Sony Xperia T3 review: Wits and looks

Synthetic benchmarks

Sony Xperia T3 is running on the Snapdragon 400 mid-range chipset. It offers four Cortex-A7 CPU cores ticking at 1.4 GHz, Adreno 305 graphics and 1GB of RAM. We've already seen the Snapdragon 400 in action on the Motorola Moto G, the Sony Xperia T2 Ultra and M2, the HTC Desire 816, the HTC One mini 2 and several others so it's clearly a quite popular choice. And rightfully so as it delivers a snappy performance in everyday use and quite acceptable gaming chops as well.

Starting off with the CPU benchmarks, the Xperia T3 posted a great result on the multi-core GeekBench 3 cross-platform benchmark. It managed to beat every other S400 device we've tested so far but the HTC One mini 2.

Geekbench 3

Higher is better

• Huawei Ascend P7
  1895
• HTC One mini 2
  1526
• Sony Xperia T3
  1373
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  1359
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  1321
• LG G2 mini
  1123
• Motorola Moto G
  1120
• Sony Xperia C
  1079
• Sony Xperia M2
  1074

AnTuTu is a compound benchmark, which also takes into account RAM and GPU performance. The Xperia T3 numbers are quite good too, slightly below the quad-core Cortex-A7-powered HTC Desire 816 but nerveless better than all other Snapdragon 400 phones.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 816
  21580
• Sony Xperia T3
  20282
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  19896
• HTC One mini 2
  17883
• Sony Xperia M2
  17808
• LG G2 mini
  17362
• Motorola Moto G
  17214
• Sony Xperia C
  13948

Basemark OS II is another all-round benchmark. It gives an overall score along with single, multi-core performance, math performance and more. We focus on the overall score and the dedicated CPU scores. The Sony Xperia T3 overall rating is excellent for its target group yet again.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia T3
  535
• HTC Desire 816
  520
• HTC One mini 2
  517
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  434
• HTC Desire 616
  378
• Sony Xperia M2
  298

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 816
  1739
• HTC Desire 616
  1533
• Sony Xperia T3
  1465
• HTC One mini 2
  1357
• Sony Xperia M2
  1164

The multi-core test score is great too, though the octa-core-powered HTC Desire 616 is the real champ here.

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 616
  12986
• HTC Desire 816
  7071
• Sony Xperia T3
  5759
• Sony Xperia M2
  4927
• HTC One mini 2
  4889

The graphics benchmark results came out average. The GFXBench tests - both off-screen and on-screen variants - reflected some OK performance on par with the competition. It did worse on the on-screen tests than the Xperia M2, which has the same chipset but packs a lower resolution qHD less-demanding display.

The Adreno 305 is a capable GPU, but the quad-core Mali-450MP4 within the Huawei Ascend P7, Alcatel Idol X+, Gionee Elife S5.5 and the HTC Desire 616 is obviously better and doubles the performance.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.3
• Alcatel Idol X+
  10.9
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  10.8
• HTC Desire 616
  8.7
• Sony Xperia T3
  5.9
• Sony Xperia M2
  5.9
• HTC Desire 816
  5.9
• LG G2 mini
  5.8
• HTC One mini 2
  5.8
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  5.8
• HTC One mini
  5.6
• Motorola Moto G
  5.6
• Sony Xperia C
  2.8

The on-screen test is where the score matters the most as is the display resolution. The Xperia M2 has a lower than HD display at 540x960 pixels and that's why it comes on top, while the 1080p-packing Alcatel Idol X+ and Gionee Elife S5.5 - at the bottom. The Xperia T3 score is good enough meaning you will be able to handle the lots of heavy 3D games.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia M2
  15.4
• LG G2 mini
  14.9
• HTC Desire 616
  13.4
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.4
• Sony Xperia T3
  11.2
• HTC One mini 2
  11
• HTC Desire 816
  11
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  10.9
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  10.6
• Alcatel Idol X+
  10.6
• Sony Xperia C
  7.3

The OpenGL ES3.0 is required for the Manhattan 3.0 test and only devices running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or higher can handle it. It affirmed our conclusions from the T-Rex 2.7 tests with pretty much the same output.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia M2
  1.9
• Sony Xperia T3
  1.8
• HTC One mini 2
  1.7
• HTC Desire 816
  1.7
• Motorola Moto E
  1.4

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia M2
  6.9
• Motorola Moto E
  4.9
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  4.7
• Sony Xperia T3
  4.2
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  4.1
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  4.0
• HTC Desire 816
  3.9
• HTC One mini 2
  3.8

The BrowserMark 2.1 tests HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Sony Xperia T3 managed very good scores in both tests.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia T3
  978
• HTC One mini 2
  945
• Sony Xperia M2
  903
• HTC Desire 816
  774
• HTC Desire 616
  683
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  432

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Gionee Elife S5.5
  12201
• HTC Desire 816
  13564
• Sony Xperia T3
  13738
• HTC One mini 2
  15684
• HTC Desire 616
  16953
• Sony Xperia M2
  18047

Sony Xperia T3 and its snappy Snapdragon 400 chipset occasionally stand out from the crowd. It delivers some great scores on the synthetic tests, which means you will be getting excellent performance in real life. And that's what really matters - a smooth Android experience coupled with hiccup-free gaming pleasure.