a dual-SIM model but it will be 3G only.

The Xperia M2 will come with Android 4.3 from the box, along with the usual Sony skin that offers online and offline entertainment with the company's Entertainment Network. Users will get three digital downloads of the latest films from Sony Pictures such as Captain Philips and White House Down, along with access to the Music Unlimited Service. The service offers a catalogue of 25 million songs, which Xperia M2 users will get free for 30 days before having to pay.

The Sony Xperia M2 will available from April in black, white and purple. The price of the handset has not been announced, but the "class" Sony talks about is defined by Strategy Analytics as 4G smartphones less than €220 at launch, so we suspect it will be around that mark.