Thank God it’s another gadget review featuring Sony Xperia C.

Sony’s budgeted 5-inch Quad-core and Dual SIM Android Smartphone answers the needs of growing price-conscious mobile consumers. Thanks for MediaTek chipset embedded within mobile phone, making it possible to produce the unit.

Sony Xperia C Unit Box!

Manual, Information and Warranty

Micro USB cable, Micro USB Data Sync / Charger, and the 3.5mm Headset earphone with mic.

INSIDE XPERIA C | XPERIA C CAMERA DETAILS | XPERIA C SPECS | XPERIA C ANTUTU | XPERIA C PRICE | SAMPLE HD VIDEO RECODRING VIA XPERIA C | 3D GAMES VIA XPERIA C

Structure Built

The form factor of Sony Xperia C is a rectangular bar style, exterior parts made in solid and sturdy type plastic, for extra durability. The Sony’s signature of thick bezels is still present and quite premium looking style to me. The 5-inch qHD Smartphone might not be everyone’s mobile phone or device, it’s quite large but tolerable to handle in one hand operation. Structure Built Rating: 8/10

From the Sides

The top side (3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA) connector – with xLoud Sound Enhancement) Audio Rating via 3.5mm Headset connector: 9/10

Top front side (top middle is the earpiece, and from the right side is the VGA front-facing camera and the ambient light sensor)

The bottom side (hole for the hand or neck strap)

Bottom front side (bottom middle is the mobile phone’s microphone – encapsulated within speaker like casing, along with the notification LED light – the light changes/varies on the notification type)

The right side (Volume Keys up and down, Power button On/Off/Sleep/Wake and the camera shot button. The power button is in silver type of button while the volume keys and camera shot button is in black plastic type of button.)

The left side (Micro USB slot for data/charging)

The Front Part of Sony Xperia C

Unveiling the 5-inch qHD TFT 960 x 540 pixels capacitive touch screen, with no glass protection, with low pixel-per-inch ratio (~240ppi), and No bravia engine. The thing is, this is a budget solution of Xperia C production, so be wary of the compromise. Although it is still pretty decent to watch movies and video streaming (Youtube), mobile internet surfing maybe not its forte in terms of space, but expect the refresh rate is responsive.

From bottom part, is the navigation controls (Back, Menu, and Show Taskbars).

Disadvantage: Lower screen resolution, No glass protection (glass protection not mention in their official website), you may need to spend a little bucks for a screen protection. Display Rating: 6/10

The Back Part of Sony Xperia C

Covered with sturdy matte plastic finish, with 8.0-megapixel Autofocus rear-facing camera with LED Flash. Pop-up the back plate then you will see the Dual-SIM slots and the Micro SD slot.

From below part of it, is the External Audio Speaker. Audio Rating via External Audio Speaker (Loudspeaker): 8/10

Screenshots in Sony Xperia C (See what’s inside of it – click it to enlarge) BACK TO TOP

CAMERA IN DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

Sony’s Exmor R for mobile image sensor does the job to snappier performance and a good quality of photos that you can do, but don’t expect too much for more flawless shots. Having a dedicated camera button and touch to capture is one the impressive things in a Xperia smartphone and as well as packed of camera features/softwares that you can count on.

On the other side, blurry photos may hard to avoid it may be due to light/shade conditions. HDR feature could be a helping hand but far from flawless images. The Xperia C camera with flash works well in giving a light on such scene and enough to light up the room.

Sample Photos:

Xperia C (NON-HDR)

Xperia C (HDR)

Xperia C (with Flash)

Xperia C (with Flash and Minimal Light in the Room)

Photo/Image Capture Rating: 7/10

VIDEO IN DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

The video capture at 1080p is present and does well on taking HD video quality shots, although the video is noticeable a little bit of dark. Video Recording/Capture Rating: 8/10

Sony Xperia C SAMPLE VIDEO SHOOT via Youtube

Sony Xperia C in Details (Specs, Apps, Games, Features…)
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Running on Operating System: Android 4.2.2 (which is quite up-to-date, but they should release for a KitKat Version, so that Xperia C fans would love it.)

SIM: DUAL Micro-SIM Card , Dual-Standby

(The first slot offer 3G GSM (Speeds up to 42.2 Mbps) while the second slot stuck at 2G GSM. While there is ongoing call within the first SIM, the secondary SIM is unreachable, and all calls will be forward to the first SIM.)

Network Band:
UMTS HSPA 900 (Band VIII), 2100 (Band I) MHz (Global except Americas) | GSM GPRS/EDGE 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
2G and 3G, GPRS and EDGE Supported

(No 4G LTE, Disappointed? Due to production budget/cost. Handling calls is excellent, clear and loud. No complains here.)

CPU | CHIPSET: Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 | MediaTek MT6589
GPU: PowerVR SGX 544MP

(Sony Xperia C is equipped with MediTek Chipset, it does the decent job to perform inside and out of the mobile phone. Although the quad-core MTK chipset belongs to older chip (2012 chipset) and combine with PowerVR SGX 544 GPU, it can perform mid-tier games, but far from being high-end level performance. You may experience bottleneck on playing high end games. )

Display: 5-inch qHD TFT capacitive touchscreen, 960 x 540 pixels, (~240 ppi pixel density), Multitouch up to 5 points, 16M colors

(As pervious mentioned about the display – no glass protection, with low pixel-per-inch ratio and No bravia engine. It is a budget solution of Xperia C, so be wary of the compromise. But expect that you can play any video file formats.)

Camera: REAR: 8 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, Autofocus, LED Flash, 3264 x 2448 pixels, Geo-tagging, Face detection, HD video recording (1080p), Self-portrait function, Touch focus, Sweep Panorama, Exmor R for mobile image sensor | FRONT: VGA, Front-facing camera for video calls

(As previously mentioned, camera has it own good points for its dedicated camera button and its camera features. For the front camera, don’t expect it to have decent shots/images.)

INTERNAL STORAGE: 4GB ROM (Expandable via microSD card slot up to 32GB) | RAM: 1GB

(To be honest, 4GB Internal Storage is too low, and as the matter of fact, the user accessible is only 2GB for apps/data storages. The 1GB of RAM is good enough to run the show, and the good thing is you can use your SD card as the primary storage. I already installed huge apps like Real Racing, Dungeon Hunter 4, Asphalt 8 Airborne, NBA2K13 and other games without uninstalling other apps.)

CONNECTIVITY AND COMMUNICATION: Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n | Wi-Fi Direct | Wi-Fi hotspot | DLNA | 3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA) | Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology | USB High speed 2.0 and Micro USB support | Native USB tethering | Media Transfer Protocol support | Media Go | PC Companion | Screen mirroring | Synchronisation via SyncML™, with computer and via Microsoft® | Exchange ActiveSync®

(Everything works so well, Wi-Fi works great, all depends on the internet connection or ISP you have. Bluetooth connects on other devices without any issues. Browsing experience by default your going to use Google Chrome Browser, so far I don’t have any issue using it, as previously mentioned, Smartphones within 5-inch range in mobile surfing isn’t it’s forte but responsive enough to browsing experience.) – NO NFC compatibility.

ENTERTAINMENT/MULTIMEDIA: 3D games | Motions gaming | FM Radio with RDS | Video streaming | Music and Video Player | External Loudspeaker | 3D Surround Sound (VPT) | Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP) | ClearAudio+, Clear bass, Clear Phase™, Clear stereo | “WALKMAN” application | Manual equaliser | xLOUD Sound Enhancement Engine

SENSORS: Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, G-Sensor, Direction Sensor, Light Sensor, E-compass, Distance Sensor
(Working on excellent condition, nothing to complain.)

BATTERY/PERFORMACE: Non-removable Li-Ion 2390 mAh | Standby time (up to): Up to 588 hours | Talk time (up to): Up to 10 hours 3 min* | Music listening time (up to): 53 hours 59 min | Video playback time (up to): 10 hours and 32 mins | STAMINA Mode

(Non-removable battery maybe an issue to other users, but as far as the concern, the battery life of Xperia C is superb. All thanks to qHD display and MediaTek chipset Cortex-A7 cores, it can handle the task easily with minimal power consumption. As two or three days as normal usage and of course, if you are a heavy user, that’s another story to tell.)

BEST PART: battery juice it carries 2,390 mAh.

BATTERY TEST: MOVIE/VIDEO – 1hr. 48mins. Brightness at 50%, Volume 100%, Battery Stamina is ON, Clear sound and xLoud is ON. Drains 12% of its battery juice. AUDIO/MUSIC – 1hr., drains 1% of its battery juice, while the screen is in sleep mode and volume at 80%.

DIMENSION | WEIGHT: 141.5 x 74.15 x 8.88 mm (5.6 x 2.9 x 0.34 inches) | 153 grams (5.39 oz)
AVAILABLE COLORS: Purple, Black, White
IN THE BOX: Manual, Information and Warranty | Unit itself | Micro USB cable | Micro USB Charger | 3.5mm Headset earphone with microphone.

SONY XPERIA C ANTUTU SCORE/DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

As expected in turns out to be in the midrange mobile device.
Antutu Scores: 13741

SONY XPERIA C SAMPLE 3D/HD GAMES THAT YOU CAN PLAY:
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ASPHALT 8 AIRBORNE
(Graphics at Mid-High)

REAL RACING 3

GAMEPLAY: Mid-tier level, game experience using Xperia C might be not as flawless as expected, and of course, this is due to budgeted cost of the phone (hardware specs). Nevertheless, you can play a decent games and but don’t pressure it to high-end level games.

Wondering Sony Xperia C Price? BACK TO TOP
PHP 13,990.00 SRP at Official Sony Philippines Website
PHP 12,150.00 SRP at cmkcellphones.com

TO SUM UP: REAL TALK:

Well crafted design within a good price, Good battery life, Dual-SIM is perfect, functional Sony softwares and good deal to its camera. The Display screen could have been better, and a little push into its hardware core. The budget-friendly mobile devices like Xperia C may have compromises, but even you look for other brands or mobile devices, they also have its own compromises as from its exterior to internal core. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the Xperia C is a worth to have Smartphone. Overall rate: 7/10 (Mid-tier Smartphone)

(Disclosure: Sony Xperia C, Android, Apps Info / Logo / Images / Pictures have a respective copyright. We used it for demonstration purpose only.)

If something in your mind to comment or suggest, please let us know. In our efforts to provide detailed information, there is possibility of inaccurate contents. If you see any mistake or incomplete in our information, please don’t hesitate to tell us. We will fix it immediately as soon as possible.

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Related Links / Articles / Entries / References / Sources:
Sony Mobile Phones – Official Site