Sony Xperia E1 review: Enter Walkman

Performance

As we already mentioned, the Sony Xperia E1 uses the Snapdragon 200 chipset, which is Qualcomm's entry-level chipset for 2013. The MSM8210 in the Xperia E1 is a dual-core CPU, unlike other quad-core variations of the same chipset. The two cores are of the Cortex-A7 variety and they all run at 1.2GHz each. The Snapdragon 200 also includes an Adreno 302 GPU alongside 512MB of RAM.

The Cortex-A7 cores aren't the best performers out there so we don't expect much from the Snapdragon 200 in the following series of benchmark tests. However, Sony has done a spectacular job at optimizing them for running the Xperia-garnished UI very well.

So, let's see how the two Cortex-A7 cores perform under heavy load. Both single-core and multi-core performance is underwhelming, but it's not disastrous by any stretch and in this price range that actually counts as a win.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  308
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  347
• Huawei Ascend P6
  348
• LG Optimus G
  353
• Sony Xperia C
  374
• Motorola Moto G
  392
• Sony Xperia M
  400
• Sony Xperia E1
  420
• LG Nexus 4
  431
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  466
• Nokia X
  676

Linpack

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  788
• LG Optimus G Pro
  743
• HTC One
  646
• Sony Xperia ZL
  631
• Sony Xperia Z
  630
• HTC Butterfly
  624
• LG Optimus G
  608
• Oppo Find 5
  593
• Sony Xperia SP
  348
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  413
• HTC One mini
  320
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  214.3
• Nexus 4
  213.5
• Sony Xperia L
  191
• Meizu MX 4-core
  189
• HTC One X+
  177
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  175
• HTC One X
  160
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  141
• Sony Xperia E1
  128.7
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  107.7

GeekBench 3 tests the multi-core performance and the Xperia E1 scored close to the bottom, beating the Nokia X.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G
  1465
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  1321
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1315
• LG Nexus 4
  1288
• Motorola Moto G
  1120
• Sony Xperia C
  1079
• Oppo R819
  1047
• HTC One mini
  887
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  647
• Sony Xperia E1
  607
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  564
• Nokia X
  421

The all-in-one tests AnTuTu and Quadrant gauge the overall hardware performance, including graphics and RAM bandwidth. The dual-core Cortex-A7 in addition to the low 512MB RAM definitely put the Xperia E1 at a disadvantage here, but it's not too bad. In AnTuTu 4, the E1 manages to beat the Xperia M, which is a pleasant surprise.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto G
  17214
• LG Optimus G
  16943
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  15714
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  15667
• Oppo Find 5
  15167
• Sony Xperia C
  13948
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  13109
• Sony Xperia E1
  12951
• Sony Xperia M
  9902
• Nokia X
  7514

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  7153
• HTC One mini
  6048
• Sony Xperia V
  5816
• Sony Xperia E1
  5520
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  5053
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  4998
• Sony Xperia L
  4279
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  3542
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  3045
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  2316

Finally, we ran SunSpider and BrowserMark web benchmarks on Chrome, which is the default web browser on the Xperia E1. The Xperia E surprised us most of the time, managing to beat some contenders that are out of its league.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  972
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1011
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  1063
• HTC One
  1124
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  1181
• Motorola Moto G
  1308
• LG Optimus G
  1251
• Sony Xperia Z
  1336
• Oppo R819
  1423
• HTC Butterfly
  1433
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  1646
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  1680
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  1741
• 1799
  1799
• Sony Xperia M
  1867
• Nokia X
  2363
• Huawei Ascend P6
  3858

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto G
  2562
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  2432
• Sony Xperia E1
  2408
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  2314
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2096
• LG Optimus G
  2048
• Sony Xperia Z
  2093
• Sony Xperia C
  1984
• Sony Xperia L
  1809
• Nokia X
  1729
• Sony Xperia M
  1642
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1247
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  1100
• Huawei Ascend P6
  974
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  714

Vellamo

Higher is better

• HTC One mini
  2252
• Sony Xperia Z
  2189
• Sony Xperia SP
  2497
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2418
• HTC One
  2382
• Sony Xperia Z
  2189
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2186
• HTC One X (Tegra 3)
  2078
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2060
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  2019
• HTC Butterfly
  1866
• Sony Xperia E1
  1847
• Oppo Find 5
  1658
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1641
• Sony Xperia L
  1640
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  1572
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1568
• LG Optimus G
  1522
• Meizu MX 4-core
  1468
• Nexus 4
  1310
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  1234
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  1072
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1065

The dual-core Snapdragon 200 isn't anything exciting in the benchmark tests we ran. However, it managed to run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on the Xperia E1 quite well. There is some stuttering when trying to run demanding applications, but in everyday usage though, it's more than capable for handling almost anything you throw at it.