The display of the Sony Xperia E3 has a 4.5" diagonal and an IPS matrix but the resolution isn't too impressive. Sony has gone for a 480x854 pixel resolution that stretches a little thin for around 218 pixels per inch.
While that number doesn't translate into superb sharpness, the display of the Xperia E3 isn't too bad for its class. Sure, the Moto G and a few others have it easily beaten, but WVGA and qHD screens are still very much the norm here.
The 4.5" display of the Sony Xperia E3
Viewing angles are good for the most part. There is some loss of contrast at some angles but colors remain the same. Speaking of colors, the Xperia E3 offers good, saturated colors on its LCD.
The pixel arrangement of the Xperia E3 is standard RGB with equally-sized green, red and blue pixels. Here it is under a microscope.
The display of the Xperia E3 has okay blacks, about on par with its competition. Contrast was good and the screen can get very bright too making it an overall solid offering. The only area where it's lacking is the sharpness - at just 218 ppi things aren't as sharp as on the Moto G and Moto G (2014) displays.
Display test
50% brightness
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Sony Xperia E3
-
-
-
0.69
608
887
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
-
-
-
0.77
725
942
Motorola Moto G
0.35
315
906
0.57
550
967
Motorola Moto G 4G
0.42
387
916
0.7
651
929
Nokia Lumia 630
0.24
184
764
0.71
508
771
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
0
226
∞
0
432
∞
Sony Xperia M2
0.33
325
989
0.64
643
1000
Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
0.26
247
960
0.44
531
1094
The sunlight legibility of the Xperia E3 display is okay and about the same as the upper Xperia Z2. It's certainly usable outdoors even if it's not the prettiest sight.
Sunlight contrast ratio
Nokia 808 PureView 4.698
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 4.033
Apple iPhone 5 3.997
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 3.997
Apple iPhone 6 3.838
Samsung Galaxy K zoom 3.675
Nokia Lumia 930 3.567
Apple iPhone 5s 3.565
Samsung Galaxy S5 3.549
Alcatel Idol X+ 3.527
Apple iPhone 5c 3.512
Samsung Galaxy Alpha 3.509
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo 3.487
Motorola RAZR MAXX 3.42
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III 3.419
Nokia Lumia 925 3.402
Gionee Elife S5.5 3.386
Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4 3.352
Samsung Omnia W 3.301
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini 3.174
Samsung I9000 Galaxy S 3.155
Samsung Ativ S 3.129
Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini 3.127
Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom 3.118
Nokia N9 3.069
Apple iPhone 6 Plus 3.023
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.97
Samsung Galaxy Premier 2.958
Sony Xperia Z1 2.95
HTC One S 2.901
Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express 2.861
BlackBerry Q10 2.856
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II 2.832
Samsung Galaxy S II Plus 2.801
BlackBerry Z30 2.79
Sony Xperia ZR 2.672
Huawei Ascend P1 2.655
Sony Xperia Z3 2.618
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact 2.616
Sony Xperia T3 2.609
BlackBerry Passport 2.595
Nokia Lumia 900 2.562
Motorola Moto G 4G 2.546
HTC One Max 2.537
Nokia Lumia 720 2.512
HTC One 2.504
Motorola Moto G 2.477
Sony Xperia Z 2.462
Xiaomi Mi 4 2.424
Samsung Galaxy S III mini 2.422
LG G Flex 2.407
HTC One (M8) 2.371
Motorola RAZR i 2.366
Sony Xperia ZL 2.352
Samsung Galaxy Note II 2.307
HTC One (M8) for Windows 2.291
Oppo Find 7a 2.279
Alcatel One Touch Hero 2.272
Apple iPhone 4S 2.269
HTC Desire 600 dual sim 2.262
Nokia Asha 311 2.25
LG Nexus 5 2.228
Nokia Lumia 820 2.193
HTC One (E8) 2.185
Nokia Lumia 920 2.17
HTC One X 2.158
Nokia N8 2.144
Nokia Lumia 620 2.142
Nokia 515 2.134
HTC Desire 500 2.129
Sony Xperia acro S 2.119
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.119
Nokia Lumia 1020 2.103
Oppo Find 5 2.088
Sony Xperia SL 2.078
Nokia Lumia 630 2.056
BlackBerry Z10 2.051
Huawei Ascend Mate7 2.024
Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active 2.022
Apple iPhone 4 2.016
HTC One mini 2.003
Xiaomi Mi 3 2.001
Huawei Ascend P7 1.992
LG G2 1.976
OnePlus One 1.961
Oppo R819 1.957
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray 1.955
Sony Xperia Z2 1.944
Sony Xperia E3 1.943
Nokia Lumia 1320 1.941
HTC One mini 2 1.94
Samsung Galaxy Camera 1.938
Sony Xperia J 1.932
Acer CloudMobile S500 1.931
LG Nexus 4 1.926
LG G Pro 2 1.922
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 1.913
Nokia Asha 308 1.911
HTC Butterfly 2 1.905
Sony Xperia T 1.894
HTC Desire X 1.878
HTC Windows Phone 8X 1.873
HTC Butterfly 1.873
HTC Butterfly S 1.867
Huawei Ascend P6 1.865
Huawei Ascend Mate 1.845
LG G2 mini 1.838
LG G3 1.82
Nokia Lumia 1520 1.813
HTC Desire 616 dual sim 1.797
Sony Xperia V 1.792
HTC Desire 816 1.783
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact 1.772
HTC Desire 700 dual sim 1.769
Sony Xperia U 1.758
Meizu MX3 1.754
LG Optimus G 1.753
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra 1.74
Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact 1.735
Sony Xperia SP 1.733
LG Optimus 4X HD 1.691
Oppo Find 7 1.691
HTC One V 1.685
BlackBerry Q5 1.682
LG Optimus Vu 1.68
Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 1.672
LG Optimus GJ 1.666
LG Optimus 3D Max 1.658
HTC Desire V 1.646
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 1.632
Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 1.622
Jolla Jolla 1.605
Sony Xperia Z Ultra 1.578
Sony Xperia go 1.577
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 1.566
Samsung Galaxy Core 1.563
LG Optimus G Pro 1.552
Motorola Moto E 1.545
LG Optimus 3D 1.542
Nokia Asha 302 1.537
BlackBerry Curve 9320 1.488
Sony Xperia M 1.473
Oppo N1 1.47
Meizu MX 4-core 1.462
Nokia Lumia 610 1.432
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 1.4
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo 1.393
Sony Xperia M2 1.393
Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 1.38
Sony Xperia E1 1.372
Nokia Lumia 625 1.371
Gigabyte GSmart G1355 1.361
Sony Xperia L 1.351
Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 1.35
Xiaomi Redmi 1S 1.35
Sony Xperia M2 Aqua 1.331
Sony Xperia miro 1.324
Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand 1.321
Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam 1.315
HTC Desire C 1.3
Nokia X 1.291
Sony Xperia C 1.283
Nokia Asha 503 1.281
Nokia Asha 501 1.27
LG Optimus L7 1.269
Nokia Lumia 510 1.268
Samsung Galaxy Fame 1.245
LG Optimus L9 1.227
Meizu MX 1.221
Samsung Galaxy Young 1.22
Sony Xperia E 1.215
Nokia XL 1.204
Sony Xperia E dual 1.203
Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C 1.198
Samsung Galaxy Pocket 1.18
Nokia Asha 305 1.178
Nokia Asha 306 1.175
Sony Xperia neo L 1.169
Sony Xperia tipo 1.166
Nokia Lumia 520 1.161
Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos 1.148
Samsung Galaxy mini 2 1.114
Battery life test
The Sony Xperia E3 has a sealed 2,330mAh battery inside. We would've liked the option to swap it out for a spare since the back panel of the Xperia E3 is removable, but we will still be okay as long as it offers good enough battery.
Sealed-in battery
And that's just what we got from the Sony Xperia E3, which managed to go on a charge for 75 hours or just over 3 days of use if you stick to our pattern of an hour of talking, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video watching per day. This means Sony's claim of 2 days is well justified as the Xperia E3 should last for 48h even if you use it fairly heavily (and particularly if you don't watch lots of video, which turned out to be its weak spot).
Check out our detailed Xperia E3 battery life test here.
Our proprietary score also includes a standby battery draw test, which is not featured in our battery test scorecard but is calculated in the total endurance rating.
The Sony Xperia E3 comes in single and dual SIM flavors. It has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support and either tri-band or quad- depending on the market. LTE is its key strength here and comes in quad-band penta-band and hexa-band options.
The rest of the connectivity features include single-band Wi-Fi b/g/n and Wi-Fi Direct. There is also support for Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and GLONASS, plus an FM radio with RDS. There is also NFC connectivity with support for Android Beam for sending files to other Android devices. There's no IR port, though.
The ultra-low power ANT+ connectivity protocol handles connections to various sports accessories such as heart rate monitors or bicycle speed & cadence meters.
There is a microUSB 2.0 port for charging and data connections. Media transfer mode is supported for accessing the phone's built-in memory and microSD card over the USB cable.
The microUSB 2.0 port can also be used in On-the-go mode for connecting USB peripherals such as pen drives, keyboards or real USB hard drives.
The microUSB port doesn't have any TV-out functionality, but if you own a compatible HDTV, you can output your phone's screen wirelessly via the Miracast protocol or Sony's Xperia Connectivity Throw option. The app allows you to share your media through DLNA by creating a media server and connect to a PlayStation DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller.
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