Let’s face it, whether you like or loathe the so-called selfies, improvements to front facing cameras in smartphones are going to keep happening. Cameras on the front started appearing when 3G connectivity was introduced and were intended for video calls, a revolution at the time, but the quality of the videos wasn’t all that good. Then, people started using these cameras to take pictures of themselves because they could see in the screen how the photo would turn out exactly. HTC has taken different approaches for this matter, including the same cameras in the front and back even with an LED flash, or their Ultrapixel technology has been incorporated in the front camera in the One M9. Other companies have only increased the resolution of the sensors and made the lens angle a little wider so that more people could fit in that picture while Sony claims to have created “the world’s best selfie smartphone” with the Xperia C4.
This phone started being leaked in pictures and it was known as Xperia Cosmos and the front facing camera with a flash was the most noticeable aspect but also worth some attention was the reduced bezel at the bottom, making it a little more compact. While the Xperia C3 was their first attempt to integrate a powerful front-facing camera, its mid-range specs didn’t help to sell it as much. With the recently announced Xperia C4, Sony has built upon its predecessor, but integrated much better specs in most areas, the screen size stays the same at 5.5 inches, but it now has Full HD resolution. The processor is now octa-core the amount of RAM has been doubled at 2 GB as well as the included internal memory, which is now 16 GB, still it is expandable with Micro SD cards with support for 128 GB capacity.
The front facing camera is still 5 megapixels now featuring a 25 mm wide-angle lens and Sony’s Exmor R image sensor and HDR shall help in backlit scenarios. The soft LED flash is supposed to help take flattering pictures in low light conditions and there’s the option to take video with this camera using the SteadyShot image stabilization system. To add some fun, there’s a bunch of apps including some with AR effects. The camera was tested by comparing it to 6 other phones in several scenarios and consumers voted the C4’s the best one according to Strategy Analytics. The phone has started shipping in its three color options (mint green, black and white) in the Asia-Pacific region and the global roll-out will be completed in the coming weeks.