Sony’s flagship phone the Sony Xperia Z has been talked about a lot and it is finally here. We can safely say that this is Sony’s first real attempt at getting into today’s Smartphone market. Competition in the industry is at an all time high and considering the fact the Apple has been leading the market for years now, Sony really has its hands full. So lets get right into it. How does the Sony Xperia Z stand up against, what some consider the smart phone industry leader, Apple’s iPhone 5.
1. Size – Nowadays, smart phone users have started looking more at quality rather than size. The trend was started by Samsung with the Galaxy S2 and phone screen sizes just kept growing from there. This is one thing that Sony have really emphasized on with the Xperia Z. The phone is huge. Much bigger than the iPhone 5 but almost as thin. Even though it weighs 146 g which is 34 g more than the iPhone 5, chances are the weight of the phone will not really deter anyone because of its sleekness.
2. Display – We all know the iPhone 5 has an LED backlit IPS LCD display with a capacitive touch screen and 16M colours. The Sony Xperia Z on the other hand just has a TFT touch screen with 16M colours. No capacitive touch which has become more of an industry standard nowadays. A big setback for Sony. Apart from this, The Xperia Z offers a pixel density of 441 ppi as opposed to the iPhone 5’s 326 ppi. Whatever Sony lacks in terms of touch, they do make up with the display which is shatter proof and scratch resistant and also runs on Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2.
3. Memory & Storage – The iPhone is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions with 1 GB of RAM and no expandable storage. The Xperia Z offers only a 16 GB version but does have a microSD slot with expandable memory of up to 32 GB. The Xperia Z also boasts of 2 GB of RAM.
4. Waterproof – Yes, you read that right. The Sony Xperia Z is waterproof up to 1 metre for half an hour. Truly amazing. Sony have pioneered this technology in smart phones and the feature is a welcome addition to the smart phone industry. Let’s hope that other manufacturers take a hint from Sony and work on waterproofing their phones as well. On the downside, waterproofing means all the ports on the phone come with flaps which may hamper the phone’s style a bit.
5. Camera – With the 8MP camera becoming the standard in Smartphone’s today Sony has tried to do something different with the Xperia Z. The phone boasts of a 13MP camera with full HD recording at 1080P as well as a 2.2MP front facing camera. This just makes the 8MP camera on the iPhone look outdated.
6. OS & Performance – The OS is where Sony disappoints. The Xperia Z runs on Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. The software in itself isn’t all that bad and Sony has announced that they will have an update to 4.2.2. on their phone very soon. But, it’s just that when you buy a new phone, you would expect to have the latest OS on it. The iPhone of course has iOS 6 which is Apple’s latest OS. But on the other hand, Sony has hit the nail on the head with the processor. It runs on Quad core 1.5 GHz Krait which is miles ahead of the iPhone 5’s processor which is just a Dual Core 1.2 GHz.
7. Battery – The batteries in most smart phones today are very disappointing. Here Sony, though, have delivered. The Xperia Z has a 2330 mAh battery which is much larger than the 1440 mAh battery in the iPhone 5. So no one should be surprised to learn that the Xperia Z offers up to 530 hours of stand by time whereas the iPhone 5 offers just 225 hours. That is more than double.
8. Price – The Sony Xperia Z is priced at INR 38,990 which is lower than the iPhone 5 that starts at INR 40,000 and goes all the way to INR 55,000. Remember that this is Sony’s first smart phone worth mentioning in the same breath as the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 and it seems that Sony has kept this in mind while pricing the phone.
Verdict
The Xperia Z is Sony’s first true smart phone. When you take that into account, it truly is a great phone. But, when you put it up against the likes of the iPhone 5 you will start noticing why Apple is leading the market. Even though the Xperia Z is waterproof, I’m sure not many smart phone users purchase their phone with an intent to use it underwater. The iPhone’s great retina display combined with it’s customer service ensures that the Xperia Z does little to threaten it’s top spot in the market.
iPhone 5 vs Sony Xperia Z – Pictures
iPhone 5
