Accelerometer(or G-sensor) - sensor of the device’s position in space. As a main function, the accelerometer is used to automatically change the orientation of the image on the display (vertical or horizontal). Also, the G-sensor is used as a pedometer; it can control various functions of the device by turning or shaking.
Gyroscope- a sensor that measures rotation angles relative to a fixed coordinate system. Capable of measuring rotation angles in several planes simultaneously. A gyroscope together with an accelerometer allows you to accurately determine the position of the device in space. Devices that use only accelerometers have lower measurement accuracy, especially when moving quickly. Also, the capabilities of the gyroscope can be used in modern games for mobile devices.
Light sensor- a sensor that sets the optimal brightness and contrast values for a given light level. The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Proximity sensor- a sensor that detects when the device is close to your face during a call, turns off the backlight and locks the screen, preventing accidental clicks. The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Geomagnetic sensor- a sensor for determining the direction of the world in which the device is directed. Tracks the orientation of the device in space relative to the magnetic poles of the Earth. The information received from the sensor is used in mapping programs for terrain orientation.
Atmospheric pressure sensor- sensor for precise measurement of atmospheric pressure. It is part of the GPS system, allows you to determine altitude above sea level and speed up location determination.
Touch ID- fingerprint identification sensor.
Accelerometer / Geomagnetic / Light / Proximity
Satellite navigation:
GPS(Global Positioning System) is a satellite navigation system that provides measurements of distance, time, speed and determines the location of objects anywhere on Earth. The system is developed, implemented and operated by the US Department of Defense. The basic principle of using the system is to determine location by measuring distances to an object from points with known coordinates - satellites. The distance is calculated by the delay time of signal propagation from sending it by the satellite to receiving it by the antenna of the GPS receiver.
GLONASS(Global Navigation Satellite System) - Soviet and Russian satellite navigation system, developed by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The measurement principle is similar to the American GPS navigation system. GLONASS is designed for operational navigation and timing support for land, sea, air and space-based users. The main difference from the GPS system is that GLONASS satellites in their orbital motion do not have resonance (synchrony) with the rotation of the Earth, which provides them with greater stability.
Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.
Design
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.
| Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 74.2 mm (millimeters) 7.42 cm (centimeters) 0.24 ft (feet) 2.92 in (inches) |
| Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 141.5 mm (millimeters) 14.15 cm (centimeters) 0.46 ft (feet) 5.57 in (inches) |
| Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement. | 8.9 mm (millimeters) 0.89 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft (feet) 0.35 in (inches) |
| Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement. | 153 g (grams) 0.34 lbs 5.4 oz (ounces) |
| Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. | 93.44 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 5.67 in³ (cubic inches) |
| Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale. | White Black Purple |
SIM card
The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.
Mobile networks
A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.
Mobile communication technologies and data transfer speeds
Communication between devices on mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.
Operating system
An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.
SoC (System on Chip)
A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.
| SoC (System on Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation. | MediaTek MT6589 |
| Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor. | 28 nm (nanometers) |
| Processor (CPU) The primary function of a mobile device's processor (CPU) is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications. | ARM Cortex-A7 |
| Processor size The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance compared to 32-bit processors, which in turn are more powerful than 16-bit processors. | 32 bit |
| Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute. | ARMv7 |
| Level 1 cache (L1) Cache memory is used by the processor to reduce access time to more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (level 1) cache is small in size and works much faster than both system memory and other cache levels. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2. | 32 kB + 32 kB (kilobytes) |
| Level 2 cache (L2) L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1 cache, but in return it has a higher capacity, allowing it to cache more data. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for it in the L3 cache (if available) or in RAM memory. | 1024 kB (kilobytes) 1 MB (megabytes) |
| Number of processor cores The processor core executes software instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel. | 4 |
| CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 1200 MHz (megahertz) |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is most often used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, etc. | PowerVR SGX544 MP |
| Number of GPU cores Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications. | 1 |
| GPU clock speed Running speed is the clock speed of the GPU, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 286 MHz (megahertz) |
| Amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted. | 1 GB (gigabytes) |
| Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device. | LPDDR2 |
| Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels mean higher data rates. | Single channel |
| RAM frequency The frequency of RAM determines its operating speed, more specifically, the speed of reading/writing data. | 533 MHz (megahertz) |
Built-in memory
Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.
Memory cards
Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.
Screen
The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
| Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends. | TFT |
| Diagonal For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches. | 5 in (inches) 127 mm (millimeters) 12.7 cm (centimeters) |
| Width Approximate screen width | 2.45 in (inches) 62.26 mm (millimeters) 6.23 cm (centimeters) |
| Height Approximate screen height | 4.36 in (inches) 110.69 mm (millimeters) 11.07 cm (centimeters) |
| Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side | 1.778:1 16:9 |
| Permission Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means clearer image detail. | 540 x 960 pixels |
| Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail. | 220 ppi (pixels per inch) 86 ppcm (pixels per centimeter) |
| Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors that the screen can display. | 24 bit 16777216 flowers |
| Screen area Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device. | 65.85% (percent) |
| Other characteristics Information about other screen features and characteristics. | Capacitive Multi-touch |
Sensors
Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.
Rear camera
The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.
| Flash type The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use LED flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape. | LED |
| Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions. | 3264 x 2448 pixels 7.99 MP (megapixels) |
| Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record. | 1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels) |
Front-camera
Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - a pop-up camera, a rotating camera, a cutout or hole in the display, an under-display camera.
Audio
Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.
Radio
The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.
Location determination
Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device.
WiFi
Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for transmitting data over close distances between various devices.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between various devices of different types over short distances.
USB
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.
Headphone jack
This is an audio connector, also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Connecting devices
Information about other important connection technologies supported by your device.
Browser
A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.
Video file formats/codecs
Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital video data.
Battery
Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.
| Capacity A battery's capacity indicates the maximum charge it can hold, measured in milliamp-hours. | 2390 mAh (milliamp-hours) |
| Type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more precisely, the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries being the most commonly used batteries in mobile devices. | Li-Ion (Lithium-ion) |
| 2G talk time 2G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 2G network. | 14 h (hours) 840 min (minutes) 0.6 days |
| 2G latency 2G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 2G network. | 588 h (hours) 35280 min (minutes) 24.5 days |
| 3G talk time 3G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 3G network. | 12 hours 25 minutes 12.4 h (hours) 745.2 min (minutes) 0.5 days |
| 3G latency 3G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network. | 605 h (hours) 36300 min (minutes) 25.2 days |
| Characteristics Information about some additional characteristics of the device's battery. | Removable |
Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
The SAR level refers to the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device.
| Head SAR level (EU) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device close to the ear in a conversation position. In Europe, the maximum permissible SAR value for mobile devices is limited to 2 W/kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard has been established by CENELEC in accordance with IEC standards, subject to the guidelines of ICNIRP 1998. | 0.52 W/kg (Watt per kilogram) |
| Head SAR level (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device near the ear. The maximum value used in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. Mobile devices in the US are regulated by the CTIA, and the FCC conducts tests and sets their SAR values. | 0.54 W/kg (Watt per kilogram) |
| Body SAR level (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device at hip level. The highest permissible SAR value in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. This value is set by the FCC, and the CTIA monitors mobile devices' compliance with this standard. | 1.283 W/kg (Watt per kilogram) |
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 how exactly this casing is removed - the structure of the case is not familiar, no cracks or gaps are 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.
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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.
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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.
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The sharpness in the foreground is quite good. Sharping is noticeable on the wires. |
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Good sharpness in almost all plans and across the entire field of the frame. |
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The tiles merge already in the foreground. |
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Sharpness is weak even in the foreground, and drops even more towards distant ones. |
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The boundaries of objects are quite damaged by noise. |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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:
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
21.02.2014
I would like to say thank you to the esteemed Helpix editors and express special gratitude to Georgy Kiselev for spending the time checking my “careless” attempts to write a review!!! For that chance that others don't give...
How long have you had this device?
About a month.
Do you use it until now? If not, why did you break up with him?
I use it and will continue to use it until the battery runs out of life.
How did you get this device? What criteria were used to select it? Where and how much was it purchased?
I didn’t consider buying a new phone, since I was completely satisfied with my old, trusty SonyEricsson Hazel push-button slider as my main phone and really Die Hard! It is almost 3 years old, the battery lasts up to 3 days, there is not a single scratch on the screen, it looks like new, with the exception of the back cover. It was covered with carbon fiber.
I once went into an MTS communication salon just to look and “twist” in my hands the much-advertised Nokia Lumia 1020 with a 41 megapixel camera. The camera is, of course, super. Naturally, I paid attention to the Sony line, as I was convinced of the quality of Sony Ericsson from my own experience. The Sony Xperia C 2305 smartphone immediately attracted my attention with its appearance and price. Since my previous phone was a push-button slider, I had no experience working with a smartphone, and even with a touch screen, so that they wouldn’t laugh at me (it’s 2014), I completely entrusted the demonstration of the phone to the salon consultant. And “a fish was hooked.” I immediately liked everything about this smartphone. Therefore, after leaving the salon, I quickly rushed home, where my husband and I went to the website to read reviews about this smartphone. Based on the selection criteria, we were unable to compare this model with one similar in quality, functionality and price. Everything I needed was in this smartphone:
1. Capacious battery. The phone will be actively used in terms of calls, Internet, email, camera.
2. Support for 2 SIM cards. I'm tired of using two phones.
3. Ability to view letters and documents from email.
4. Good camera. Mainly for shooting documents and price tags.
5. High-quality speaker sound. I really love music.
6. Ability to record a telephone conversation during a conversation. Since I spend most of my time on the road, driving, when accepting orders from clients, I record their requests on a voice recorder (naturally, warning me that the conversation is being recorded). This is very convenient, you don’t have to constantly stop and write down orders in a notepad, and upon arrival at the office, I simply rewrite the orders or transfer them via MMS message to the office manager for processing. This was possible in my old SonyEricsson Hazel phone, but my husband’s HTC Explorer smartphone does not have this option. To record, he downloaded an application that only works with speakerphone, which is not entirely convenient.
Two days later, having sacrificed the family budget, I became the owner of a white Sony Xperia C 2305 smartphone, purchased at an MTS communication store for 11,990 rubles.
What do you like? Strengths, advantages.
- Appearance
Very beautiful design and impeccable build quality. My chosen one is white, the body is made of plastic. The back cover is pearlescent.
On the sides along the entire perimeter there are metal inserts-plates. Convenient location of the power/lock, volume and camera buttons, as well as connectors (power/sync on the left, for the headset on the top). The connectors, however, are without plugs.
I would like to note right away that the phone fits perfectly in my female hand, and I can successfully reach all the keys, display and touch buttons on the screen with one hand. Touchscreen phones used to scare me, but now that I got one, I realized how convenient it is! And I don’t miss the buttons!
The microphone, earpiece and music speaker located at the back are protected by a mesh. Above the screen in the upper right corner is the front camera and light sensor.
Below the screen there is a notification indicator, which does not work when STAMINA mode is on. I’ll write about the regime later. As banal as it may sound, once in 2004 I had a Siemens M55 phone. When there was a call, missed calls and SMS, it had a red light indication on the sides. Therefore, the presence of an indicator in the smartphone was very pleasing!
- Package
When purchased, the phone was packed in a regular colorful box, on the front side there is an image of the phone in white, and on the back side the phones are shown in three colors: black, purple and white. The delivery set included a charger plug, a USB cable for charging and synchronization, a wired stereo headset without a clothespin, a start-up manual in 2 copies in Russian and foreign languages, and a warranty card.
There is no user manual, but you can download it from the official website directly to your phone, and I advise you to read it right away, a lot of interesting things are written there.
You can also read in the manual how to open the phone's cover. It was difficult for me to open for the first time, there are no visible holes to catch on. But once you get used to it, it opens easily. How I open it - watch the video:
Under the cover of the phone there is a non-removable battery, two slots for micro-SIM cards and a slot for a flash drive. In the salon they immediately cut my regular SIMs into micro ones for 90 rubles each.
Additionally, I purchased a 32 GB class 10 microSD memory card and a black flip case.
- Battery
Battery capacity 2390 mAh, non-removable. From the first days of purchase, I used the phone to its full capacity to reveal all the capabilities of the device. Charging the phone is enough for two days of phone operation in intensive mode. At the same time, Wi-Fi was constantly turned on (if at home) or mobile Internet (if at work), downloaded various applications, took photos and videos, sent MMS, and at the same time made and answered calls. After three weeks, the battery charge lasted for two and a half days. During these days I only used calls, SMS, Wi-Fi, photos, listened to music for about 2 hours a day, downloaded 5 songs and watched a cartoon lasting 25 minutes, set up DLNA. I think this is a good indicator for the battery, considering that 2 SIM cards and a 5-inch screen are active. Almost 50% of the battery is occupied by communication with the network, so I turn on Flight mode at night.
I would like to offer some tips on how to extend the life of your battery. (My old Hazel still holds a charge for up to 3 days with heavy use.) The most important thing is to charge it correctly. Wait until about 5% charge remains. Charge your phone fully. Avoid using your phone while charging. Try to use your old phone for calls (for the first three cycles). Wait until fully charged. Then you use the phone until the next 5% battery discharge. Try not to recharge your phone or connect it to your computer via a USB cable. And so three periods of discharging and charging. Yes, this is difficult to do when you have a brand new phone, but believe me, your patience will be justified in the future by the good battery life of your phone!
In this phone I turned on the STAMINA mode. The principle of operation of the mode is that when the screen is turned off, mobile data transmission and Wi-Fi are disabled. You can add applications that become active in standby mode when the mode is turned on. Turned on energy saving mode. If the charge level is below 30%, this mode turns on automatically and energy-saving settings come into effect, which can also be adjusted.
If I don't use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile Internet or one of the SIM cards, I turn them off. At night, as I already wrote, I launch the Flight mode. All settings for disabling and enabling can be displayed on the desktop for quick access (except for disabling the SIM card). For the SIM card in the first slot, I chose the preferred GSM network, and if I need mobile Internet, I turn on 3G. Set the apps used to sync email, calendar, and contacts to manual sync mode. The screen brightness was set to “adjust according to the light level”, because in the sun, when the brightness is reduced, the data on the screen is difficult to see.
- Screen and camera
TFT screen, 5-inch with multi-touch 4 touches with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. The screen has wide viewing angles and rich colors. I really like it, everything is bright and colorful!
In the bright sun it is difficult to see, but it is legible if, as I already wrote, you set it to “adjust according to the light.”
The 0.3 MP front digital camera with VGA resolution can be used exclusively for Skype. The main one is 8 megapixels with a highly sensitive Exmor RS sensor, as written in the instructions. It is also said that thanks to this sensor, it can take clear photos and videos even in low light conditions. As for photography, such clear pictures can only be taken during daylight hours. I even called Sony Mobile support. They advised me to do a factory reset and reinstall the update. After that it got better, but still, in poor lighting, the clarity of objects in the distance is not enough! Pictures are taken with a resolution of 3264x2448.
Photos after noon:
Photo under artificial light:
In low light, everything is also bright and beautiful, but the sharpness in some places leaves much to be desired. And if the hand twitches, then everything is blurry.
Shooting in the evening:
And here at night:
Shooting documents is clear.
In general, it depends on who. As I already wrote, I have a camera, I don’t take pictures at night, so the Xperia C camera completely suits me.
There is a flash and autofocus, HDR support.
Regular photo without flash:
Photo with HDR enabled:
With the function turned on, the pictures are brighter. It is not yet clear to me what is good about this function.
You can select the main camera, front camera, video camera or front video camera, graphic effect, shooting conditions. There are functions for recognizing smiling faces (when you smile, the camera detects this and automatically takes a photo) and “self-portrait”. A very convenient function for those who like to take pictures of themselves. The voice will tell you how best to get into the lens for a good photo. You can also select “two” and “two next to each other”. And if you turn on the face retouching mode, then in general you will look flawless in the photo (without pimples and wrinkles), then you won’t have to photoshop! In one of the test shots, the camera retouched my eyebrows and part of my bangs. But mostly, it turns out well.
After taking the photo, you can edit it: crop it, place it in a frame, change the background, put a mark, sign it with printed text, and even draw or write something on it with your own hand!
Videos can be shot with FullHD 1920x1080 resolution. Then you can watch it in HD resolution on your TV. There are no delays or changes in sharpness (see video). You can select night mode and backlight, turn on the image stabilizer.
During video shooting, you can take pictures with the main and front cameras. The main camera is limited to 2 megapixels.
Example of video and photos during video shooting:
The video recording sound is average. You can also choose where to save photos and videos.
Video examples:
- Music and sound
The sound, thanks to the Walkman player, is excellent! The sound is clear and loud with bass (after firmware update). There are settings and additional sound improvement technologies. But they can be controlled if ClearAudio+ is turned off. And if this function is enabled, the sound adjustment will occur automatically. I would like to note that when ClearAudio+ and Clear Phase are turned off, but the xLOUD function is turned on, the sound of the external speaker and the ringer sound becomes much louder. The TrackID application allows you to determine the melody by sound by finding data via the Internet. To trim ringtones, I downloaded the free Ringtone Slicer Beta application. Saves the trimmed melody directly to a flash drive, the melody can be set to a call, contact melody, alarm clock. There is also an FM radio that works with a connected headset. The reception is average. Additionally, I downloaded a free Internet PC radio application from the Play Market. I use it.
- Telephone
Supports 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks. There is Wi-Fi Direct mode, Bluetooth v 4.0, there is DLNA and USB (OTG), GPS/A-GPS - it works great. Can be used as a navigator.
The phone supports two SIM cards. There is only one radio module, so there is only one conversation, the second SIM card becomes inaccessible. There is a Dual Sim setting. Forwarding from one SIM to another is established to always be in touch. You can also set call forwarding yourself in the call settings and to other SIMs, for example, in another phone. In the SIM card settings, you can set priorities separately for calls and data transfer for each SIM. If you set calls and SMS from 1 SIM in the settings, then before each call the phone will not ask which SIM card to call from, but will always call with the specified SIM. You can also set priorities by time, for example, from 9 to 13 calls and SMS will be from 2 SIM, and data transfer from 1 SIM. The SIM switch is located in the top panel, it is small and not convenient to use, so I moved the icon to the desktop.
3G will only be in the first slot, in the second only GPRS/EDGE. Therefore, it is best to insert a SIM into the first slot to work with the Internet. I configured the Internet on both slots to receive and send MMS. True, the automatic settings did not load, I had to configure them manually. The Sony Mobile hotline specialist helped. Phone 8-800-100-80-22.
I transferred contacts from my old phone via Bluetooth. Selected all contacts - transfer using Bluetooth. And on Sony I simply imported a file with contacts. Each contact can be assigned a ringtone, a picture, assigned to a group, created a new group, or sent an SMS. In this case, melodies and pictures do not have to be moved to the phone’s memory; everything is installed from a flash drive. Contacts are searched by both numbers and names. Contacts without phone numbers are displayed. An incoming call from a person can be rejected with an instant SMS message, for example, “I will call you back.” The lock key can be configured to end a conversation. It's convenient for me.
You can mark a contact as a favorite and it will appear separately in your favorites.
You can also display it on your desktop as a widget or shortcut.
SMS messages are output from conversations.
I chose the extended keyboard, which displays numbers and symbols.
I liked the voice typing feature. This is for those who don’t like to write SMS - now you can tell them off! If you dictate a sentence and at the end you say “period,” then a period is added. It happens, of course, that the word “dot” is written instead of a period.
- Software and Performance
Operating system Google Android version 4.2.2. The MT6589 MediaTek processor, quad-core Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz, has 1 GB of RAM and PowerVR SGX544MP graphics accelerator. Supports memory cards up to 32 GB.
The phone doesn't slow down. Music downloads instantly:
Watch the movie online:
I haven’t played serious games, only these:
There are seven desktops on the screen. Application icons on desktops can be added, selected and sorted to your taste, and combined into created folders. You can remove shortcuts to unused applications from desktops. Applications can be moved to a flash drive (not all). Those applications that you do not need at all can be deleted in the settings. I clicked "uninstall updates". Of course, they were not completely deleted, the shortcuts remained, but the memory was freed up, and the shortcuts were placed in one created folder so that they would not get in the way. I would like to note right away: if you do not want unused applications to be constantly updated, in the Play Market settings, in auto-update, check the “never” box. If there is an update for games and applications, the system will definitely warn you, and you yourself will be able to update only the applications or games you need.
You can select a desktop background, install live wallpapers (although they will drain the battery faster):
Apps can be downloaded immediately or moved to an SD card later.
Separately, there is a history of recently used applications and a menu of small applications. There is a voice recorder here and you can take a screenshot. You can also take a screenshot (you all know, of course) by simultaneously pressing and holding for 2 seconds. lock buttons and volume keys. You can only use one small application on the main desktop.
Also, any free application you are interested in can be downloaded from the Play Market. I would never have thought that at my age I would be able to download Talking Tom, feed him, dress him, change the interior in the living room, bedroom, and on top of all this, play the toys offered in the application to earn money for a beautiful skin, etc. Even the most funny.
On the top line of the screen there is a menu with quick access to switch SIM, sound/vibrate/no ringer, turn Bluetooth on/off, Wi-Fi and settings. Various alerts, downloads, etc. are also displayed. This menu appears when you pull down the curtain with one finger.
If you swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers, a curtain with the necessary tools will open.
What's not to like? Weaknesses, shortcomings.
I don't like the front camera, 0.3. On Skype the picture is not of very good quality, they could have made 2 or at least 1.3. But if someone doesn’t use Skype, then the front camera is not needed at all. Self-portraits are not bad from the main camera using the “self-portrait” function.
Non-removable battery.
The battery discharge from 30% immediately drops to 15%. The new update did not fix it. I'll wait for the next one. But this rapid drop occurs when Wi-Fi is turned on.
Quiet sound when recording video. While I was once again correcting my story, I discovered the reason for recording the quiet sound. It turns out that if you set the sound settings for the camera, multimedia and games to full, then the recording sound will be quite loud. But if you went into the game and made the sound quieter, it will automatically change in the camera, and if you don’t increase it, the recording will be quiet.
In the phone book, contacts are displayed only with a name; there is not enough visibility of phone numbers.
Before updating the firmware to version 16.0.B.2.6, there were shortcomings that were corrected after the update:
- The proximity sensor was constantly triggered when you touched it on the screen. After the update, it only works when there is a call, or when a call comes in when you bring the phone to your ear;
- melodies set for a call or contact disappeared when the phone was rebooted or connected to a computer. The same thing happened with application icons installed on the desktop that were installed on a flash drive, they also disappeared. In order not to re-configure the desktops, I transferred all applications to the device’s memory. After the update, nothing is lost; downloaded applications are immediately saved to the USB flash drive;
- The sound in the headphones and the ringing sound were quiet. After the update the problem is solved. The volume has increased significantly!
I want to give some advice right away. Update your phone instantly via your computer using the Sony PC Companion app. When you connect your phone via a USB cable to your computer, your phone will immediately ask you to install PC Companion on your computer. If already installed, click skip. Follow the wizard's instructions. Once the application is installed, the program will offer to update your phone. Also follow the prompts according to the instructions, just do not turn off the phone so as not to disrupt the download and installation. I was unable to update directly on my phone via the Update Center. When checking for new updates on the phone through the Update Center, it is reported that the latest system updates are already installed on the device, but when connected to a computer, PC Companion immediately suggested updating the phone. Important! Before updating, make sure that the battery charge is at least 50%!
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
