Sony Xperia C review : – Simple with Power

Introduction

The China-bound Sony Xperia C could be the right opportunity to smuggle some big-screened, quad-core goodness into markets where those things usually fetch a high price. It’s certainly the right size too. Five-inchers don’t necessarily have to come with high-end price tags. There’s demand for affordable options too, which the Xperia C isn’t the first to address. Sony has obviously been watching the Samsung Galaxy Grand, while HTC and LG aren’t indifferent either.
So, the Sony Xperia C has dual-SIM support, which is almost a must-have in the markets Sony’s interested in, a massive 5-inch display and a quad-core processor. So far, so good.

Key features

• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band HSPA support
• Dual SIM, dual stand-by support
• 42.2 Mbps HSDPA and 11.5 Mbps HSUPA
• 5.0″ 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960 pixels) at 220ppi
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU, PowerVR SGX544 GPU, MTK MT6589 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM
• 4 GB of built-in storage (2 GB user available)
• microSD slot (cards up to 32GB supported)
• 8 MP autofocus camera, single LED flashlight, geo-tagging, touch focus, HDR, hardware shutter key; VGA front-facing camera
• 1080p @ 30fps video capture
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
• GPS with A-GPS
• Accelerometer, ambient light and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack; Walkman music player with many audio enhancements
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging)
• Built-in LED strip provides a breathing light and notification light
• 2,390mAh Li-Ion battery, non-replaceable

Main disadvantages

• Low pixel-per-inch ratio
• No Mobile BRAVIA engine
• No scratch protection for the screen, Gorilla Glass or otherwise
• Limited internal storage for installing apps

Battery Life

Sony put a 2390mAh battery inside the Xperia C. We ran the handset through our battery routine, making sure to have two SIM cards in. It scored 68 hours, which means you’ll only need to charge the smartphone every 3 days if you use it for an hour each of talk-time, web browsing and playing video per day. Quite an impressive result indeed and possible because of the low-consumption Cortex-A7 processor cores and the fact that the screen brightness is actually at less than a quarter of its maximum level when the slider is set to 50%.

User Interface

The Sony Xperia C comes with Android 4.2.2 out of the box and Sony’s proprietary Xperia launcher on top. There is no official info on if and when the Xperia C will be getting a newer Android version though.
The Xperia C gives you the option to add or remove homescreen panes (you start with five) and set any of them as default. You can’t have more than seven panes at any given time though, nor can you change the order they’re in.

Performance

The Xperia C is Sony’s first device we meet running on the MediaTek’s best quad-core chispet. It is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 low-powered processor, with PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 1GB of RAM.
The Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1.2GHz delivers a decent mid-range performance very close to the Cortex-A9 chips, with the added benefit of lower power consumption.
Our first test is all about single-core performance, where the Xperia C scored similar results to most of the Cortex-A9-powered competitors.

Camera

The Sony Xperia C is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera that can produce still shots with a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels.
The camera interface consists of two panes and is unified with the camcorder one – you can start snapping away or shoot a video without the need to change modes. The right one holds four virtual buttons – a shortcut to the gallery, video and still shot shutter keys, and a primary/secondary camera toggle.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia C has tri-band 2G and dual-band 3G connectivity. Mobile data speeds go at 42.2 Mbps of HSDPA and 11.5 Mbps HSUPA. Only the primary SIM card can be connected to a 3G network and usually this is the SIM card you’ve chosen for mobile data (you can still make and receive calls on that SIM, don’t worry). The other SIM will be connected only to a GSM network. You can opt to use data traffic from the second SIM, but you’ll be limited to EDGE connectivity and speed.
Local connectivity is covered by Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct, so you can easily share content from your phone on a DLNA TV or music player. If a media app supports the Throw function (like the video player), you can use it through the Smart Connect app for DLNA functions (sharing screen, etc.).
There’s also Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, which can be used for low-power accessories (e.g. sports trackers). There is no NFC support though.

Final words

Originally planned for China and other Asian markets, the Sony Xperia C obviously did better than expected and quickly made it well beyond its intended destination. Or it could be that Sony had global availability in mind from the start – only not making too much noise after the official China debut.
Oh well, the Xperia C may not be the kind of phone to brag about but has obviously done more than a few things right. The phone is designed to look like the Xperia flagships and is built to high standard. The Android experience is reasonably fluid, something Sony did well to build on with a good set of home-brewed apps and a properly spec’d camera complete with 1080p video recording.
We should note that the specs don’t quite translate into stellar image quality but the Xperia C is obviously not going to compete with top-of-the-line cameraphones. The screen resolution is perhaps not enough for the size but, after all, cheap screen real estate involves compromise. In the Xperia C’s case that’s pixel density, Bravia engine and Gorilla Glass.
We should not forget either that the right thing to do in this price bracket is match or outdo the competition without investing over the odds. With Asian markets flooded with affordable “high-end” phones, Sony went for the obvious choice of chipset, hardware and features hoping the quality Sony is known to deliver will tip the scales in its favor.