Sony Xperia C - Specifications. My first and most interesting smartphone! Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - pop-up camera, rotating camera, cutout or hole in the display, under-display camera

Japanese budget solution with a large screen and support for two SIM cards on the MediaTek chipset

We recently tested the LG G Pro Lite Dual smartphone - a mid-price model from the A-class manufacturer with a huge screen, and also supports dual SIM cards. Without going into details, let us recall that that device belonged to the category of so-called “budget shovels” - smartphones that are much less advanced in terms of hardware (and, above all, in screen quality) than their top-end large-diagonal relatives, but at the same time also capable of providing the user has the opportunity to enjoy the now fashionable screen size of 5 inches and above, and for much less money. Accordingly, the user, as usual, is given a choice: more expensive and better quality - or cheaper, but simpler. We have already tested enough such simplified tablets: Samsung has Mega with screens of 5.8 and 6.3 inches, Huawei has Ascend Mate (6.1 inches), LG has G Pro Lite Dual (5.5 inches), and Now it’s Sony’s turn. The Japanese have released a model Xperia C that is very similar in characteristics, it costs about the same, so there will be something to compare it with.

Pictured: Sony Xperia C compared to LG G Pro Lite Dual

Key Features of Sony Xperia C (Model C2305)

Sony Xperia C LG G Pro Lite Dual Highscreen Alpha GTX Huawei Ascend Mate Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
Screen 5″, IPS 5.5″, IPS 5.7″, ASV? 6.1″ IPS+ 6.3″, PLS
Permission 960×540, 220 ppi 960×540, 200 ppi 1280×720, 258 ppi 1280×720, 241 ppi 1280×720, 233 ppi
SoC MediaTek MT6577 (2 Cortex-A9 cores) @1 GHz MediaTek MT6589 (4 Cortex-A7 cores) @1.2 GHz HiSilicon K3V2 (4 Cortex-A9 cores) @1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (2 Krait 300 cores) @1.7 GHz
GPU PowerVR SGX 544 PowerVR SGX 531 PowerVR SGX 544MP Vivante GC4000 Adreno 305
RAM 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 2 GB 1.5 GB
Flash memory 4 GB 8 GB 4 GB 8 GB 8 GB
Memory card support microSD microSD microSD microSD microSD
operating system Google Android 4.2 Google Android 4.1 Google Android 4.1 Google Android 4.1 Google Android 4.2
Battery non-removable, 2390 mAh removable, 3140 mAh removable, 3000 mAh non-removable, 4050 mAh removable, 3200 mAh
Cameras rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (0.3 MP) rear (8 MP; video - 720p), front (1.3 MP) rear (8 MP), front (2 MP) rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1 MP) rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.9 MP)
Dimensions 142×74×8.9 mm, 153 g 150×77×9.5 mm, 161 g 163×83×9.5 mm, 230 g 164×86×9.9 mm, 198 g 168×88×8 mm, 199 g
Average price (Ya.Market) T-10540858 T-10533504 T-10384423 T-8484355 T-9351966
Sony Xperia C offers (Ya.Market) L-10540858-10
  • SoC MediaTek MT6589, 1.2 GHz, 4 Cortex-A7 processor cores
  • GPU PowerVR SGX 544
  • Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
  • Touch display IPS, 5″, 960×540
  • Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, internal memory 4 GB
  • MicroSD support up to 32 GB
  • Communication GSM GPRS/EDGE 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
  • Communication 3G UMTS HSDPA 900, 2100 MHz
  • Data transfer HSDPA (42 Mbit/s), HSUPA (11.5 Mbit/s)
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (1 band), Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
  • GPS/A-GPS
  • Camera 8 MP Sony Exmor R
  • Camera 0.3 MP (front)
  • Lithium polymer battery 2390 mAh
  • Dimensions 141.5×74.15×8.88 mm
  • Weight 153 g

Appearance and ease of use

Externally, the Sony Xperia C smartphone should appeal to many: the non-slip, non-marking, matte and rough body continues the traditions of last year, established in the Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL models. More simplified in relation to the flagship Xperia ZL at that moment, it absorbed part of that design concept with flat mirror panels inserts on all four sides, which the creators called OmniBalance. In turn, the even simpler Sony Xperia C as a whole has now retained the shape and general appearance of that same Xperia ZL, but the panels on its sides are no longer mirrored, but matte - like those of the updated flagship Xperia Z1. But in general outline, in the shape of the “blown” back cover, the heroine of today’s review resembles exactly that Xperia ZL. True, the materials of the back cover were slightly different: it was plastic with a rubberized soft-touch effect, and even the surface was textured with pimples. Here the surface, although matte, is without texture, and besides, it is hard - it does not have a soft-touch effect.

The smartphone is quite large in size, which is partly explained by the large screen diagonal. However, the side frames here are not too narrow, so the smartphone could well be smaller and sleeker. There are no special complaints about the thickness of the case; holding the device in your hand is quite convenient and comfortable. The weight also does not burden the hand too much - thanks to the rough surfaces, the smartphone as a whole is held quite securely in the fingers, as far as possible for such large gadgets. If we compare it with the same LG G Pro Lite Dual, then the opposite is true: the Korean device has a very slippery smooth lacquered coating, sloping edges and a fair amount of weight, so the smartphone is ready to slip out of your hands at any moment. The Japanese model has less weight, less thickness, a rough coating, and sharper edges allow your fingers to grip, so the phone will not fall out of your hands at a difficult moment - it holds securely.

The manufacturing materials, as already mentioned, are solid plastic; there is practically no metal here, with the exception of the camera bezel and the round power button. The structure of the case itself is unusual: here this entire plastic “coat” is completely put on the frame, closely adjacent to the screen itself, completely covering everything along with the sidewalls. That is, if you remove the plastic casing, you will be left with a bare, unsightly frame with a screen in your hands - even the side buttons all remain on this removable cover, we saw something similar on the Sony Xperia Go. It is quite difficult to figure out exactly how this casing is removed - the structure of the case is not familiar, there are no cracks or gaps visible, and nowhere is the slightest ledge visible for hooking with a fingernail. In general, you can’t do without reading the instructions, which describe the disassembly process in detail.

Otherwise, there is nothing remarkable in the Sony Xperia C body: the power and volume keys are in their places on the right, very close to each other; The audio output jack (3.5 mm) is embedded in the top end, Micro-USB is in the side, and at the bottom there is also a hole for attaching a lanyard to your hand - an invariable part of the image of almost any Sony smartphone. There is also a separate hardware mechanical button on the right side, which is responsible for working with the camera. From a locked state, the button is not able to wake up the camera, so you will have to first unlock the device in the usual way, and then use this button for its intended purpose. If the screen is active, then the button can call up the camera and take a picture right away - this is all regulated by the settings.

All the mechanical buttons on the sides are very thin, not too hard, but still, due to the short travel and small area of ​​the keys themselves, they are not the most comfortable. Korean Samsung and LG, at least, have large and wide buttons that are definitely more convenient and tactilely pleasant.

Sony has not made hardware buttons under the screen, even touch ones, in its devices for a long time - they have all moved to the screen in the form of Android 4.x software icons. So under the screen we left less space here than usual, but it will still gain at least a centimeter in height. This place is not empty: not only is there a neat grille for the microphone, but there is also a proprietary Sony light indicator elongated horizontally. The indicator, as usual, can adapt to the general background of the photo being viewed, the cover of a music album, changing its color, and also signal various events from the charging process to an incoming SMS message.

At the top there is exactly the same speaker grille as at the bottom - they are symmetrical, and nearby you can see the eyes of the sensors and the front camera. The glass of the display is absolutely flat, without edges; the oleophobic coating here, if there is one, is quite weak - fingerprints quickly collect and are difficult to erase.

The landscape of the back cover consists of several familiar elements: the main camera window is framed by a metal round rim, next to it you can see the peephole of a single-section LED flash, and below there is a grille for sound output from the ringing speaker. The grille is partially curved, so the sound is practically not muffled by the surface on which the smartphone lies. The rear surface here, by the way, is not completely flat, but slightly concave inward - these are still echoes of the legendary Sony Arc design.

If you remove the back cover (and this is quite difficult to do at first), then under it you will find a familiar, now modern picture: the battery is securely closed with a casing and is not accessible to the user. Above it, in one plane, three slots were placed: two for SIM cards, and one for a MicroSD memory card. SIM cards are used here in Micro-SIM format; all cards are inserted and removed quite easily. By the way, unlike LG G Pro Lite Dual, it supports hot swapping, that is, the smartphone does not need to be rebooted when replacing cards. There is another more noticeable difference: the Micro-USB connector here, unlike the LG device, supports the mode for connecting external devices (OTG), such as a flash drive, or a mouse with a keyboard. Accordingly, the device can view movies, music, photographs and various documents directly from a flash drive connected to it; you just need to worry about purchasing an adapter.

And about colors: the Sony Xperia C smartphone, according to the tradition that has taken root since last year, is again available in three familiar colors - black, white and purple. All three variants have the same rough, hard, non-glossy finish, with the dark variants having black front panels and the light variant being the same white as the rear casing. Regarding such an unusual choice in favor of purple, the developers say that this color was not chosen out of the blue. According to experts, there is a psychological background here: such a color is, as it were, “balanced,” that is, it is obtained by “mixing” exciting red and cold blue shades.

Screen

The Sony Xperia C smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix measuring 62x110 mm, diagonal - 127 mm (5 inches), resolution 960x540 pixels. Note that Sony representatives stated that the smartphone uses a TN-type matrix, but our tests refuted this. Such a parameter as the pixel density per inch here is only 220 ppi, which is more than that of the LG G Pro Lite Dual (200 ppi), but still not enough for modern screens. Both smartphones have a very low resolution for such a large screen area, and are inferior to competitors with a 720p resolution. Accordingly, here too the picture turns out to be quite loose, the pixels are visible to the naked eye, the edges of small details and fonts do not always look smooth.

The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the case is at least 6 mm - quite wide frames. The display brightness can be adjusted manually, and unlike the LG G Pro Lite Dual, here you can enable automatic adjustment - the corresponding checkbox is in place. Multi-touch technology here allows you to simultaneously process up to 5 simultaneous touches (the Korean model has 10). The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, there is some kind of anti-glare filter, which in terms of reducing the brightness of the reflection is noticeably worse than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013). The surface of the matrix itself under the glass is slightly matte, so the screen reflects both direct light sources (by the outer surface) and diffuse light (by the surface of the matrix), this reduces readability in conditions of strong external illumination. For clarity, here are photographs in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens of three devices (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Oppo Find Muse R821, in the center - Sony Xperia C, then they can be distinguished by size):

The light gray surface of the Sony Xperia C screen speaks for itself. The reflection in the screen doubles, which suggests the presence of an air gap between the surface of the matrix and the outer glass. On the outer surface of the screen, apparently, there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (ineffective, noticeably worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed a little easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

With manual brightness control, its maximum value was about 440 cd/m², and the minimum was 40 cd/m². The maximum value is quite high, but given the weak anti-glare properties and the matte surface of the matrix, the image on the screen is unlikely to be clearly visible in bright daylight. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera eye). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 60 cd/m² (it could have been lower), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) the brightness is set to 205-250 cd/m² (acceptable), in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to illumination on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to the maximum (as would be expected). As a result, this function works adequately. There is some modulation of the backlight, but its amplitude does not reach 100%, and the spectrum of modulation frequencies has a maximum of around 40 kHz, so the flickering of the screen cannot be visually seen and the presence of such modulation cannot in any way affect the comfort of working with this device.

This screen uses an IPS type matrix. In the micrographs, if desired, you can see the typical IPS structure of subpixels in the form of parallel stripes:

At the same time, we present another micrograph with a lower resolution and with a focus on the film covering the matrix:

Visible dots are artificially created surface defects that create the effect of a matte finish. The screen has good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shifts even with large (within reasonable limits) viewing deviations from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the same three devices, with the screen brightness set to approximately 200 cd/m². Test picture perpendicular to the screens:

It can be seen that the color rendition varies slightly, but this is the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from the photograph. And a white field:

We note good uniformity of brightness and color tone. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the color tone of the two smaller screens, including the Sony Xperia C, has changed noticeably. Then the white field:

The brightness at an angle for all screens decreased (by at least 4 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia C the drop in brightness is greater than that of the Nexus 7. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens strongly and turns purple or red. purple tint. The photographs below show this (the brightness of the white areas in the perpendicular direction of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average, since there are several areas along the edge of the screen with increased black brightness:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 730:1. The gamma curve constructed using 32 points did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.14, which is close to the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

Color gamut is close to sRGB:

Apparently, the matrix’s light filters slightly mix the components with each other. The spectra confirm this:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue, which has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness, but the comfort of use on a clear day outside remains questionable, since the screen has weak anti-glare properties and a matte surface of the matrix under the outer glass. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level, although from an energy saving point of view the minimum brightness is still high. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flicker, coverage close to sRGB and good color balance. Further disadvantages: weak oleophobic coating, low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane and average uniformity of the black field. In terms of all its characteristics, the screen is not of high quality - a budget option on an IPS matrix.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is average. The speakers produce fairly clear, but not very loud sound, especially with headphones. The standard audio player, traditionally called a Walkman, is rich in settings and additional software sound improvements, such as a built-in equalizer with a lot of preset values ​​(you can set your own), Clear Phase, xLoud technologies or virtual surround sound. Control of most settings is available if the complex ClearAudio+ function is turned off, otherwise all settings are left to the machine. This is especially true in this case, since when you activate the comprehensive ClearAudio+ enhancement package, the sound of the external speaker becomes noticeably louder and richer. However, during a telephone conversation, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation always remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.

The smartphone comes standard with an FM radio, and there is also a voice recorder. The radio only works with connected headphones, which act as an antenna. The voice recorder cannot record a conversation from a line using standard means. You can find it not in the list of installed applications, but in the so-called small applications menu, which can be called up at any time by pressing the rightmost on-screen button.

The main rear camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel Exmor R module. By default, the camera shoots in normal mode, in which the resolution is set to 8 megapixels, and pictures are taken with a resolution of 3264x2448.

Examples of photographs with our comments are presented below.

The sharpness in the foreground is quite good. Sharping is noticeable on the wires.

Good sharpness in almost all plans and across the entire field of the frame.

The tiles merge already in the foreground.

Sharpness is weak even in the foreground, and drops even more towards distant ones.

The boundaries of objects are quite damaged by noise.

The text is well done and only slightly damaged.

The camera is budget in almost all respects. Sharpness is very weak. The noise is quite strong, and although the noise canceler copes well with it, parts are damaged as a result of processing.

The camera shoots at fairly high sensitivity values, and shutter speeds of 1/25 second or more are already long for it. In good lighting, the camera sometimes takes good pictures, but they still don’t hold up at 8 megapixels: blurred details, frequent areas of out of focus, the appearance of which is caused by a lack of resolution - all this most likely indicates the unsatisfactory quality of the optics and its insufficient resolution.

Perhaps the camera is suitable for shooting documents. Probably, under certain conditions, you can get satisfactory results from regular shooting, but you definitely shouldn’t count on it.

The camera can shoot video at its maximum resolution of 1920x1080, does this without visible delays or artifacts in the image, and has several resolutions to choose from, up to a maximum of 1080p (the LG G Pro Lite Dual has 720p). At the same time, during video shooting, you can also take photos, both on the main camera module and on the front one. Examples of test videos are presented below (video: MPEG4 Video 1920×1080 30 fps 20102 Kbps; audio: AAC 48 kHz stereo 128 Kbps).

  • Video #1 (29.6 MB, 1920×1080)
  • Video #2 (25.0 MB, 1920×1080)

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; There is no support for fourth generation networks (LTE). The 5 GHz Wi-Fi band is not supported, and there is no support for NFC technology either. As a standard, you can organize a wireless point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; there is a Wi-Fi Direct mode. The navigation module supports GPS/A-GPS.

There were no freezes or spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing. When you bring it to your ear, the screen is blocked by the proximity sensor. The light sensor controls the screen brightness level automatically. Sony's traditional longitudinal horizontal LED sensor for notification of incoming events is provided at the bottom under the screen.

The screen is large, so drawing letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. The layout and location of the keys is standard: switching languages ​​here is done by pressing a special button, there is no separate top row with numbers here, you need to switch layouts. It is possible to write continuously by sliding your finger across the screen from button to button.

There are two SIM cards supported here, the card form factor is Micro-SIM. The physical implementation of working with two SIM cards is generally standard for this platform. There is only one radio module, so there can only be one active conversation; the second card becomes unavailable. In the settings, you can set priorities separately for calls and data transfer by default for certain SIM cards. You just need to remember that in terms of data transmission, the slots are not equivalent: 3G can only implement one of the slots, the second is limited to GPRS/EDGE. By the way, this is easy to check: just empty both slots and push one card from slot to slot. The Sony Xperia C supports hot swapping, so the smartphone instantly displays the corresponding index on the screen: in the first slot “H” (HSPA), in the second the same SIM card will only show “E” (EDGE). Thus, for users who like to save money by using two different tariffs for calls and data transfer, it would be best to insert a card into the first slot for working with the Internet, and in the second for voice communications.

The menu also has additional settings for automatically switching card priorities over time, as well as quickly organizing redirection from one card to another, which is convenient. But some users don’t like the fact that everything here is automated from the very beginning, so during the conversation you will not be asked to choose, as is the case on other phones, which card to call from: voice communication is configured through card No. 1, which means that when dialing a number, everything You will make calls from it automatically.

OS and software

Sony Xperia C currently runs on the Google Android software platform version 4.2.2. On top of the standard OS interface, the company installed its own user interface, significantly modifying and complementing the standard one. The main distinguishing feature of the program menu is its wide possibilities for sorting, selecting and working with icons of installed applications. Here you can even set your own, arbitrary arrangement, or sort in several preset ways. The ability to create folders is supported.

In terms of pre-installed applications in the Sony Xperia C, everything is almost the same as in other modern Sony devices. The set of pre-installed programs in the Japanese company's smartphones does not change too noticeably from handset to handset. Several online services, such as TrackID, Movies, PlayNow, offer you to select, buy and immediately launch music, movies and games. Timescape collects information about friends' social activity. There is a pre-installed file manager, there is also a QR code scanner and the popular note-taking program Evernote. Sony always preinstalls a useful program for complete backup and restoration of both settings and other data.

Performance

The Sony Xperia C hardware platform is based on a single-chip system (SoC) MediaTek MT6589. The central processor here has 4 Cortex-A7 cores operating at 1.2 GHz. It is assisted in processing graphics by the PowerVR SGX 544 video processor. The device has 1 GB of RAM, nominally 4 GB of internal memory, and of this, only about 1.2 GB of free flash storage is actually available to the user, the rest is occupied by the system itself and pre-installed applications . The smartphone supports memory cards up to 32 GB (but our 64 GB SanDisk Ultra MicroSD XC I test card was confidently recognized, this is shown in the screenshots). It is also possible to connect external devices (USB Host, USB OTG) to the USB port - a flash drive, mouse or keyboard, this is another positive difference from the LG G Pro Lite Dual, which does not have OTG support.

To get an idea of ​​the performance of the platform of the smartphone under test, we will conduct a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions of test programs.

Based on the data obtained during testing, the Sony Xperia C system with a quad-core processor included in the MediaTek MT6589 SoC demonstrated average performance, far from the most productive modern solutions, but also much higher than that of the LG G Pro Lite Dual, based on an even more modestly capable dual-core MediaTek MT6577 platform.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

Format Container, video, sound MX Video Player Standard video player
DVDRip AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 plays normally plays normally
Web-DL SD AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 plays normally plays normally
Web-DL HD MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3 Hardware+
BDRip 720p MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3 plays fine with decoder Hardware+ The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3 plays fine with decoder Hardware+ The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ MX Video Player only played sound after switching to software decoding or Hardware+; The standard player does not have this setting

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p)) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps ). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode, since there were a lot of artifacts in the “Hardware+” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720/30p Fine No 720/25p Fine No 720/24p Fine No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate slightly unevenly and in the case of 50 and 60 fps files, some frames are always skipped. When playing video files with an aspect ratio of 16:9, the image of the actual video file is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen. The luminance range displayed on the screen corresponds to the extended range (that is, 0-255 range), while most video files are encoded in the video luminance range 16-235, so the white color of such video files appears as light light gray on the screen of this smartphone, and Blacks are like a dark dark grey, which obviously doesn't improve image quality.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Sony Xperia C is not the largest, but quite decent by modern standards - 2390 mAh. Accordingly, the results of testing the battery life of the device in the most common user scenarios turned out to be quite good.

Battery capacity Reading mode Video mode 3D Game Mode
Sony Xperia C 2390 mAh 18:05 12:30 pm 8:00 am
LG G Pro Lite Dual 3140 mAh 14:15 8 hours 40 minutes 6 hours 50 minutes
Highscreen Alpha GTX 3000 mAh 14:15 11:05 am 6 hours 50 minutes
Huawei Ascend Mate 4050 mAh 18:05 11:35 am 5:00 a.m.
Alcatel OT Idol X 2000 mAh 10:00 am 6 hours 40 minutes 4:00 am
Oppo Mirror R819 2000 mAh 10:20 am 8 a.m. 20 p.m. 5:00 a.m.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted 18 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos from YouTube in high quality (HQ) With the same brightness level, the device lasted about 12.5 hours via a home Wi-Fi network—excellent performance. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone lasted for 8 hours.

Bottom line

Currently, the official price of Sony Xperia C is set in our market at around 12 thousand rubles. For the same or even slightly more money they are now offering the competing model LG G Pro Lite Dual. Based on the results of our acquaintance with these devices, it turned out that in many respects the Japanese model turned out to be objectively preferable to the Korean one, in which they saved on almost everything, right down to the most intimate - they inserted a completely outdated and weak SoC.

But if you don’t get attached to the most famous brands, now for a similar amount you can buy devices that are much more advanced in all technical characteristics, such as the flagship five-inch Alcatel OT Idol X or Fly Luminor IQ453. For the same 12 thousand rubles, the user will receive not only more powerful and efficient SoCs, but also much higher quality screens with Full HD resolution.

pros:

  • Dual SIM support
  • memory card support
  • good battery life
  • practical housing
  • large screen diagonal

Minuses:

  • non-removable battery
  • low display resolution
  • relatively high price

Sony Xperia C is the company's first smartphone built on the MediaTek chipset, which offers a large screen, sufficient performance and support for two SIM cards. This model was developed specifically for those users who want to get a modern Android smartphone with good functionality, a large screen, but at the same time, it did not cost much. Did the Japanese manage to create such a smartphone? I think so, because the model immediately received recognition and interest from users. Now it's waiting for you SonyXperiaC review, in which we will consider all the capabilities of the model.

Design and sizes

Despite its status as an inexpensive smartphone, its appearance is very good - the OmniBalance design is in its purest form, the phone does not look cheap, and this is something that its closest competitors should learn from the Japanese. The smartphone is made of plastic and assembled very well. The back cover is removable and does not have a flat surface, but with a slight bend. The model cannot be called small - 141.5 x 74.2 x 8.9 mm, with a weight of 153. The frames around the display are quite large, and the screen itself occupies 66% of the front panel. At the top and bottom there are “grills”, behind which the microphone and speaker are hidden. Above the screen there are sensors and a front camera, below it there is a long LED indicator with a pleasant glow. At the back you will see the main speaker, camera lens with flash. A nice feature is that there is a mechanical camera button. The Xperia C entered the market in three colors: white, black and purple.







Smartphone display

What would it be like Sony Xperia C C2305 review without mentioning his screen? A 5-inch TFT matrix with a resolution of 960×540 pixels and a density of 220ppi is installed here. Of course, the screen cannot be called a reference one, but it still behaves well in everyday life. Of course, the viewing angles are not the best, and there is some fading when viewing the display at an angle. The screen is also a little lacking in brightness, but I don't think you'll notice it. The screen itself is covered not with glass, but with plastic, so it is better to use film.

User interface

The smartphone comes pre-installed with Android 4.2 with the proprietary Xperia Home user interface, which is convenient and simple, not cluttered with unnecessary functions. The model has the entire standard set of Sony programs and additional useful utilities.

Hardware

The heart of the smartphone is the MediaTek MT6589 chipset - a processor with 4 Cortex-A7 cores of 1.2 GHz and PowerVR SGX544 video. This is complemented by 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory for data storage, which can be expanded using microSD memory cards. By the way, thanks to the use of the solution from Mediatek, users can choose where to install applications - in the phone memory or on a memory card (). In performance tests, the Xperia C shows good results for its segment and in many cases they are comparable to the results of smartphones with Cortex-A9 cores. It is noteworthy that the video accelerator demonstrates excellent results, so there should be no problems with games. The interface also works smoothly and without brakes.

The battery in the Sony Xperia C has a capacity of 2390 mAh and this is more than enough for the smartphone to last for a couple of days on a single charge. Sufficient autonomy is facilitated by good optimization of the chipset and software, as well as the low resolution of the display.

Let us note again that this is a Dual SIM smartphone, which means you can use several cards from different operators at the same time - convenient for business people. One slot is for 3G.

Camera inSony Xperia C

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras. Front - VGA camera (0.3 Megapixels) with the ability to use an application for retouching and quality improvement, I think there is nothing more to add here. The main camera is 8 Megapixels with one LED flash, the camera application contains all the necessary options and capabilities, and it is worth noting that its interface is somewhat different from models with the Snapdragon chipset - there is no application button for the camera. In general, there is all the necessary functionality and modes to take a good shot.




As for the quality of the photos, it is very, very decent for such a module! Color reproduction is realistic and pleasing, white balance is correct in most cases, clarity and detail are excellent - we can confidently say that most users will be absolutely satisfied with the camera and the quality of the photos.










As for video, the camera can record Full HD 1080p videos at up to 30fps. The quality of the video was also pleasing - all the details are visible, although perhaps there is a little lack of stabilization and yet here you can also applaud. Below is an example video:


Summing up

In today's world, all sorts of high-tech devices are updated surprisingly frequently. This trend is also typical for the Japanese company Sony. In particular, a few months ago another new product from this manufacturer appeared on the domestic market. It was the C2305 smartphone. Being a not very complex device from a technical point of view, it fully meets the requirements of modern consumers and at the same time is characterized by a relatively low cost.

general description

Durable plastic is used to produce the model. Only the on/off button and the camera rim are made of metal. The user can choose from phones in black, white and purple colors, which has already become a characteristic feature of the line called Xperia C. The developers covered the front panel with protective glass. It houses a five-inch touch screen, microphone, speaker and The manufacturer has equipped the left side of the Sony C2305 with convenient buttons for activating the camera and power. On the opposite end there is only a microUSB port. The hole for connecting the lanyard is located at the bottom. The back of the device has a slightly concave shape. This is where the speaker, main camera and auto focus light are located.

In general, the design of the new product does not contain any unnecessary elements. The size of the model is 141.5x74.15 mm in height and width, respectively. Its thickness is only 8.88 mm, which is a pretty good indicator that many users pay attention to.

Ergonomics

Stylish and at the same time elegant appearance makes the Sony C2305 more attractive. Reviews from device owners indicate that it fits very comfortably in the hand. Moreover, thanks to the matte surface of the back cover and rounded corners, the phone does not slip out of your hands even during a long call. A rather interesting design solution that gives the device neatness and elegance is what many users call the side edges made of glossy plastic. It should also be noted that a new design was used for the model’s case, thanks to which it appears as if there is no back cover. Because of this, opening a smartphone is not so easy.

Connection

The C2305 phone supports two SIM cards, switching between them is convenient and quick. In addition, when talking on one of them, the second one is automatically turned off. The device supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, and navigation is carried out using the A-GPS system. As practice shows, reliable communication and fast exchange with paired devices occurs without failures of wireless technologies. Basic modification programs include the Google Talk application, with which you can send chat messages.

Display

As noted above, the model has a five-inch touch monitor. Its resolution is 960x540. This figure cannot be called impressive, so there can be no talk of ideal image quality - small details and fonts do not look quite smooth. Additional second-generation Schott glass provides good protection for the device from various external influences. The sensor is capable of recognizing up to five touches simultaneously, and its sensors quickly respond even to light pressure. Navigating between apps, menu options, zooming and scrolling is smooth and responsive.

Camera

The eight megapixel camera located on the rear side can easily be called one of the main advantages of the Sony C2305 model. Its overview is quite extensive. At the same time, thanks to the use of the Exmor RS high-sensitivity sensor, excellent image quality is ensured even in poor lighting conditions. The camera has a number of different settings and modes, which allows you to take photos with amazing detail, brightness, color rendition and clarity. “Self-portrait” became a rather interesting and unique function. Its essence is that you just need to point the camera lens at yourself, after which the device itself will take an excellent photo using voice prompts. Among other things, the focusing system also boasts the presence of several modes. A separate button on the body will allow you to photograph objects even when the smartphone is locked.

Performance

The Sony C2305 model has a processor with four cores, the clock frequency of each of which is 1.2 GHz. In addition, the device’s good operating speed is ensured by 1 GB of RAM. All programs, regardless of their size, start and run without delay. As for the permanent memory, its size is only 4 GB, but if necessary, you can install an additional microSD card. The device is just perfect for web surfing.

Menu and controls

Like many other modern modifications, the Sony C2305 smartphone runs on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system. It should be noted that its interface is quite successfully adapted specifically for this device. The user can configure the screen settings independently. The menu provides access to the phone book, applications (standard and installed additionally), a list of messages, an Internet browser and, of course, the Google Play application. Touch control buttons for switching between programs and returning to the home page are located at the bottom of the monitor. As for information regarding the current status of the phone, including network signal quality, wireless communications, current time, battery charge, and message notifications, it is displayed at the top.

Autonomy

The Sony C2305 is powered by a built-in rechargeable battery with a capacity of 2390 mAh. Taking into account the modest indicators of the screen, which were discussed earlier, this volume is more than enough. A clear confirmation of this is the fact that even with intensive use, the smartphone will be discharged only after a day. Moreover, the device has a special energy-saving mode, which, when activated, automatically turns off all unnecessary applications that consume a lot of energy. This allows you to increase the operating time of the device by two to three times. In continuous talk mode, a full battery charge will last about 10 hours, while in standby mode - for 588 hours.

conclusions

To summarize, we should name the main advantages and disadvantages of the Sony C2305. The main advantages of the model, experts include a stylish appearance, a unique body design, an eight-megapixel camera, a processor and support for two SIM cards. As for the weak points of the device, it is the small display resolution and the frequent appearance of glare on the glossy surface under bright lighting conditions. In general, for its price segment (in domestic stores you need to pay about 10 thousand rubles for a phone), the device can confidently be called a pretty good choice. It is capable of providing excellent communication quality and easily copes with a wide variety of tasks. Moreover, despite its relatively low cost, the phone has quite powerful characteristics that meet modern requirements for devices of this kind.

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