Sony Xperia C review: Cash and carry

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.