HP Elitebook x360 review


Whether you like it or not, you probably spend more time on your work computer than your personal machine. If those devices happen to be one and the same, then you probably want something thin, light, and attractive, not one of the bulky business laptops of yore.
HP's newest release, the Elitebook x360, may be geared toward working professionals, but like other HP business laptops we've seen in the last year or two, it's also slim and handsome. The x360 combines the convertible design of the company's Spectre series with the business-friendly features of the Elitebook line.

Look and feel

HP focused a lot of its time perfecting the Spectre series for its consumer base, and now it's bringing the same versatile design to its business customers. The Elitebook x360 is a convertible version of the previous Elitebooks, which are designed to be premium work notebooks that can hold their own next to the sea of MacBooks that dot most coffee shop tables. The x360's all-metal design, finished in a color called "asteroid silver," makes the device look similar to the gray MacBooks, while the hinges let the screen bend backwards nearly 360 degrees.
SPECS AT A GLANCE: HP ELITEBOOK X360 (AS REVIEWED)
SCREEN13.3" FHD (1920x1080) touchscreen
OSWindows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPUCore i7-7600U vPro @ 2.80-2.90GHz
RAM16GB LPDDR4
GPUIntel HD Graphics 620
HDD512GB PCIe SSD
NETWORKING802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, optional NFC
PORTS2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1 Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, smart card reader, microSD card reader, audio combo, charging port
SIZE12.48 x 8.6 x 0.59 in (316.9 x 218.4 x 14.9mm)
WEIGHT2.82 pounds (1.27kg)
BATTERY57 Whr
WARRANTY3 years
STARTING PRICE$1,249
PRICE AS REVIEWED$1,899
OTHER PERKSWindows Hello IR camera, fingerprint sensor, backlit keyboard, HP SureView privacy screen (available mid-April)
The lid and the base don't align completely when in tablet mode, and the former only juts out slightly over the latter. The diamond-cut accents around the notebook give it a nice high-end touch that none of the Spectres I've tested have had. This convertible has edges that you can feel and that reflect slices of sunlight on a bright day. Convertibles are on-trend now for consumer devices, but they provide useful flexibility to workplace environments as well. Simply having different modes—like tent to show off a small presentation, or tablet mode to sketch out ideas or mark-up drafts—has the potential to make collaboration between employees much easier.
The Elitebook x360 is also tough, passing 12 MIL-SPEC shock, drop, climate, and vibration tests. This isn't a flimsy device even if it measures just 14.9mm at its thickest point, so you should be safe if it accidentally falls out of your bag. It's the lightest business laptop HP sells—the 12.5-inch Elitebook Folio G1 is 2.14 pounds—but at 2.82 pounds it's still reasonable for its size class. That additional weight comes from the battery, which is supposed to keep the Elitebook x360 alive for at least 16.5 hours (a lofty goal, but an impressive one if it proves true). The x360 also has a slightly different array of ports to make all kinds of workers happy: there's a smart card reader, an audio combo jack, and one USB 3.0 port on the left edge, as well as another USB 3.0 port, Thunderbolt 3 port, full-sized HDMI port, microSD card slot, and a power port on the right edge.
That Thunderbolt port can charge the device, but HP includes one of its proprietary (and clunky) chargers in the box that connects to the Elitebook x360 using the traditional, circular port. Through customer research, HP found that many of its users already have this type of charger from using previous HP laptops, so the inclusion of the extra charging port should make it easier for them to keep using the charging bricks they already have. However, you could just bring one, smaller cable and charge the device using the lone Thunderbolt port, which will be more convenient as more and more phones begin using USB-C.
That combination of ports will let you connect nearly everything you'd want to using the Elitebook x360. But as a consumer, I'd almost rather have two USB Type-C ports than two USB Type-A ports simply to prepare for the inevitable switch. However, for a business machine, this sort of in-between port configuration will help IT shops ease the transition. Two Type-A ports will make it easier for the time being to connect one accessory like a USB-connected mouse (if you don't have a Bluetooth one) and a thumb drive at the same time.
The 13.3-inch FHD display is surrounded by prominent bezels, especially on the bottom edge, but HP wasn't out to make the bezels disappear on the x360. The company included an IR camera at the top of the display that supports Windows Hello facial recognition, so you can unlock the notebook within moments of opening the lid when it scans your face. Our model also came with a Windows Hello-ready fingerprint sensor on the right side of the keyboard deck, giving you plenty of options to secure the device. Keeping your personal and professional data safe is crucial for workplace devices like the Elitebook x360, so you have at least four basic options to do that (password, PIN, IR camera, and fingerprint sensor), including some others from HP that we'll get into later.

Keyboard, trackpad, and SureView

Similarly to the Elitebook Folio G1, the x360 has a stellar keyboard. I used it as my primary computer for a few days, and one of my favorite things about it was the typing experience. With 1.3mm of travel, the chiclet keys are satisfying to press and comfortably spaced. The keys are laid out like any regular keyboard with no surprise button-size changes or awkward key shifts. HP also claims to have made the keys quieter so anyone annoyed by the clickety-clack of loud keyboards won't be bothered by the x360. You can still hear yourself typing—it's not like you're typing on pillowy-soft air keys—but they do give off a more muted, subdued sound than others. The Precision Touchpad complements the keyboard by being smooth to use and seamless when using different gestures.
The function keys are somewhat small, and, since this is a business convertible, they're geared toward work uses. You have your typical brightness and volume adjusters, but you also have mute/unmute, screen share, and answer/end call buttons for Skype for Business users. Unfortunately, those keys are specifically for Skype users, so their functions may not translate in other video or conferencing apps.
The F2 button is specifically for HP's SureView feature, which wasn't available on our model but will be coming as an option to the Elitebook x360 in mid-April. SureView is HP's privacy screen feature that adjusts the brightness of the display to make it visible only 35-degrees from its center. That means you'll be able to see everything on the display, but anyone around you won't be able to peak at what you're working on. You're not subjected to the brightness, though, as you can adjust your viewing brightness to fit your needs even with SureView enabled.
I received a demo of SureView on a pre-production Elitebook x360 model, and it works well. Outside that 35-degree threshold, the screen becomes too bright to decipher—it doesn't hurt your eyes like staring at a bright light or the sun would, but it blurs everything on the display with muted white light.
HP pushed SureView as a feature all workplace notebooks should have, particularly because more people are working outside offices now. When you're at work, you probably won't use SureView much, but it becomes more handy when you're working remotely on a flight or from a coffee shop. HP couldn't say exactly how much SureView would add to the cost of the Elitebook x360, but the company89+ did say it wouldn't cost "too much extra." I wish HP would make SureView a default feature on the Elitebook x360 and other Elitebooks. Even if it's not a feature I'd use every day, there are regular situations in which I'd use it for a couple consecutive hours.

Active Pen

HP's Active Pen is a solid stylus with two side buttons and one top button. The two side buttons act as left and right click tools while the top button (where an eraser would be on a pencil) can be customized using Windows Ink. I'm not a regular stylus user, but having one is convenient if you enjoy taking notes or your work requires frequent editing or marking-up documents. There's a small pen icon on the bottom bar in Windows 10 that opens a bunch of Windows Ink options, and my favorite is the Screen Sketch tool. It takes a screenshot of what's currently on your display and lets you draw on it; considering I take a bunch of screenshots on my smartphone, being able to do this on a notebook and highlight or write notes over what's most important to me is incredibly useful.
The bottom side button on the stylus acts as a useful eraser in these kinds of situations: you can tap on a continuous stroke (one made when you put the stylus to the display without picking it up) and that button will erase just that stroke. This mostly comes in handy if you've written over previous scribbles and want to get rid of a certain layer of ink, but I appreciated that the tool is not just a delete-all eraser. One thing I didn't appreciate, though, is that HP's Active Pen takes a AAAA battery, so you will have to replace it every so often. Our model came with the Active Pen included, but some models (mostly sold outside the United States) won't include it. In that case, you can add it to the Elitebook x360 for an additional $60.
While there's no space for the pen in the Elitebook x360, HP included two add-ons: a sticker-like appendage that you can attach to the notebook and a smart card insert that holds the pen. I never use smart cards, so I would opt for the insert, also because I could remove the holder insert if and when I did need to use a smart card. The adhesive holder is much like the holder that comes with the optional keyboard case for Samsung's Tab S3, and I feel a sticker is much more appropriate for an accessory rather than an actual device. Many people might be comfortable with decorating their laptops with stickers of any kind, but I'm not one of them.

Software

We already covered HP's SureView privacy screen protector, but HP has a bunch of other protection software available for the Elitebook x360. One of the most convenient tools that you can use whether you bought the Elitebook x360 for yourself or got one from your job is an app called HP WorkWise for Android and iOS. This app lets you keep an eye on your notebook even when you're not next to it. You can program the app to automatically lock the Elitebook x360 when your smartphone (you) walks out of range, and the app alerts you if someone tries to mess with your stuff. You can receive alerts if someone opens the lid of your laptop, tries to log in, and more. This app is fitting for modern work times in which people work from all different places, not just in an office. We've all either seen or been the person to ask a seemingly kind stranger to watch our things while we rush to the bathroom in a coffee shop, and this app is like the digital equivalent of a kind stranger you can actually trust.
Companies can choose from a few other HP-branded security features, like HP SureStart, that protect from malware attacks and restore BIOS within 30 seconds. Features like SureView and SureStart are optional add-ons, so you'll have to build your own Elitebook x360 in order to get the features you need. HP Velocity is a built-in feature, though, and that should improve your network quality and speed. Primarily, Velocity helps improve transfer rates of data, voice, and video communication when your LAN or Wi-Fi connection isn't the best. When paired with HP SureConnect, which continuously monitors and "self-heals" Wi-Fi network connections, Velocity should make the Elitebook x360 better suited to work even in areas with spotty Internet access.
HP doesn't clog the Elitebook x360 with bloatware, but the three main programs pre-installed are Client Security, Touchpoint Manager, and Jumpstart. Client Security is like the base security program needed on HP devices, particularly those used in the workplace. It must be installed before other HP protection services, so it makes sense that this convertible ships with it pre-installed. Touchpoint Manager lets you control a number of different devices, including smartphones and other notebooks, all in one program. Jumpstart is just HP's device registration program, and it also guides you through McAfee registration and a Dropbox promotion—out of all those programs, Jumpstart is the one you don't really have to use at all.

Performance

Our model of the Elitebook x360 runs on Intel's Core i7-7600U processor and HD Graphics 620. It was stable and powerful enough to get me through a regular work day and then some. Browsing multiple tabs, using many Windows apps, and streaming music and videos wasn't met with any hiccups or too many slow-downs. It's standard Ultrabook performance without many surprises.
On our benchmark tests, our model performed similarly to the Dell XPS 13 convertible, which has an Intel Y-series processor. The x360 surpassed the competition on our browser tests, but in most cases it produced results very close to the Dell XPS 13. It was consistently (and unsurprisingly) outmatched by Dell's quad-core XPS 15 (Core i7-7700HQ). You'll have to step up a size to get significantly better performance.


For the modern employee

After using the Elitebook x360 as my main work laptop for a few days, I can say I would gladly continue to use it. Its design is a good combination of sleek looks and utilitarian features. It can hold its own next to the Dell XPSs and the MacBooks while offering a great typing experience, flexible design, and seamless unlocking with Windows Hello. While HP was a little overzealous with that 16.5-hour battery life claim, the Elitebook x360's true battery life is enough to last me a full working day and then some.
But since the Elitebook's performance is similar to the Dell XPS 13 two-in-one, the main reason you'd choose HP's notebook over Dell's is for the extra security features. They add value for business customers, but my favorite is arguably the most consumer-focused of them all: WorkWise. At its core, HP WorkWise is extremely practical in that it could save you from the hardships of having your laptop stolen, but it's also free and works across nearly any mobile device. WorkWise is much like Apple's Find my iPhone feature that can be used to locate and wipe most Apple devices, but WorkWise takes that one step further to let you know if and when anyone even touches your Elitebook x360.
Those aspects make the Elitebook line the go-to laptop family for businesses, and the x360 certainly gives employers a competitive alternative to Thinkpads and MacBook Airs or Pros. The extras will certainly add up for the single employee or self-employed person who wants the Elitebook x360 for all the same reasons (our $1,899 review unit included the $60 Active Pen, but not SureView). But overall, the Elitebook x360 is a solid convertible that propels the Elitebook line into modern working environments with luxurious style, decent power, and proper security measures to protect your most important work.

The Good

  • Slim, professional design.
  • Comfortable keyboard with Skype conference shortcut buttons.
  • IR camera and fingerprint sensor for Windows Hello.
  • HP WorkWise keeps an eye on your laptop when you're not around.
  • Good battery life.

The Bad

  • Overall performance could be better.
  • Pen requires a AAAA battery.
  • Price quickly increases depending on how many HP extra features you want.

The Ugly

  • Forgoes two USB Type C Thunderbolt 3 ports in favor of two USB 3.0 ports.

Galaxy A5 2017 Review



The 2017 Galaxy A5 is the third phone Samsung has produced with exactly this name. It first appeared at the very end of 2014, and Samsung has updated and tweaked the style for each new model.
Each year the phone has classed-up its act a little, leading to this 2017 version, which you could easily mistake for a top-end phone. Dig deep enough into the hardware and you’ll find a few parts that would make the Samsung Galaxy A5 a swindle if it cost as much as the Galaxy S7, though.
But they’re not the sort of things most people will notice every day. If you’re not obsessed with having the latest and greatest tech in your phone, you’ll probably love the Samsung Galaxy A5. And saving a few hundred dollars or pounds in the bargain is an attractive sweetener.
It’s also arguably a more successful phone than HTC’s attempt at the same idea, the pretty-but-flawed HTC U Play.

The main group that might be put off is the bargain hunter crowd. The OnePlus 3T is a more powerful phone, and has a lot more storage too, but is only $40/£30 (around AU$50) extra. 
Motorola’s Moto G4 Plus is also a much better deal in the “tech per dollar” stakes. As usual, Samsung charges what it can for the Galaxy A5, rather than trying to squeeze in as much as possible.
Not everyone quibbles about every pound/dollar as much as we do, though, and for the most part the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a joy to use. The screen’s great, the battery life commendable, the size of the little guy accessible, and while the power on tap isn’t all that impressive, there’s enough to stop the phone seeming underpowered.

Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 price and release date

  • Cheaper than a Galaxy S7, but not cheap
  • Similar price to a OnePlus 3T
  • At the top-end of “mid-range”
The Samsung Galaxy A5 shows you quite how expensive “mid-range” phones can be nowadays. It costs $399 in the US, £369 in the UK and AU$649 in Australia.
That’s a chunk more expensive than the 2016 version of the Galaxy A5, but the phone comes with a few important feature upgrades too, like water resistance.
The 2017 Galaxy A5 launched in January 2017, a year after the 2016 Galaxy A5 appeared. Much like the Galaxy S series, the mid-range A phones have started to appear annually, and more reliably than the average train.

Meet in the mid-range

  • Megapixel-packed cameras
  • Octa-core Samsung CPU
  • 32GB of storage with microSD expansion
Just look at the spec list of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and it may seem to have more features than last year’s Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S7.
It has more megapixels, with 16 squeezed into both the front and rear cameras, and a new-style USB-C socket. It’s also a classic example of why it pays to know a little more about the tech behind the figures, though.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy A5 has a distinctly mid-range chipset, the Samsung Exynos 7880. It’s reasonably close in power to the Snapdragon 617 used in phones like the Moto G4 Plus, even though the A5 is twice the price.
imilarly, its rear camera is worse than that of the many 12MP models around today, and also worse than some of the very best 13MP ones. Much cheaper phones use similar-quality hardware.
Where the Galaxy A5 excels is in making this conventional hardware work well. For example, the camera is very quick, with the same almost lag-free experience as seen in Samsung’s most expensive phones. And that performance is combined with a typically high-quality Full HD Super AMOLED display.
Tech obsessives can do better, but those who simply want a ‘nice’ phone that seems like a fairly high-end piece of hardware will appreciate the A5’s style.
The Galaxy A5 also has a comfortable 32GB of storage, and a microSD card slot to let you add to it (with cards of up to 256GB).

Design and display

  • Classy-but-plain metal and glass build
  • AMOLED screen but not as sharp as the S7’s
  • Water-resistant
Like the 2016 version of the Samsung Galaxy A5, this phone is made of metal and glass. The front and back are glass, the sides aluminum with a color-matched finish.
Its glass is Gorilla Glass 4 rather than Gorilla Glass 5. It’s very tough, but where version five is designed to handle drops from shoulder height, version four is tested at 1 meter, or roughly waist height.
We’re using the black version, but Samsung also makes the Galaxy A5 in gold, light blue and pink. As the entire phone ends up one shade, there’s a certain plain simplicity to the handset that makes it less striking than the S7 family. However, it feels just as well-made. It’s also just as thin, at 7.9mm thick.
Samsung describes the design as “uniform all round”, and that’s on the money. The rear glass curves into the metal sides for a smoother feel too.
Like the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7, the Samsung Galaxy A5 is of a size just about anyone should be able to get on with. It’s not a pocket-stretcher like most 5.5-inch phones, and the soft keys aren’t tricky to reach.
If you’re not switching from another Samsung phone, you may find the position of the soft keys takes some getting used to, though. The Samsung Galaxy A5 has separate light-up soft keys below the screen, but they’re flipped around: ‘back’ on the right, ‘recent apps’ on the left. This placement makes sense given that most people are right-handed and most use the back button more, but does take a day or two to feel right.
There are some other curiosities to the Samsung Galaxy A5 too. The SIM card and memory card slots are separate, one on the top, the other on the left side. You have to wonder whether Samsung could have crammed the two together, but does it matter? Not really.
The speaker placement is bizarre as well. There’s a main speaker at the top of the Samsung Galaxy A5’s right edge, when most phones have either front-facing drivers or one at the bottom. We’ve found you need to be a bit more careful about blocking the speaker if you’re just carrying the thing around listening to tunes or a podcast, but in other situations it actually works better than most.
It works for gaming because you won’t block it when holding the phone portrait, or on its side for those more involved two-hander titles.
The Samsung Galaxy A5’s fingerprint scanner is more conventional, similar to the Galaxy S7’s, it’s part of a clicky button below the screen.
This isn’t the fastest finger scanner going. It’s not instant, there’s a semi-quaver beat before it unlocks the phone, but we’ve only noticed this because we’ve used most of the fingerprint scanners out there. It is reliable, and doesn’t actually make you press the Home button to bring the Galaxy A5 out of standby.
The part that finishes off the Samsung Galaxy A5 hardware is water resistance. It’s certified to the IP68 standard, meaning you can submerge the phone in water of 1.5m depth for 30 minutes. Don’t get cocky and start dropping it in every body of water you come across, but you don’t have to worry about torrential rain or watching a bit of Netflix in the bath.
Given the choice we’d take the larger Galaxy S7 Edge as a media player, but the Samsung Galaxy A5’s top-quality screen is still a corker. It’s a 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, using Samsung’s own panel tech.
Like other OLEDs, its black level and contrast are unbeatable, but a great LCD screen will generally get you purer-looking whites and slightly better sharpness. Thanks to a PenTile pixel structure, there’s the tiniest bit of fuzziness to the Samsung Galaxy A5’s display up-close, but it’s otherwise not light years away from the Galaxy S7’s screen.
s with that phone, you can choose from a bunch of color profiles that radically alter the screen’s personality. The standard Adaptive Display lets the OLED panel rip, with truly punchy oversaturated colors and cooler-skewed whites. It’s the equivalent of the mode you’ll see TVs use in high street shops.
Its AMOLED Cinema and AMOLED Photo mode calm those colors down while keeping a punchy look, and Basic brings tones all the way down to the sRGB color standard.
This may look undersaturated to many, or most, of you these days, but it’s like giving up on adding sugar to your coffee.
The neatest part of the Samsung Galaxy A5’s screen is its always-on display. When the phone is in standby, it shows the time, battery level, date and some little icons letting you know what sort of notifications you’ve received.
Alternatively, it can show the calendar, or one of a few specially-chosen images. You can also turn the feature off if you find it annoying.
As the Samsung Galaxy A5 uses an OLED screen, this seems to have very little impact on the battery. OLEDs have light-up pixels rather than a backlight, so displaying little bits of text doesn’t consume much power.

HTC One Review

PROS

  • Excellent build and ergonomics
  • Fab screen
  • Sense 5 is visually slick
  • Great performance

CONS

  • Non-expandable memory
  • Mediocre battery life
  • Keyboard needs a visual refresh




 KEY FEATURES

  • 1080 x 1920 pixel, 4.7in display
  • 4MP camera with OIS and Ultrapixel
  • 9mm thick aluminium chassis
  • 1.7GHz quad core processor
  • 2300mAh battery
  • Android 4.1 with HTC Sense 5
  • Manufacturer: HTC
  • Review Price: £549.99

HTC ONE LONG-TERM TEST

Read the review of the HTC One M8
The HTC One has now been out for a year. Since we originally reviewed the phone, it has been crowned our phone of the year 2013, beating the Google Nexus 5, iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4.
As you might have guessed – we still like it. In fact we still think the HTC One is one of the best mobile phones on the market even though it's not quite as fast as some of the newer competitors.
However, it now has a rival from its own family. The HTC One M8 has launched and it's a very good phone indeed. It offers an improved camera, a tweaked design and a slightly larger screen.
Since our original review, a few different versions of the HTC One phone have been released, other than the standard silver type we initially looked at. The Google Play HTC One edition has vanilla Android rather than the HTC Sense software used in the original. However, it is not available in the UK – a real shame.
A few new colours have also been outed, and these are a bit easier to get hold of here. There’s a deep red, a striking blue, a gold shade and a near-black dark grey.
Here are a few pictures to see how they compare to the version seen in the review below.
Related: HTC 10 review
HTC One: What has changed?
In the year since the HTC One’s launch we’ve seen its processor go from cutting edge to being a slight ‘has been’. The Snapdragon 600 processor of the phone is no longer used in new mobiles, discarded in favour of the Snapdragon 800, which allows for faster clock speeds and has an updated graphics processor.
However, it’s not something we notice much in actual use. The HTC One can play pretty much every game the newer top-end phones can handle (that we’ve tried) and sequential updates have only improved the performance of the phone.
The phone’s superlative features remain top of their game too. The HTC One is still the phone that feels best in-hand out of all the top-end Androids, and it has better internal speakers than any of its big-name rivals.


HTC One – never been topped
What is also interesting – and a bit sad – is that HTC has not quite managed to recreate the spark of genius that resulted in the HTC One in its subsequent phones. There have been two other One-series phones in the range, the HTC One Mini and the HTC One Max, but neither has been quite as good. Unlike the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and Xperia Z Ultra it’s not quite a case of a bigger and smaller version of the HTC One.
Part of this is down to the way the phones are made. The HTC One has an aluminium frame with plastic inlays, but the Mini and Max look and feel more like plastic phones with some aluminium plates grafted onto them. They are not as classy or immaculate as the phone that inspired them, the HTC One. The One Max in particular looks like a bit of a mess next to it.

                            
The HTC One is much better-looking than the One Max
HTC One Software
Since the HTC One’s launch there have been a few little software changes too. First of all, the Deals app no longer works – the service has been discontinued. This makes being unable to install it even more annoying, but it was never an asset in the first place so at least we haven’t lost out on anything.
The latest build of the HTC One software also comes with a new app, KeyVPN. This lets you securely connect to your work computer with your phone – it was a very easy way for HTC to make the phone more Enterprise-friendly. Other than that, you still get everything we talk about in the software section of this review.
One neat little improvement is that HTC now lets you get rid of the BlinkFeed widget if you like - one of the most common criticisms of the phone when it launched. However, one obvious niggle remains. It sounds tiny, but it's irritating. It's far too easy to switch the keyboard into a different language when typing, and we recommend switching to a third-party keyboard as soon as you get hold of the phone.
Carry on reading for our full review of the HTC One.

Sony c3 Preview

 Sony Xperia C3 Photo 1
While it’s not unheard of for smartphones to include selfie-friendly camera features, such as beautify modes and timers, the Xperia C3 is probably the first to be marketed specifically with selfies in mind and it’s also likely to be one of the most affordable handsets with a decent front-facing camera (though the exact price is yet to be confirmed). But is it just a one-trick pony or is there more to the Xperia C3? Read on to find out.

Phablet dreams

Sony Xperia C3 Photo 2
While Sony is selling the Xperia C3 on its photographic potential it’s the screen size that you’ll probably notice first. At 5.5 inches it’s certainly large, verging on phablet territory in fact, which is all the more noticeable because it’s a mid-range handset and they tend to have smaller screen sizes.
Occasionally you’ll find a larger one like this, but for a mid-range phone money needs to be saved somewhere and unfortunately they’re rarely full HD, which doesn’t matter so much on a smaller phone, but a 720 x 1280 resolution 5.5 inch screen as found on the Xperia C3 leads to a pixel density of just 267 pixels per inch.
That’s not appallingly low and the phone is perfectly useable, but icons, text and even images are far from crisp. To put it into perspective even the exceedingly cheap Moto G has a screen with 326 pixels per inch (though it is only 4.5 inches in size). So with the Xperia C3 you’re getting size rather than clarity.
Resolution aside it’s not too bad. It’s an IPS LCD display with reasonable colour reproduction and good viewing angles.

Slimline

Sony Xperia C3
The Sony Xperia C3 is a reasonably attractive phone. It has the OmniBalance design that has become synonymous with Sony handsets and it’s slim at just 7.6mm thick. It also has Sony’s near-iconic metal power button on the side and a metallic edging to give it a vaguely premium look.
It’s not a total win though, the back is very obviously plastic and it has large bezels at all sides of the screen, which betray its mid-range price. As mid-range phones go it doesn’t look bad at all, but it won’t stand out in a crowd.

Power

It seems to have almost become the standard thing that mid-range phones will have 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processors and 1GB of RAM and the Sony Xperia C3 is no exception. As such it’s no more or less powerful than the majority of its rivals.
It is however powerful enough to comfortably use. Slowdown is rare and it can cope with most media and games. It’s also equipped with 4G LTE so you can browse the net at superfast speeds even without a Wi-Fi connection and it’s running Android 4.4 so its software is up to date.

Selfie central

 Sony Xperia C3 Camera
Now to discuss the thing that the Sony Xperia C3 really prides itself on- its camera, or more specifically its front-facing camera. The Xperia C3 has a 5 megapixel snapper on the front which is a substantially higher megapixel count than most front-facing cameras, particularly in the mid-range.
Of course that’s because this is the self-proclaimed selfie phone, but it has more than megapixels to back that up. There’s a soft LED flash to ensure that photos are always taken in flattering light, a 25mm wide-angle lens so you can fit your friends in the shot and a Superior Auto mode to ensure the settings are always optimally configured.
It’s also easy to take photos, as rather than tapping the screen you can just double-tap the back of the phone to snap away and of course there are some selfie-centric apps, such as ‘Portrait retouch’ which essentially adds makeup and ‘AR Effect mode’ which lets you add fun effects, including masks, hats and more.
It’s a decent selection of modes and features and if you really do care that much about selfies then the Sony Xperia C3 is well worth considering. Even when looking at high end phones there are few that do a better job.
Its rear camera is a little more standard. It has an 8 megapixel sensor, an LED flash, various modes including HDR and panorama and it can shoot 1080p video. It’s not up to the standards of the 20.7 megapixel camera on the Xperia Z2, but it’s not bad as mid-range offerings go.

Battery life, memory and connectivity


The Sony Xperia C3 has a 2500 mAh battery which keeps it going for quite some time, easily lasting a day to a day and a half on a single charge with moderate use. If you do find yourself running low before you can plug it in there’s also a Stamina mode, which can make it last up to four times as long on standby by limiting what runs in the background.
The Xperia C3 comes with 8GB of built in storage along with a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 32GB. For connectivity options it supports Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and even NFC.

Early verdict

The Sony Xperia C3 is a solid all-round handset. It might be sold on its selfie abilities (and with good reason) but it’s got other stuff going for it too, including good battery life, a large screen, a slim build and a reasonable amount of power.
It’s not perfect by any means though as the screen is only 720p, which given the size is a bit on the low side and while the phone is slim it’s also plastic and has large bezels, so it doesn’t look as good as it could.
All of which means that if the selfie aspect doesn’t really interest you then this may not be the phone for you, though until we know exactly how much it costs it’s hard to say for sure.