Sony Xperia Z3 Compact review: Not your usual suspect

Synthetic benchmarks

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact sports a MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 chipset with a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 CPU and Adreno 330 graphics. Apart from the 2GB of RAM (down from 3GB), it's the exact same configuration you'll find on the Sony Xperia Z3, so we're expecting flagship-grade performance. The latest Android 4.4.4 KitKat build should also provide optimizations to the web browser.

First off, we'll be testing the CPU and overall benchmarks. Geekbench 3 tests the processor in a variety of usage scenarios, and although the Z3 Compact doesn't top the charts, it ranks alongside the current top flagships. Basemark OS 2 also tracks processor performance and even provides individual scores for single-core and multi-core processing. Basemark 2's overall score also factors in graphics performance, which is why it's higher.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  3229
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3214
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  3011
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  2968
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2856
• OnePlus One
  2663
• HTC One mini 2
  1526
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  1123
• LG G2 mini
  1123

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  1196
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  1167
• HTC One (E8)
  1146
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  915
• HTC One mini 2
  517
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  419

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  2579
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  2579
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  2415
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2282
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2253
• OnePlus One
  2213
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  1353
• HTC One mini 2
  1304

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  15096
• OnePlus One
  10234
• HTC One (E8)
  10219
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  10063
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  10063
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10044
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  5283
• HTC One mini 2
  5182

Moving on to graphics performance, again we find the 720p display does the Z3 Compact a fair share of favors. The great onscreen numbers shown from the Adreno 330 GPU are brought down to earth in the offscreen tests, where the 1080p resolution evens out with the flagship competition. Basemark X also runs at its native 720p resolution, which is why we see such high numbers

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  31.3
• OnePlus One
  28.3
• HTC One (E8)
  28
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  27.8
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  27.4
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  22
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  6.7
• HTC One mini 2
  5.8
• LG G2 mini
  5.8

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  48.4
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  41.3
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  34
• OnePlus One
  30
• HTC One (E8)
  29.9
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  28.1
• LG G2 mini
  14.9
• HTC One mini 2
  11
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  9.3

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  13.4
• HTC One (E8)
  12.3
• OnePlus One
  12.1
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9
• HTC One mini 2
  1.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  25.4
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  25.3
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  17
• OnePlus One
  12.9
• HTC One (E8)
  12.9
• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.7
• HTC One mini 2
  3.8

Finally, we come to JavaScript and HTML 5 performance where we have Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 and Rightware's BrowserMark 2.1. JavaScript performance seems comes in at around the middle of the pack, but the HTML5-intensive Browsermark test was where the Z3 Compact really shined.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  4911
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  6043
• HTC One (E8)
  6460
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  6480
• OnePlus One
  7008
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• HTC One mini 2
  15684
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  15885

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  1500
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  1364
• HTC One (E8)
  1362
• OnePlus One
  1339
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One mini 2
  945
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  861

The Z3 Compact's flagship pedigree really stands out in these performance benchmarks. Not only is the Z3 Compact able to run with the big boys in every aspect, what's even more notable is how much better it is than other compact flagships. The likes of the HTC One mini 2, Samsung Galaxy S5 mini, and LG G2 mini are clearly a step behind the Xperia Z3 Compact, and should be considered as being in a separate category.