The Selfie XPeria That’s what the Sony Xperia C3 claims to be

With the Xperia C3, Sony is taking a dab in the selfie trend and showing off its fine design sense once again. The selfie camera, which until sometime ago used to be just a front camera, is redefining the role of cameras in a smartphone. The Xperia C3 has a 5.0-megapixel front camera, which by conventional standards is high but definitely not rare – the Micromax Canvas Nitro has 5.0megapixel front camera while the Gionee Elife E7 boasts of an 8.0-megapixel front camera. Certainly, it is not a ground breaking accomplishment but it is what Sony has done with it that makes the C3 special.


Classy looks, easy to handle 
With the Xperia C3, Sony has shown that not all its classy looking devices have to belong to the Z series. Even a mid-range smartphone like C3 can be knock out. A slim build, sleek form factor, matte finish, eye popping colours and a shiny metal strip running across the entire side panel, which curls at the corners for user’s comfort, enhance the device’s aura.  It is relatively lightweight and is good to handle. The buttons have been placed in such a way as to assist in onehanded use.  The keys are placed on the lower side of the side panel, a rarity, to make them accessible. The side panel also features a micro SD slot and the SIM card tray – interestingly,   the phone restarts if the SIM card tray is taken out. For a handset with screen size of 5.5-inches, the Xperia C3  is compact and handy. Since it’s a unibody device, the back panel is closed and the battery cannot be taken out. Memory card and SIM card slots are placed on the side panel, and covered with typical Sony rubber flap. The back panel carries an 8.0-megapixel camera with flash, a wide speaker and the Sony Xperia imprint.

 KitKat phone with Sony effect
The phone comes with Android KitKat version 4.4.2 out of the box and has the typical Sony Xperia interface that Sony uses in all its smartphones. The UI is simple and easy to follow even though it is very distinct from a stock Android UI. Being a Sony device, it has a number of Sony created apps like Smart Connect, Wisepilot- a traffic and driving assistant, Walkman music app, Sony Select app store, Social Life- a  news aggregator site like Newsstand, Sony LIV, and Xperia Lounge-a multimedia app for sports, music and film based content. Overall, the phone offers an immense amount of multimedia content to keep one thoroughly occupied.

Power of two cameras
The Xperia C3 is powered by a 1.2 GHz  quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, has 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, upto 32GB expandable memory and a 2,500mAh Li-ion battery. The internal memory struck us as being a bit low, but in terms of cameras, this is a well equipped device. The rear one is  of 8.0-megapixels and boasts of touch to focus, object tracking, face/smile detection, LED flash, panorama mode and can record full HD videos. The front camera, however, the surprise here, as it comes with a 5.0-megapixel count as well as, surprise, surprise, a flash. Speaking of cameras, Sony has included a dedicated camera button  on the device, which is always welcome. The phone has a wide 5.5-inch IPS LCD display  with 1280 x 720 screen resolution and 267  ppi pixel density, which is respectable but a  bit low when one considers that the likes  of the Gionee Elife E5.5 and Micromax Canvas Knight come with full HD displays at lower prices.

Smooth performance,  impressive cameras
In performance, the Xperia C3 delivers a good performance, particularly when it comes to the front facing camera. It can handle pretty much everything we threw at it, from games, to HD movies without any signs of lag. The rear camera can be really good in a properly lit environment, produces accurate colours and can record decent looking videos. In low light it appeared beaten and dull. The front camera is good and is going to impress the selfie enthusiasts a lot. It comes with handy features like self-timer, smile shutter, image preview and burst mode. The speaker is wide and gives decent output, although it loses its intensity when placed on a surface. The battery backup is decent and we got through a day on a single charge with moderate use.

 Conclusion
The Sony Xperia C3 is a great camera phone with not just a good rear camera but also a good front camera. If a camera is high on your priority list, it is certainly worth checking out, as it is quite good looking, works fluently and has plenty of multimedia features. Its alternative could be the Gionee Elife E7, which offers a full HD display, Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, and a 16-megapixel camera as well as a 8.0-megapixel front facing camera