Gadgetory

evolution not revolution has been the order of the day as far as the latest crop of flagship smartphones but Sony has come a long way after just a couple of years removed from the Xperia Z and Samsung on the other hand has been following the tried and tested policy for years now with some new elements in each iteration so how do they stack up to one another well let's find out because it's Joshua Vergara from Android thority what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s5 versus the Sony Xperia z2 when it comes to design not a whole lot has changed with either device as far as the aesthetics are concerned with many elements from previous iterations returning with the galaxy s5 you get the familiar shape of the smartphone with slightly rounded corners and a flat profile the signature button layout with the physical home button is back but there are a couple of major changes such as the integrated fingerprint scanner in the home button and the recent apps key taking the place of the Menu key the Sony Xperia z2 features the same angular design we've seen from the z1 and the Z before it in this case as well the button layout remains the same with a large silver power button atop the volume rockers and then a nice feeling dedicated camera button is well placed near the bottom while the Xperia z2 features the same aluminum frame with tempered glass on the front and the back the Samsung Galaxy s5 takes a departure from the glossy plastic back of its predecessor favoring a soft touch plastic bag with a perforated or dimpled design another addition to the s5 is the plastic flap that covers the microUSB port and it helps with the ip67 rating of this device which is a first for the galaxy line the Xperia z2 also has flaps for the USB port the microSD card and SIM slots as well to maintain its waterproof and dust resistance nature which has been a feature of the high-end experience the Xperia Z now the Sony Xperia z2 is larger overall in part due to the display that is point 1 inches larger than that of the galaxy s5 and the bigger size does result in a difference in the ease of one-handed use with the Xperia z2 definitely requiring a little bit more of a stretch and the galaxy s5 retaining for the most part of the same handling experience of the predecessor because of the build material also the z2 is also a bit heavier now this might not come as much of a surprise to you but if you liked the design and handling of the original versions of these two flagship phones then you're probably going to like what you get this time around and in this case we do have pretty much a different battle of glass versus plastic so that is the material choice that you're looking for but at least in the Sony Xperia z2 we have the continuing of a look that really only Sony puts out and Samsung sticks to its guns with a traditional look and feel in the Galaxy s5 so which one will be better for you depends on you your tastes when it comes to the displays we do see a slight bump up in terms of size for both of these phones but great quality either way you get a beautiful 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display in the galaxy s5 with 1080p resolution and 432 PPI which gives you everything you'd expect including the crispness color vibrancy contrast and brightness that you would expect now colors do pop and as I usually say the saturation is so high that the colors pretty much jump out of the phone and punch you in the face and it is perfect for the bright and colorful TouchWiz UI the viewing angles are also pretty fantastic here as well with things being pretty clear even at Steve viewing angles the Sony Xperia z2 features a slightly larger 5.2 inch display also with 1080p resolution now in in terms of trying to fix some of the issues with the display of its predecessor Sony added in a live color LED technology alongside the triluminos and x-reality engine basically what this means is that the screen has extra colors added into the LCD matrix resulting in a display with an even wider color gamut colors that were once slightly washed out are now incredibly vivid along with much better viewing angles the Sony Xperia z2 shows a massive improvement from previous iterations of the Xperia screens however the galaxy s5 continues the tradition that the Super AMOLED technology has continued to uphold so in that case we will say that it's kind of a toss up here as you might get a little bit better saturation in the colors in the galaxy s5 but the z2 is no slouch at all and plus 0.1 inches is not really that much of a difference in terms of size anyway now when it comes to performance we have what is pretty much required of either of these devices because both features the best processing package currently available the Snapdragon 801 processor with this galaxy s5 rocking it at 2.5 gigahertz compared to 2.3 gigahertz in the Xperia z2 the audrina 330 GPU is also in both as well now the Sony Xperia z2 does feature 3 gigabytes of RAM compared to the two found in the s5 but both should be able to handle multitasking very easily now we found really no issues with performance at all with either device with the Sony Xperia z2 continuing the tradition of minimalistic but still fast when you keep it simple you keep it fast operating system in the Xperia or Timescape you I now TouchWiz often gets knocked down for having some lag or stutter issues but we found it to be as seldom as it has been ever in this iteration of the UI so really you can take your pick here it just really comes down to which avenue of multitasking or even just the kind of look that you want from your UI now in hardware we'll start off with the galaxy s5 because it pretty much features every piece of hardware you might be able to imagine to put into a smartphone as has been Samsung's milieu for quite a while a micro SD card slot NFC and IR blaster and even new additions such as the finger scanner and the heartrate monitor you also get a full range of connectivity options for both though the Sony Xperia z2 will be found primarily on t-mobile in the States if their previous track record is any indication and when it comes to the speaker Sony has changed things up by introducing front-facing ones in the z2 now quality may not have been as good as we may have expected but they are still leaps and bounds better than the Galaxy s5 having a decent speaker times 2 and now up front really enhances the sound and this is a great addition compared to previous iterations of the Xperia line and definitely better than just the one a decent speaker found on the back of the galaxy s5 you get a larger 32 hundred million power unit in the Xperia z2 compared to the 2800 milliamp hour battery of the galaxy s5 battery performance of both were pretty much on par allowing me to get a lot of work and play done in one day and by using the robust set of power saving features available in either UI you should be able to get even more than a day's work done for moderate usage and sometimes even some heavy usage the edge has to be given to the s5 here though because well the battery is removable so if you do run out of juice from the galaxy s5s battery you can always replace it with yet another unit the other good news here is that longevity and wear and tear of the hardware should be less of an issue with these phones as both come with that IP certification that is becoming more of a trend and finally the galaxy s5 does offer a little bit more in terms of hardware with the finger scanner and the HRM but the usage for both might be quite limited for most users out there so we wouldn't necessarily say that they are top selling points for the galaxy s5 nor would they be real selling points to put it over the Xperia z2 which provides a great experience now when it comes to the cameras we'll find some new technology that Samsung introduced in the galaxy s5 while the Sony Xperia z2 hopes to optimize and further enhance the optics that were already found in its predecessor as we already said one of the biggest additions to the galaxy s5 is the new ISO cell camera and optic package that brings 16 megapixels fitted with the new technology that isolates each pixel from neighboring ones for higher quality photos you might not have to hear all of the jargon because backing up that great hardware is a software application packed with features on that is a norm of Samsung devices but this time around you get some real practical ones like live HDR and the selective focus even if the selective focus happens to be a hit and miss at times it is still pretty fun to use and allows you to get some style out of your photos photos have good detail and they retain the sharpness even after zooming in though this is not true for every case nonetheless the color reproduction is really great and even in low light with the stabilizer on you do get a pretty good photo no matter what condition you're in of course when the light starts to go away though you get a higher level of grain but that's something we expect from these smartphone cameras anyway the Sony Xperia z2 features the same 20 point seven megapixel camera of the z1 with some improvements across the board talking about the app you get a ton of new features such as time shift video augmented reality 4k video and even its own selective focus mode on top of the superior auto which still I think does a good job of finding exactly what scene mode you need for your shot the picture quality is also pretty good without any of the smudge enos in the dark areas that we saw with the z1 originally the level of grain is still pretty high especially when you're using the 20.7 megapixel size of the photo but it does capture the colors very well it's just a bit of a downer that there are a lack of options when it comes to using the camera at its highest 20.7 megapixel capacity and ultimately when you want to get the best photos out of here you pretty much have to limit yourself to the 8 megapixels that are available when you use say the superior auto when you use 8 megapixels it does open up a world of possibilities though because those pictures turn out pretty damn good these two cameras probably represent the closest comparison that we have for the current flagships that are coming out you can really but these two head-to-head and you'll find that with pictures and either device you'll have a good time posting them on social media or even somewhat beyond if you tweak your settings just right um so hey you can just fire up these cameras and have some fun the ISO sells 16 megapixel camera is a great performer but Sony has already had a one iteration to get the twenty point seven megapixel G lens right and they continue to improve on it in the z2 and finally we make it over to software well we might find two different philosophies at work here we have a battle between TouchWiz and the Xperia or Timescape UI now Sony believes in keeping things pretty simple and elegant as is evidence from its user interface which might be a little bit brighter than previous versions but still retains its simplicity with only noticeable editions being Sony apps like the Walkman or the album gallery and then after that you have the small apps which are accessed from the recent apps screen and allow you quick access to some quick multitasking however when it comes to the general aesthetic of the Xperia UI it is pretty monochromatic it does take on a darker tone overall but it still just jumps right out of the screen and is a very nice looking operating system that pretty much piggy backs on the general motif of the stock Android experience essentially what you have here is a slightly enhanced version of stock Android that retains some quintessential Sony style now Samsung on the other hand went with in the opposite direction typically adding new elements to the bright colorful and pretty much almost cartoonish UI the toggles in the notification drop-down and also the settings menu have been changed and now feature a circle motif and that does make it a lot easier to use to be fair the biggest addition in the operating system has to be the mind magazine a second screen that works as a News and social media aggregator but eventually ends up like feeling like an extra unnecessary step between you and Flipboard and even then it's not quite as powerful as the already well used Flipboard Samsung packs the device with software features galore with all of the ones that you remember from before including the multi window and also every gestures that you may or may not use but add-ins things like the toolbox and even a download booster which actually does its job pretty incredibly well and after that you do have the updated s health app to take advantage of the heart rate monitor ultimately we're looking at a version of TouchWiz that has been optimized and to us feels like one of the fastest iterations of the operating system that we've seen to date on top of that these small aesthetic enhancements do help it feel a little bit fresh but we feel like it's only a matter of time before that freshness wears off and then we're looking at a TouchWiz that is still probably a little bit too familiar for its own good so ultimately it pretty much just comes down to which avenue you want to tackle in terms of getting your tasks done we do have the uber feature filled version of TouchWiz here in the Samsung Galaxy s5 which allows you to get a lot done sometimes all at once and then after that the Sony Xperia UI which has a more of a stock like overview but it is also with that quintessential Sony style you'll be able to get a lot done no matter which one you choose it's just a matter of what tools are available will help you better while the Samsung Galaxy s5 is available on all major carriers for the premium price under two-year contracts usually around $1.99 the Sony Xperia z2 has yet to come to the United States but when it does we're pretty much expecting it to land on t-mobile one of the best parts about comparing these two smartphones is that they're both pretty awesome so the reasons why you would pick one over the other might be pretty specific if you have some specific reasons as to why you would pick the z2 or the s5 why don't you go ahead and share them with us in the comments below after that you can keep it tuned to Android authority for all of the best coverage of these flagship smartphones and beyond drop us a likes on our videos because we'd love to see those thumbs up and also subscribe to our channel if you haven't already and then once you're done with all of that you can head on over and rathore decom for further in-depth coverage because we are your source for all things Android