Sony Xperia C4 Dual review: Flashy performer

Synthetic benchmarks

A midrange phone arrived at the office without a Snapdragon 615 inside, for a change. The Sony Xperia C4 is powered by the Mediatek MT6752 SoC, which also relies on the same Cortex-A53 CPU cores as in the S615, only in this case all 8 of them can simultaneously be clocked as high as 1.7GHz, should the need for top performance arise.

The octa-core processor is coupled with a Mali-T760MP2 GPU and 2GB of RAM, which should be serious improvements over the Adreno 305 and single gig inside the Xperia C3.

The battery of tests starts as usual with Geekbench 3.0, which measures RAW CPU performance. Mediatek's True octa-core concept shines here and the C4 posts a beastly score, unmatched among its rivals in the midrange. Even the Acer Liquid Jade S, which packs the same chipset, is not on par with the Sony offering. Year-old major flagships Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z2 are nowhere near that standard.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  4242
• Meizu m1 note
  3988
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  3557
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  3386
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  3120
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  2922
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  2880
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• Oppo N3
  2704
• OnePlus One
  2663
• HTC Desire 820
  2586
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  2451
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2375
• LG G3
  2370
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2336
• vivo X5Max
  2291
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  2172
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1468

The popular Antutu benchmark has become an industry standard for overall performance, and it evaluates CPU, graphics, memory and storage, the lot. Another great performance here, the Xperia C4 smokes the S615 bunch, which hovers around the high 20,000s to low 30,000s, with only the Xiaomi Mi 4i somewhat higher. The Xperia C4 is on par with the S801-equipped Galaxy S5, but is bested by the highest specced Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML with an Intel Atom Z3580 inside.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Meizu MX4 Pro
  48489
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  48361
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  46307
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  45348
• LG G3
  42038
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  39637
• Oppo N3
  39245
• Meizu m1 note
  39224
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  34491
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  32217
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  31436
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  29907
• vivo X5Max
  29630
• HTC Desire 820
  27070
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  21562

The Xperia C4 fails to dominate in Basemark OS II 2.0, though it still scores higher than its S615 rivals, the Galaxy A7 being over 100 points behind.

Single core-performance is led by the Snapdragon 801s, though they rely on an entirely different quad-core architecture and thus obviously pack more punch per core. The Xperia C4 is then ahead of the S615s, with the only exception of the Xiaomi Mi 4i, which beats it by a hair.

Unsurprisingly the Xperia C4 leads the way in the multi-core test, with S615 devices a mile behind.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Oppo N3
  1241
• OnePlus One
  1230
• LG G3
  1189
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  1160
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  939
• Meizu m1 note
  880
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  863
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  858
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  813
• HTC Desire 820
  728
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  725
• vivo X5Max
  656
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  580
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  296

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5
  5557
• LG G3
  5396
• Oppo N3
  5341
• OnePlus One
  5108
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  3118
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  3008
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2900
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2628
• Meizu m1 note
  2617
• vivo X5Max
  2580
• HTC Desire 820
  2546
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  2480
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  2438
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1818

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  24035
• OnePlus One
  19625
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  19237
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  18968
• Oppo N3
  16774
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  16640
• LG G3
  16485
• Meizu m1 note
  14565
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  13521
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  13167
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  12080
• HTC Desire 820
  10275
• vivo X5Max
  8327
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  7551

Graphics performance is less exciting but mostly adequate. The results are not what they initially appear though, as the top spots are occupied mostly by the 2014 flagships, which benefit from their superior GPUs. And then if the C4 is bested by S615 device, it's in the onscreen routines where the Xperia M4 Aqua, Acer Liquid Jade S and HTC Desire 820 are favored by their lower 720p resolution.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  30
• OnePlus One
  28.3
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  27
• LG G3
  26
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  26
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15
• Meizu m1 note
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  15
• vivo X5Max
  15
• HTC Desire 820
  15
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  15
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  14.9
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  14.2
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  11
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  5.3

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  30
• OnePlus One
  30
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  28
• HTC Desire 820
  26
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  25.8
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  25
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  22
• LG G3
  20
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  17
• Meizu m1 note
  16
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  15.1
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  15
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• vivo X5Max
  14
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  9.6

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  13
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  13
• OnePlus One
  12.1
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  12
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• LG G3
  11
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  6
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  5.84
• Meizu m1 note
  5.8
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  5.8
• vivo X5Max
  5.7
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  5.7
• HTC Desire 820
  5.7
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  4.9
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  3.7
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  12.9
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  12.2
• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC Desire 820
  12
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  12
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  12
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  10
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  7.8
• LG G3
  7.7
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  6
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  5.8
• Meizu m1 note
  5.7
• vivo X5Max
  5.7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  4.7
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  3.9

Moving on to browser benchmarks, things don't look all that well for the Xperia C4. Even though it's running nothing but Chrome, thus supposedly avoiding blunders by the manufacturer's software engineers, the C4 is consistently trailing, both in the JavaScript-focused Kraken 1.1 and the broader BrowserMark 2.1.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  5057
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  5968
• Oppo N3
  6460
• OnePlus One
  7008
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• LG G3
  7632
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  10193
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  11410
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  11439
• vivo X5Max
  11967
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  12266
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  13462
• HTC Desire 820
  13568
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  13609
• Meizu m1 note
  15055
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15815
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  18124

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5
  2066
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580) retail
  1853
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  1655
• LG G3
  1453
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  1396
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1344
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  1343
• OnePlus One
  1339
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  1175
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  1171
• HTC Desire 820
  991
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  793
• Oppo N3
  730
• vivo X5Max
  607
• Meizu m1 note
  536

All in all, the Sony Xperia C4 proves to be a capable performer, with strong results in processor benchmarks and above average graphics for its class. It does have its weak spot, and that's browser performance, though.