Sony Xperia T3 review

Sony Xperia T3 review: Design and build
Sony has used the same square design for
the last couple of years and the Xperia T3
is no departure from this. With its mid-
ranged price it's not surprising to find a
less premium design compared to Sony's
more expensive like the Xperia Z2 .
It's a big square slab with thick bezels but
an attractive stainless steel frame. The rear
is not glass like premium Xperias and
instead uses a soft touch plastic cover
which reminds us of the James Bond
Xperia T. The Xperia T3 is available in
black, white and purple.
Unlike other Xperia handsets, the rear cover
is contoured at the edge so the phone sits
in the hand better than usual and the rear
cover has a good amount of grip to it.

The firm claims it's the thinnest 5.3in
phone in the world and this might be the
case but we can't think of many other
phones with that sized screen.
Nevertheless, it is nicely svelte at just 7
mm and it's also light for a large phone at
148 g.
It is still a phablet sized phone and the
screen size is difficult to use one-handed.
The Xperia T3 is a two-hander from our
point of view.
Sony is well known for offering waterproof
(and dust) smartphones but the Xperia T3
isn't one of them so don't go jumping in the
shower, bath, pool or other water filled area
with this device.
Build quality is reasonable but nothing
special with mostly plastic on offer. It's
solid thanks to the steel frame so we
wouldn't hold our breath if it should
accidentally get lost but there are obvious
signs of its mid-range price tag with
elements like the clicky and wobbly buttons
and those chunky bezels.
It's something of a caveat but the recess
for the ear piece (which also houses the
notification LED) collects dust and dirt very
easily.

Sony Xperia T3 review: Hardware and
performance
In terms of hardware the Xperia T3 delivers
about what you'd expect for a mid-range
smartphone. The 5.3in screen uses a
reasonable but not great 720p resolution
but uses Sony's Triluminos technology for
good colour reproduction. It has a nice
natural look and the IPS panel makes for
great viewing angles, although we've seen
better.
At this point it's worth noting that the
slightly more expensive Nexus 5 only has a
slightly smaller screen at 5in and improves
on resolution at Full HD. If you're set on a
large screen but don't want to spend shed
loads of money, then it's worth checking
out Sony's own Xperia Z Ultra which is only
a few quid more expensive but it is massive
at 6.4in.
The Xperia T3's other hardware specs are
distinctly mid-range with just 8GB of
storage, although there's a microSD card
for adding a further 32GB. You can move
media like photos to the removable storage
and some apps (depending on the apps).
Hidden away is a middle-of-the-road
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, a
quad-core chip clocked at 1.4GHz. Backing
this up is an equally average 1GB of RAM
but we're pleased to report smooth
performance from the Xperia T3 across the
board – even if we didn't record
outstanding benchmark results.
The Xperia T3 scored 1389 in GeekBench 3,
11fps in GFXBench's T-Rex test and
1342ms in SunSpider.
A 720p screen resolution coupled with the
Snapdragon 400 processor and a 2500mAh
battery (non-removable) results in decent
battery life. Users should get a couple of
days from the Xperia T3 and with light
usage (no video playback or gaming) will
manage three.
Sony loves NFC so you get that with almost
any of its products (even headphones and
such like) but beyond this, the Xperia T3
only has basic connectivity. There's
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and
A-GPS.
That means no additional gizmos like an IR
blaster which you'll find on top-end
devices. However, there is support 4G LTE
networks which is good to see and could
be a deal breaker for some.

Sony Xperia T3 review: Cameras
We've come to expect good photography
from Sony smartphones and it's nice to see
the Exmor RS for mobile image sensor in
the Xperia T3's 8Mp camera. As per usual,
and something we love, is the dedicated
camera shutter button which means you
can launch the camera app anytime, half
press for focus and second press to take a
shot.
Sony's Superior Auto Mode will suit most
users and achieve decent results in most
lighting conditions but don't be scared to
switch to manual where you'll find various
different shooting modes. The most useful
is HDR and you can see results from both
the aforementioned below.

Sony Xperia T3 review: Software
Like Sony's product design, the firm's
software hasn't changed much over the last
couple of years (if it ain't broke). The
Xperia T3 comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat
with the now familiar Xperia user interface.
While we like the fact that Sony's interface
is clean, simple, stylish and easy to use it
doesn't really add any major features. It's
pretty much stock Android but with Sony
styling which means some decent
wallpapers, widgets and a slightly different
lockscreen.