The Sony Xperia Z2 has just arrived and it will face competition from some of the best devices out there. One such is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, a device that is said to be selling in larger quantities than even the S4.The Xperia Z2 might have arrived just now and might have benefited from
the newest components available, but the Galaxy Note 3 already was an
extremely impressive device, so it's interesting to see how these two
compare. An evolution over the Xperia Z1, the Z2 features a larger,
5.2-inch 1080p display, and it runs on a slightly faster version of the
Snapdragon 800 system chip. In comparison, the Galaxy Note 3 is a
phablet with a 5.7-inch display - larger, but not by much, and it’s got a
slower chip. Has Samsung finally found its match? We’ve taken a first
look at the two at MWC, so let’s see.
Design
Design-wise,
the Xperia Z2 and the Galaxy Note 3 are as different as it gets. The
Xperia Z2 features a monolithic glass body sealed from the elements and
boasting extremely stylish looks, while the Note 3 is a more
ordinary-looking, utilitarian device with a plastic faux-leather back.
Both devices are large and cumbersome to use with a single hand, but
Xperia Z2 is the slightly smaller one.
The Note 3 also features an S Pen for hand-writing, and that’s a nice touch. The Xperia Z2 does not have any stylus bundled in.
Display
You
have plenty of screen real estate on both phones - 5.7 inches on the
Note 3 and 5.2 inches on the Xperia Z2. The size difference is
noticeable, but it’s not all that huge and we’re clearly witnessing a
trend towards typical smartphones going up in size almost to match
phablets.
The screen technologies that the two handsets use are different as well.
The Xperia Z2 uses an IPS LCD display, while the Note 3 ships with an
AMOLED screen. Good news is that viewing angles on the Xperia Z2 seem to
have improved, and generally the screen looks nice, with vibrant but
not hugely oversaturated colors. The Note 3, in contrast, uses a
non-standard color space with overblown colors that look appealing at
first, but are also not very realistic.
Interface
In terms of interface, not much has changed in the Timescape skin that
Sony puts on top of Android. In the Xperia Z2 it looks practically
identical to the one in the Z1, with the same clean, modern icons and
visuals. The Galaxy Note 3, in contrast, is much more colorful,
cheerful, with rounded cartoony icons.
Processor and memory
Being
newer, the Xperia Z2 ships with a more modern, Snapdragon 800 MSM8974ab
quad-core chip, while the Note 3 runs on the earlier Snapdragon 800
MSM8974. The difference is slight - both are quad-core and both come
with a Krait 400 processor, clocked at the same up to 2.3GHz speeds, but
the Adreno 330 graphics chip and the ISP run at higher clocks on the
Z2. In reality, both devices are nearly perfectly smooth in real-life,
and you’d only notice a very slight difference in the most demanding
games that should run better on the Xperia Z2.
Internal storage is 32GB on the Note 3 and 16GB on the Xperia Z2, but
luckily you can expand it via microSD cards of up to 64 gigs on both.
Camera
The
Xperia Z2 inherits the amazing 20-megapixel camera from the Z1 with its
large 1/2.3” sensor. It is one of the best (if not the best) cameras on
Android, and it has the slight upper hand over the Galaxy Note 3’s
13-megapixel shooter. The Z2 adds support for 4K (UHD) video recording,
and that’s a nice feature that the Galaxy Note 3 already has.
We are yet to see camera samples and draw deeper conclusions about the quality of these cameras, so stay tuned.
Expectations
All in all, the Xperia Z2 has all the benefits of being a newer device
as it ships with a slightly more powerful Snapdragon 800 system chip
inside that give it an edge over the Note 3. It’s also protected from
the elements and has that stylish glass body and trendy looks that we
appreciate. The Note 3, however, is still an extremely powerful device
that matches the Z2 in practically every area, despite the fact that
Samsung launched it months ago. It's also got that S Pen bundled in,
which some might like. We'd call it a draw at first sight, and what do
you think?
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