Battle of the Sony Budget - Xperia E1 vs Xperia E3 review
With the flagship release of the Sony Xperia Z3 out of the way, Sony has turned its attention to the budget end of the scale, hitting the market with the new Xperia E3.
A perfect wallet-friendly smartphone, the E3 offers a strong set of features- but how different is it compared to its predecessor, the Xperia E1? Let’s take a look at our Xperia E1 vs Xperia E3 review!
Slim and Colourful Design
Putting both handsets side by side, it’s clear that the Xperia E3 has inherited its high end design from its Z3 cousins, making the E3 look and feel much more expensive than the E1. Available in four metallic colours, including black, white, copper and yellow, the Xperia E3 has a high quality feel compared to the E1’s thick, plastic design.
The E3’s design isn’t just for looking good, though- Sony has made sure that the phone can stand up to your every bump and scrape with its scratch resistant coating and softly rounded edges.
There’s also a very obvious difference between the Xperia E3 and the E1- and that’s size. Within the eight months between the launch of both handsets, the E3 has grown a whopping half an inch in size, making its screen 4.5-inches compared to the E1’s 4-inch display. This is a massive upgrade which fits in perfectly with those of you who love to play games, watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad and scroll through your Facebook wall on a bigger screen.
And while the new Sony smartphone’s screen has grown, it has also dropped a couple of dress sizes too, making it just 8.5mm thick- a whole 4mm slimmer than the E1! So not only is the Sony Xperia E3 wallet-friendly, but it’s also pretty pocket friendly too!
Sony Xperia E3 and E1 Specs
Sony really has gone to town with the E3, practically doubling the power and speed that’s offered by its older brother. The Xperia E1’s dual core 1.2GHz processor has been given a surge of power, boosting the E3 to a quad-core 1.2GHz processor.
The chipset and RAM count in both phones have been doubled as well, from a Snapdragon 200 chip and 512MB of RAM to an impressive 400 chip and 1GB of RAM, making the E3 a whole lot faster in action!
Both budget smartphones feature Android KitKat, Google’s latest version of the popular operating system. With it brings the best features that Google has to offer including Google Now, and of course access to one of the best stocked app stores around!
Want to find out more about Sony’s E3? Check out this Sony Xperia E3 review!
Camera Comparison
The Sony Xperia E1 sits right in the middle of the budget field with its 3.15 megapixel camera on board. However, Sony has given the E3 a much needed boost, growing the phone’s megapixel count to 5 megapixels, plus they’ve even popped on a front facing lens to cater to the selfie addicts out there!
When it comes to camera features, Sony has always sat at the top of the pile, and the Xperia E3 and E1 are no exceptions. Unsurprisingly the Xperia E3 wins the race again, offering even more camera apps than we’ve ever seen before on a budget Sony smartphone. If you like getting creative with your photos, then you’ll love the new AR Fun feature, which lets you draw, scribble and stamp animations all over your shots! Plus, the E3 lets you take HD photos and shoot HD footage, which is rarely seen on a smartphone of this calibre!
Sony Xperia E1 vs Sony Xperia E3 Price
Whilst everything on the Xperia E3 has grown bigger and better, there’s one thing that has remained the same, and that’s its price tag! You could get hold of the Xperia E3 on a pay monthly contract from round the £7.99 per month mark, absolute bargain.
That said if you’re in a bit of a hurry and don’t mind compromising on the spec front, you can pick up the Xperia E1 for just £7.50 per month.
Looking for a bargain? Here’s why the Motorola Moto E is great value for money!