Ever since the Sony Xperia Z was released, people have been going crazy comparing it with the Galaxy S4. But, when you honestly think about it, the Xperia Z has actually been released as competition for the Galaxy S3. It is indeed pretty late considering that the S3 was released in May 2012 while the Xperia Z was released in February 2013. But, being Sony’s first real smart phone, we can cut them some slack. So, how does the Xperia Z compare against the Galaxy S3? Read on to find out…
1. Size – The Galaxy S3 measures 136.6×70.6×8.6 mm while the Xperia Z measures 139x71x7.9 mm. So we can see that while the S3 is smaller, the Xperia Z is thinner. But in terms of weight the Xperia Z is much heavier at 146 grams as compared to the Galaxy S3’s 133 grams. But, we could attribute this extra weight to a unique feature of the Xperia Z that we will discuss later as well as the bigger camera.
2. Display – The Galaxy S3 has a great 4.8 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen which offers a pixel density of 306 ppi. While the Xperia Z offers just a TFT capacitive touch screen, it does have a larger 5 inch screen with a pixel density of 441 ppi. What’s more, the glass is supposed to be scratch resistant and shatter proof which is great for some of the more rough users. While the Galaxy S3 has the TouchWiz UI the Xperia Z has the Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 which is a far better overall experience.
3. Memory & Storage – There isn’t much to write about in terms of storage. The Galaxy S3 comes in a 16, 32 and 64 GB version while the Xperia
4. Waterproof – The Sony Xperia Z is waterproof up to 1 meter 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 and of course make it a little heavier.
5. Camera – In terms of photography, we believe that both phones have done their best. The Galaxy S3 has an 8MP camera on the back along with a 1.9MP shooter on the front. The Xperia Z has a 13.1MP camera on the back and a 2.2MP camera on the front. Clearly, the Xperia Z has a much better front and rear camera but considering the fact that the Galaxy S3 was released more than 6 months before the Xperia Z, it is safe to assume the Samsung did the best with what was on offer at the time.
6. OS & Performance – The Galaxy S3 comes with Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which is upgradeable to Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). The Xperia Z comes with Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) which can be upgraded to Android 4.2.2. (Jelly Bean). Once again, the only reason the Xperia Z is better is because it was released much later. Considering the Galaxy S3 runs on a Quad core 1.4 GHz processor it seems that Sony could have done a lot more with their processor than a Quad core 1.5 GHz. But since this is Sony’s first real Smartphone in a while, we can let this pass.
7. Battery – The Galaxy S3 comes with a 2100 mAh battery while the Xperia Z comes with a 2330 mAh battery. What’s strange though is that even though the Galaxy S3 boasts of a standby time of 590 hours the Xperia Z only has a standby time of 550 hours. There have also been a lot of complaints regarding the battery on the Sony Xperia Z and this is something that no one could ever appreciate.
8. Price – While the Galaxy S3 is priced at INR 28,990 the Xperia Z’s price has fallen from INR 38,990 to INR 36,799. This could pretty much be attributed to the fact that the battery is not up to the mark. Apart from this, there really isn’t any other reason for this drop in price.
So, Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Sony Xperia Z – Which is better ?
Considering that the Galaxy S3 was released much earlier than the Xperia Z, it does manage to do pretty well against it. But the Xperia Z does come out on top in almost all fields apart from the fact that the battery really lets you down. The battery being such a major factor when you buy a Smartphone, this could be the only reason that the Xperia Z won’t even come close to other top mobile phone manufacturers and the only reason why you might still prefer buying the Galaxy S3 over the Xperia Z.
