Gadgetory

now almost ten months old the Samsung flagship from last year the galaxy s3 is defying all odds by still being one of the most popular handsets on the market how can it compete with devices like the Xperia Z though I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the Sony Xperia Z versus the Samsung Galaxy s3 both the Android flagship models the Xperia Z by Sony and Samsung Galaxy s3 are two totally different devices both in design and software with the galaxy s3 Samsung is all about the user experience it's designed for humans but is inspired by nature it's cues from nature are evident in its design and its software the wide radius corners resemble that of a smooth pebble and all throughout the software there are cues from nature as well such as water droplet sounds on the lockscreen and scenic wallpapers the Xperia Z by Sony is a complete 180 from that it's hard edges and sharp corners give it a much more industrial design and as software doesn't have nearly as much inspiration or imagination behind it it's all about the Sony experience and that's not necessarily a bad thing it gives a much more true to its roots Android experience than TouchWiz and feels much more like the stock interface although there are some customizations put in place by Sony for anyone looking for a one-handed phone the Samsung Galaxy s3 is the better of these two it's rounded back and slightly tapered edges make it slide to the center of your palm and it sits comfortably there it's notably smaller than the Xperia Z and s button layout makes it easy to use either left or right-handed the power button if you're right-handed sits right below your thumb and your volume rocker sits below your index and middle finger if you're left-handed the volume rocker sits right where your thumb should sit and the power button is either under your index finger or middle finger with the sharp edges and hard corners the Xperia C is not nearly as comfortable in the hand and its 5-inch display makes it a little larger too which may make it unwieldy for anyone with smaller hands the button placement is really awkward as well if you hold the device with your left hand the power button rest right on to your index finger or middle finger and the volume rocker is under your middle finger or your ring finger if you hold the device with your right hand the volume rocker sits right under where your palm should be sitting and the power button you have to extend your thumb downward or shift your grip so it makes the device feel a little awkward to hold and it's not really easy to use one-handed the true difference between these two devices is the materials they're made of and how well they're built the Galaxy s3 is made of pretty much all plastic or polycarbonate with a hyper gloss finish it feels very lightweight and it has a faux metal trim around the edges it looks cheap fills cheap and it doesn't feel substantial in the hand its durable and it fills as such but it doesn't feel that great it doesn't feel like a high quality flagship device the Xperia Z on the other hand has a clasp on both the front and the back the front is dragon trail glass and the back is Gorilla Glass and around the edges it has a blue metallic trim and around the outside it has a high quality plastic with a matte finish that gives it a grippy feel it feels much more substantial and high-quality in the head and hands down it wins in the design department although a little older now these Samsung Galaxy s3 still has decent specifications on the front it has a four point eight inch HD Super AMOLED display at 720p resolution and there are two different versions beyond that there are US versions for AT&T Sprint Verizon t-mobile and regional carriers and then there's the international version the difference between those is the 1.5 gigahertz dual-core Snapdragon s4 processor for the u.s. variants and the 1.4 gigahertz quad core Exynos chipset for the international version the US versions also have 2 gigabytes of RAM versus the 1 gigabyte of RAM in all other variants beyond that the specifications for all the models are pretty much the same it has either 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of built-in storage an 8 megapixel camera and a 2100 milliamp hour battery the Xperia Z on the other hand has a 5-inch 1080p reality display a 13.1 megapixel camera 16 gigabytes of built-in storage 2 gigabytes of RAM a microSD card slot a 2330 million power battery and a 1.5 gigahertz quad-core Snapdragon s4 pro chipset but the Xperia Z is also waterproof and dustproof it has a rating of ip55 and ip57 to keep the elements out the downside to waterproofing and dust proofing on the Xperia Z is the need for covers over all of your ports the headphone jack the microUSB port the micro SD card slot and the micro SIM slot all have watertight gasket covers over them although the Xperia Z has a slight advantage in specifications there's one area where these two smartphones truly Duke it out and that's displays the Xperia Z clearly has an edge when it comes to displays considering it has a 5-inch 1080p display this display is larger has a higher resolution and likewise has a higher pixel density however the contrast levels of the Xperia Z's display are noticeably lower than that of the galaxy s3 Super AMOLED panel and the next part saturation is a little bit subjective it depends on whether you like super saturated colors or you like something a little more accurate the galaxy s3 Super AMOLED panel is notorious for super saturating colors making yellows seem more orange or pink seem more red but the Xperia Z's display seems a little washed out considering that contrast level is low blacks seem slightly gray and only galaxy s 3d those blacks look very inky at the end of the day it comes down to whether you want a larger display at a higher density or a more moderate sized phone with supersaturated colors there was a pretty stark contrast some one another so choosing your favorite shouldn't be terribly difficult so in terms of hardware it is a near landslide victory for the Sony Xperia Z but how does it fare in software let's find out but simply the Xperia Z's software should be familiar to anyone who's used to Sony product before and an Android device think of the two as being combined into one icons are taken from other Sony products such as their televisions or Playstation 3 and save for some widgets wallpapers and the way some things are done such as applying those widgets icons and wallpapers to your home screen the experience feels very much like the stock Android experience and there are a ton of differences between TouchWiz and Sony's custom interface for example adding a widget to your home screen using TouchWiz is now a hybrid between the new method in jellybean and the old method in Gingerbread simply long press on your home screen which is the old Gingerbread method select apps and widgets and you choose either between your apps and widgets tab to add either an app or widget which is the new jelly bean and Ice Cream Sandwich method the method on the Xperia Z however is almost a direct copy of the old TouchWiz method which is your long press on your homescreen and a bar at the bottom will pop up allowing you to choose between either applications widgets wallpapers and themes it's a bit ironic to say the least an area where these two are kind of similar however is the notification shade when you pull down the shade you have quick access to toggles Wi-Fi GPS Bluetooth mobile data connection etc but using TouchWiz you get more options you get two pages of these two toggles and you have a brightness slider right there in the shade using Sony's customizations you only get four quick toggles and then a shortcut to the settings application as far as extended software features go beyond theming icons and other customizations the Xperia Z comes with Playstation certification screen mirroring and power management software these extended software features are where Samsung truly sets its devices apart you get features such as blocking mode smart stay smart rotation a power saving mode multi window pop-up browser pop-up video and many more these ample settings and features really add to the experience on the galaxy s3 these are the things that make the lackluster hardware and the dating specifications really kind of melt away you forget about them because the software really makes up for all of the hardware shortcomings when it comes to performance these two devices are pretty evenly matched they both have quad core processors clocked at 1.4 and 1.5 gigahertz the difference in daily usage is pretty negligible on the galaxy s3 there's little to no stuttering when scrolling between home pages and pulling down the notification shade switching between applications and the same could be said for the Xperia Z there's a little lag and stuttering on the Xperia Z that I've noticed but it's not that much it's very minor but if benchmarks are your thing the Xperia Z is an absolute benchmark beast using the quadrant standard benchmark the Xperia Z scored at seven eight for one versus the galaxy s3s five nine zero three and using an two to the experience he scored a staggering eighteen nine one nine almost 19,000 versus the galaxy s3s 15 eight nine five just shy of sixteen thousand the Xperia Z blew through these benchmarks pretty easily but using SunSpider to test the browser speeds the galaxy s3 using the stock TouchWiz browser scored an eleven ninety nine versus the Chrome browser which is the stock browser on the Xperia C scoring a 1355 the lower number of course being the better number all in all both of these devices are powerhouses they both have quad-core processors and they're capable of maintaining a solid consistent experience on the home screens during video playback and in gaming one area the galaxy s3 has remained almost uncontained 'add in the android market is cameras image sensing it is regarded to have one of the best image sensors on an android smartphone to date but how does it stack up against the thirteen point one megapixel camera on the Xperia Z quite well actually when outside pictures taken with the galaxy s3 tend to be a little and it's quick to overexpose and the Xperia Z's camera airs on the side of too warm but it offers a wider angle shot to be fair the wider angle shot at 16:9 aspect ratio is actually only at 9 megapixels it steps down from 12 megapixels at a 4:3 aspect ratio to 9 at a 16:9 you can't actually use all 13.1 megapixels and the experiencies camera but outside when lighting is favorable the Xperia Z's camera has a clear advantage it produces more accurate and detailed images when you move inside when the lighting isn't quite as nice the two seem to be on a more level playing field the galaxy s3 clearly doesn't over expose as much both seem to be on par in color reproduction lighting contrast etc all in all I have to give the win as far as image sensing goes to the Xperia Z outside in a general shooting it seems to be more accurate although the build quality of the galaxy s3 isn't exactly amazing or outstanding the software features more than make up for that and that makes it a more well-rounded device but if what you're looking for is a device with an extremely high resolution display setup for raw power and performance excellent build quality and a great camera the Xperia Z is more your speed so that wraps up our comparison between the Sony Xperia Z and the Samsung Galaxy s3 be sure to give the video a thumbs up if you liked it or found it helpful and don't forget to subscribe to the channel you can also find us on your favorite social networks Google+ and Facebook at PocketNow and on twitter at pocket now sweets don't forget to stay tuned for next week for the full review of the Xperia Z I'm Taylor Martin and I will see you next time