Review Sony Xperia T3: "... and we only have enough"

What do you get if you take the design flagship smartphone, the processor and the camera easier to install there, remove the water resistance, reduce the display resolution in half, but leave all the pros and KitKat own skin, and even sell for half the price the flagship? Very interesting device with index Sony Xperia T3, which should tell us more.

The smartphone comes in a wide white-gray box with a list of colors (black, white, purple) and proprietary technologies.

Included – Battery Charger with USB-cable, earphones, quick start guide, warranty card.

Appearance - Sony Xperia T3

Sony Xperia T3 has dimensions 150,7x77x7 mm and weighs 148 grams. In Russia, went on sale only model with an index D5103, but there are also D5106 (other frequencies 3G (850/1700/1900/2100) and LTE (4, 7, 17)) and D5102 (no support for LTE, speed HSPA – 21Mbps / s compared to 42 in the other, the processor Qualcomm MSM8228).

Housing smartphone is made of durable plastic on the ends – stainless steel inserts, visually reducing the already small thickness of the shell (7 mm). In addition, the shiny metal strips make the smartphone more elegant in appearance. And strength is added, of course.

The front surface is completely covered with glass, the width of the side frames – 4 mm. Above the screen are the earpiece, light sensors and proximity, the inscription Sony, the front camera lens. Below the display there is nothing: the “Back”, “Home” and “Recent Apps” are displayed directly on the screen.

On the left side there is an open slot micro-USB, on the right – the power button, volume control, camera (well done that back) and slots for SIM-card and microSD, covered a total cap.

Engineers desired to make them as similar to each other, so be guided by the inscription on the microSD plug and attempt to insert into the slots two SIM-cards and two memory cards. In slots are also non-removable leaves showing where which card should be – just pull the one to the second, there appeared. However, the designation of micro-SIM slot on the plug would be much more useful.

At the top there is a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom – a microphone and eyelet (a good thing for smart phones, which are not placed in any pocket).

On the rear panel are located at the top of main camera lens and flash, under them – second microphone near – icon NFC, and at the bottom – the speaker. Access to the battery is not.

Ergonomics - Sony Xperia T3

Smartphone fits the hand nicely cooling (or heating) fingers steel inserts. They, by the way, not only are heated in warm weather, but also with long-term use of the device, as well as the back panel of the icon NFC. Thin frame on the sides of the display allow Sony Xperia T3, which is located in either hand, including children. The back panel is covered with soft-touch plastic, so the unit does not slide.

The power button is round and convex, but still located in the middle of the sides, so I fall under the finger and easy to use. This is not the Volume button, which is below. Push it, holding a smartphone with the same hand, not all work. This arrangement, however, can find an explanation in the mode of the camera activation button which is even lower, convenient to adjust the degree of approximation of the object. However, it should be noted that digital zoom degrades image quality, and use it for more than two-fold increase is meaningless.

Connectors for charging and headphone jacks are positioned correctly – so that the smartphone can be freely used with the connected wires.

Screen - Sony Xperia T3

The smartphone is equipped with 5.3-inch IPS-display with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels.

In contrast to many analogues, its screen can be said not only that the viewing angles are wide and good color rendition. It – is excellent. “Guilt” that technology Triluminos Display, which expands the range of colors displayed, and the image is a more mellow, rich. Sometimes too (some pictures of the sea holiday look like retouched images of the advertising catalog), but on the whole picture makes a very pleasant experience.

Another technique, Mobile Bravia Engine 2, improves the quality of photos and video. For example, suppresses noise when playing video of poor quality – not, of course, as a trained television, but quite noticeable when compared to the average Android-smartphone without this technology. Also, if necessary, improved display contrast and sharpness of the display items.

The smartphone operates intelligent backlight control, which does not allow the display off while the device is in your hand (writing this review was convenient). As a mode of “gloves” when the screen detects any pushing through a woven or knitted material.

Finally, you can set the desired white balance or leave automatic. All of these features, except Triluminos, can be controlled in the “Settings” menu.

For lovers of privacy are several ways to lock the screen, including typing PIN-code and face recognition.

At the lowest level of brightness display dull in conditions different from total darkness. At the maximum information remains visible even in the working noon. There is an automatic adjustment depending on the lighting conditions.

Screen recognizes up to four simultaneous keystrokes, it’s a little, but in general it is sufficient.

Oleophobic and anti-reflective coatings on the panel does not display, but declared the increased scratch resistance. However, even without these technologies display is not prone to collecting fingerprints and glare, of course, but very sparingly.

Interface software - Sony Xperia T3

The smartphone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat with a proprietary shell. Among the differences from the last version of the OS – the notification bar in the theme color and translucent control buttons that are not visible without the need to play and the camera’s viewfinder.

Notification bar menu is now divided on the actual “alert” (opens the first) and “Quick Settings”, which moved the wireless connection, the brightness and the activation mode to save battery STAMINA. Therefore, to enable Wi-Fi now need to do more on a one-touch, and manually increase the brightness of the screen in the sun “is not to say that feat, but something heroic in this exactly is.” Select “Quick Settings”, to find there the brightness icon, and then a slider appears. In general, the user explicitly decline to dispense automatic brightness control, which works very well.

Set and arrangement of elements in the “Quick settings” can be changed in the “Settings” => “Device” => “Personal Settings”.

From the menu, you can access the side panel by sliding your finger from left to right. It is available to search and delete applications, the display order, quick links to the download of Play Store and Sony Select.

Sony has taken care of newcomers among fans of Android. Standard initial screen can be replaced by a simplified, which is very similar to the design of the menu in the touch-tone telephone.

In addition to the standard set of applications in the Sony Xperia T3 is branded. My Xperia – search for a device with a signal, blocking and deletion of data. Sony Select, What’s New – app stores. Xperia Lounge – specially selected VIP-like content of the new album of Michael Jackson. There Walkman and TrackID, as well as familiar from other smartphones Sony app Pixlr Express (photo editor and video) and “Outline”. Office suite preloaded OfficeSuite and advanced notebook Evernote.

Appendix Socialife News allows you to collect information from dozens of channels at once, from the social networks and YouTube to news feeds. In general, modern aggregator for RSS-streams.

Also there is an app “Flashlight”, which can not only turn on the flash, but also to submit its signal SOS.

Performance - Sony Xperia T3

Smartphone pleases fast in all tasks. Viewing and scaling of web-pages is not for him difficulty. Streaming or download the video as up to 1080p plays without problems and dropped frames.

In games lag is also not seen. Even highly problematic in the initial video Minion Rush displayed normally. In Dead Trigger 2 all good, Asphalt 8 drops one frame per 7-8 seconds, which is quite a bit.

Synthetic tests confirm the good work: AnTuTu rated performance in 20 241 points, 3DMark has set 4723 for overall performance, 2876 – for 1080p video and 4740 – for 720p.

For a nice bonus otnesёm support USB Host – External USB-drive recognized, very quickly.

Sony Xperia T3 produces quite good sound, but complete headphones should not use otherwise than as a headset.

Luggage - Sony Xperia T3

The device is equipped with 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. It uses a matrix Sony Exmor RS, as well as in the Z-series flagship, only the settings of the camera less. But the unit is not involved in the marketing race for more megapixels, doing their duties.

For many shooting conditions useful super-auto with a minimum of setup. The camera itself determines the lighting conditions, the depth of focus and the need to use the flash, and even reports the result in the process of shooting. There are funny situations when the day indoor conditions resemble the camera on night mode, auto-focus or wrong, but in general the result is good.

Amateurs play with the parameters can shoot in “manual” when access to all settings, including white balance, exposure and size (and then it is saved and auto mode). You can select the aspect ratio of 16: 9 and 4: 3, and for the continuous shutter enough to hold down on the screen or the right side of your smartphone.

Macro is also successful, albeit in a cell and there is no separate macro mode.

At night, the camera shoots very well, and in manual and automatic modes, the flash can give different effects to the same settings.

AR-effect – it’s photos and videos with virtual characters, such as a dinosaur, or the inhabitants of the deep sea. Can be arranged in the right places elements entourage and get funny situations.

Artistic effect – sepia, black and white, etc. In this case, the possible results are displayed immediately below.

Panoramic view – panorama mode. Shoot better than the weight, otherwise the panorama can be hard to stick together.

Desired face retouch, you can choose from 10 options, including, for example, “tan”. Timeshift – the best photo series of 31 pictures taken before and after pressing the trigger. An interesting feature, especially in the case of a live model.

Images of the above-mentioned effects are saved in the same folder inside the folder DCIM-Xperia (AR-effect, Timeshift, etc.).

Of the network camera features is the “Live chat” on Facebook and save multiple images to Evernote.

The camera shoots good video with stabilization and up to 30 frames per second as 1080p. Minute recording takes about 150 MB of memory (total available just over half of the 8 GB). Recording starts immediately after switching to video mode.

Front 1 megapixel camera with their tasks copes well, more of it is required.

Wireless interfaces - Sony Xperia T3

Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth work well. The same can be said about the 3G and LTE – in the conditions of Moscow networks cover files swing fast enough, synchronization problems are not.

In the settings there is a tab “Connections Xperia”, which includes a one-touch setting (when exchanging data with other smartphone Xperia), parameters Throw (playback of content on other devices), duplication of the screen on the other device, the parameters of a media server (DLNA through Wi- Fi), Dualshock 3 controller for the PlayStation, connect USB. After a brief dance with a tambourine was able to connect your smartphone to your TV via DLNA, and view photos on the big screen.

The phone part is implemented perfectly, there is even an answering machine. Subscribers to the voice quality is not complaining. Incidentally, it is interesting to have a smartphone settings tab “Call settings”, where you can include noise reduction, improved caller’s voice (“a richer perception of shades of voice”), slow speech, equalizer (normal, bright, soft). In real life, these functions are not very useful: noise reduction does not help if the caller goes to the subway, improved voice man with an ordinary hearing did not seem to be something special, slow speech by about a third, even annoying, if a person “действительнонеговоритслишкомбыстро”, and equalizer fun changes sound, if the person is singing, and little change in an ordinary conversation.

Autonomy - Sony Xperia T3

Built-in battery to 2500 mAh enough for 2-3 days of work at the average use (a half-hour conversation, hour internet per day). At a constant 3G-sync and using a screen about 2.5 hours (surfing the web, video games), the device lasted almost 7.5 hours. In offline mode, maximum brightness and medium volume, you can watch movies for 8 hours and 20 minutes. Hour of play Minion Rush sёl 13% charge.

In the “Power” you can see the remaining time of the forecast. And here is the configuration saving modes. STAMINA mode implies turning off Wi-Fi and 3G / LTE when the screen is off, the optimization of the processor.

In the low charge, you can specify which connection disable, and configure the timeout backlight.

Wi-Fi mode with geolocation requires only connection to the reservation of network Wi-Fi.

Interestingly, the flaws interface translation into Russian language only found here: User is not translated to the regime of low battery and charging battery shows “charger connected.” By the way, the process of charging from the network takes a little over an hour.

Results – Sony Xperia T3

Sony Xperia T3 work with almost everything and as a smartphone, and as a player, navigator, pocket camera … Decent battery allows him to spend the night near a wall outlet, and good equipment – brighten up leisure host of games and movies. The initial cost ($445) makes it a direct competitor to the model T2 Ultra, which has a more powerful battery, 6-inch screen and has the support of GLONASS. Yet six inches – yet too much, and five-and-three at risk of becoming the standard for “androfonov” medium and premium.

Review Sony Xperia T3: "... and we only have enough"