Sony Xperia C review: Cash and carry

Cash and carry

GSMArena team, 5 December 2013.

Synthetic benchmarks and performance

The Xperia C is Sony's first device we meet running on the MediaTek's best quad-core chispet. It is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 low-powered processor, with PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 1GB of RAM.

The Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1.2GHz delivers a decent mid-range performance very close to the Cortex-A9 chips, with the added benefit of lower power consumption.

Our first test is all about single-core performance, where the Xperia C scored similar results to most of the Cortex-A9-powered competitors.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

  • LG G2
    99
  • Sony
    115
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    115
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    130
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    132
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    132
  • HTC Butterfly S
    135
  • LG Optimus G Pro
    147
  • HTC One
    151
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    166
  • Sony Xperia Z
    264
  • HTC Butterfly
    266
  • Oppo Find 5
    267
  • HTC One X+
    280
  • LG Optimus G
    285
  • HTC One mini
    293
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    305
  • HTC One X (Tegra 3)
    330
  • LG Optimus 4X HD
    350
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
    359
  • Sony Xperia C
    374
  • Nexus 4
    431

Next up, we put all four cores to the test in the multi-core version of the Linpack benchmark. The Sony Xperia C either had some problems with the test or it is just that bad. Anyway its score is almost identical to the quad-core LG Optimus 4X HD.

Linpack

Higher is better

  • LG G2
    1054
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    1034
  • Sony Xperia Z1
    1004
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    818
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    791
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    788
  • LG Optimus G Pro
    743
  • HTC Butterfly S
    669
  • HTC One
    646
  • Sony Xperia Z
    630
  • HTC Butterfly
    624
  • LG Optimus G
    608
  • Oppo Find 5
    593
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    413
  • HTC One mini
    320
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    214.3
  • Nexus 4
    213.5
  • HTC One X+
    177.7
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
    175.5
  • HTC One X
    160.9
  • LG Optimus 4X HD
    141.5
  • Sony Xperia C
    132.3

We also run the GeekBench 3 CPU benchmark. The Xperia C matched the score of the Oppo R819, which is powered by the same MT6589 chipset, both occupying bottom spots in our chart.

Geekbench 3

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    2670
  • Sony Xperia Z1
    2638
  • LG G2
    2243
  • HTC One
    1972
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    1869
  • LG Optimus G
    1623
  • Huawei Ascend P6
    1315
  • LG Nexus 4
    1288
  • HTC Butterfly
    1257
  • Sony Xperia C
    1079
  • Oppo R819
    1047
  • HTC One mini
    887

AnTuTu 4 gauges the overall device performance instead of just the CPU and the Sony Xperia C managed to output half the scores of the top Snapdragon 800 chips. The Quadrant test does the same as AnTuTu, but the Xperia C fell in the bottom of our chart there among the quad-core Crotex-A9 droids.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z1
    30850
  • LG G2
    30243
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    29185
  • Samsung Galaxy S4
    27613
  • HTC One
    26389
  • LG Nexus 4
    17006
  • Sony Xperia C
    13948

Quadrant

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z1
    20388
  • LG G2
    19815
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    18177
  • HTC Butterfly S
    13130
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    12446
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    12376
  • LG Optimus G Pro
    12105
  • HTC One
    11746
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    11346
  • Sony Xperia Z
    8075
  • HTC One X+
    7632
  • LG Optimus G
    7439
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    7153
  • Oppo Find 5
    7111
  • HTC One mini
    6048
  • HTC One X
    5952
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    5916
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
    5450
  • Sony Xperia C
    4941
  • Nexus 4
    4567

It's time to test the PowerVR SGX544 graphic processing unit. We ran both GLBenchmark tests in off-screen mode, testing raw GPU power. The Xperia C fell at the bottom of our charts, which means the PowerVR SGX544 GPU is the weaker among all 2013 chipsets.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z1
    60
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    60
  • LG G2
    54
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    43
  • HTC Butterfly S
    42
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    41
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    41
  • HTC One
    37
  • Oppo Find 5
    32
  • Google Nexus 4
    32
  • Sony Xperia Z
    31
  • Sony Xperia ZL
    31
  • Sony Xperia SP
    31
  • Apple iPhone 5
    30
  • LG Optimus G Pro
    30
  • LG Optimus G
    21
  • Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
    17
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    17
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    17
  • HTC One mini
    15
  • HTC One X
    11
  • Sony Xperia C
    10

GLBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z1
    23
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    23
  • LG G2
    22
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    17.1
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    17.1
  • Apple iPad 4
    16.8
  • HTC Butterfly S
    16
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    16
  • Google Nexus 10
    13.9
  • LG Optimus G
    13.9
  • Sony Xperia Z
    13.5
  • Sony Xperia Tablet Z
    13
  • Sony Xperia ZL
    12.8
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    6.4
  • Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
    6.3
  • HTC One mini
    5.6
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    4.9
  • Sony Xperia C
    2.8

We also ran Epic Citadel benchmark on the Ultra High Quality setting. Here the Xperia C showed even though its GPU may be struggling to handle 1080p screens, the PowerVR SGX544 graphic chip offers nicely playable framerates on the qHD resolution display. And a strong case can be made that this is what actually counts.

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z1
    54.9
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    54.9
  • LG G2
    51
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    37.2
  • Sony Xperia C
    36.3
  • HTC One
    35.6
  • HTC Butterfly
    29.6

The JavaScript performance of the Sony Xperia C's Chrome browser is is quite decent, matching the Snapdragon S4 quad-core gang.

SunSpider

Lower is better

  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    750
  • Sony Xperia Z1
    845
  • LG G2
    908
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    1046
  • HTC One
    1174
  • LG Optimus G
    1293
  • Sony Xperia C
    1319
  • HTC One mini
    1375
  • LG Nexus 4
    1379
  • HTC Butterfly
    1397
  • Oppo R819
    1423
  • Huawei Ascend P6
    3858

The combined BrowserMark 2 benchmark results were also a match for the Samsung flagships from 2012.

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

  • LG G2
    2718
  • LG Optimus G
    2555
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    2438
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    2419
  • Sony Xperia Z1
    2398
  • HTC Butterfly S
    2378
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    2338
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    2314
  • HTC One
    2262
  • Sony Xperia Tablet Z
    2170
  • HTC One mini
    2164
  • Sony Xperia ZL
    2107
  • Sony Xperia Z
    2093
  • Sony Xperia C
    1984
  • LG Optimus G Pro
    1801
  • Oppo Find 5
    1797
  • Nexus 4
    1794
  • Nokia Lumia 920
    1774
  • Google Nexus 10
    1773
  • HTC Butterfly
    1475
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
    1247

Finally, the Sony Xperia C placed near the bottom of the chart in the Vellamo browser benchmark, but its score is actually quite close to those in front.

Vellamo

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
    2944
  • LG G2
    2908
  • Sony Xperia Z1
    2904
  • HTC Butterfly S
    2592
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
    2418
  • HTC One
    2382
  • HTC One mini
    2252
  • Sony Xperia Z
    2189
  • HTC One X (Tegra 3)
    2078
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
    2060
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
    2056
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
    2019
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
    1936
  • HTC Butterfly
    1866
  • Oppo Find 5
    1658
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
    1641
  • Sony Xperia C
    1582
  • LG Optimus 4X HD
    1568
  • LG Optimus G
    1522
  • Nexus 4
    1310

The Sony Xperia C might not be the benchmark beast geeks would dream about, but it's not underpowered by any means. The MT6589 is powerful enough to provide fast, fluid and lag-free performance on the qHD resolution of Xperia C and will handle well every app and game out there. And in this price range, this is more than enough.

Reader comments

  • ASH
  • 21 Dec 2022
  • U@R

i loved this phone so much. i never like any other phone compared to this..still i have this handset, even its not working..

  • AnonD-575342
  • 22 Aug 2016
  • wph

Hello Can you help me to root this phone to... Please let me know how to root this sony Xperia c

  • Anonymous
  • 23 May 2016
  • 7jW

never buy this phone....very limited storage memory for apps....