Gadgetory

smartphone cameras are all the rage these days and Sonia Nokia in particular have some of the best to offer which has the better smartphone I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the Sony Xperia z2 versus a Nokia Lumia icon Michael just finished reviewing the Xperia z2 which at least from the outside doesn't appear drastically better than last year's Xperia z1 turns out he was smitten with the device and said it's worth every penny that's a tall claim in a day and age where some killer Android smartphones can be had for half the price I also reviewed the Nokia Lumia icon a few months ago and made some rather tall claims for myself I called the icon the best Windows Phone handset yet Michael thought I was being dramatic until he used the phone himself calling it Verizon's first great Windows Phone 2 phones we really love both of which offer exceptional camera performance but which is the better Buy let's find out in this Xperia z2 versus Lumia icon comparison before we get started we want to thank our friends at GSM nation for supplying us with the Xperia z2 for review and encourage you to pay a visit to their site by clicking the link in the description if you have the urge to pick up z2 for yourself and we want to thank Verizon Wireless for letting us at Lumia icon review as well it's clear from the moment you first lay eyes on these devices that both Sony and Nokia care a great deal about aesthetics the z2 may not be the prettiest device we've seen and neither is the Lumia icon but both are gorgeous devices in their own right the Xperia z2 is a mash-up of cool slick glass and metal the icon with a much more understated design is stark in appearance and made of a matte finished plastic the z2 is a flat wafer design on the icon is contoured on the back and features that bubble effect on the glass which makes the front look as if water is pulled up and ready to spill over the edge at the very least both companies paid very close attention to detail will leave the subjectivity of which device is prettier up to you that said we're confident in saying the icon certainly feels easier and more natural to hold and use let's do important to the curved backside and the smaller physical footprint of the device at just 137 millimeters tall it's a full nine point eight millimeter shorter than the z2 it's 2.3 millimeters narrower as well but one point six millimeters thicker and four grams heavier worth noting is all the z2 s resistance to elements comes with an IP 58 certification for dust proofing and water resistance for up to one meter or a half hour this means however all the important ports are covered the icon on the other hand has no protection against splashes spills or dust these two foams oddly enough stack up quite evenly on paper the Xperia z2 has three gigabytes of RAM 16 gigabytes of inbuilt storage a 32 million power battery and a 5.2 inch 1080p IPS LCD it's powered by a Snapdragon 801 chip and it has a twenty point seven megapixel image sensor fixed to the back the icon has only two gigabytes of RAM but doubled fixed storage a twenty four twenty million power battery and a 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display it's powered by an ever so slightly slower Snapdragon 800 SOC and has a 20 megapixel optically stabilized camera both come with similar connectivity options NFC Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi AC though the icon has Qi wireless charging support while the z2 has a typical pogo pins for dock charging and the icon of course has support for CDMA alongside its HSDPA and LTE connectivity the displays on these two phones are something of a spectacle both 1080p resolutions and comparable densities the icons display is notably more saturated and has much higher contrast as well as far deeper blacks thanks to the AMOLED technology but it can't go without saying how much Sony has improved the Xperia z2 s display in comparison to previous Sony devices the icons display is definitely more vibrant and crisp but frankly we have very few complaints about either display unless you're a pixel junky whose stresses and loses sleep at night over color accuracy in contrast you'll feel no different than us and all the hardware of these two smartphones is spot-on they're both incredibly solid and is well built as you can expect from any phone manufacturer we prefer the slightly more manageable size and shape of the Lumia icon but we could easily be happy with either phone's hardware inside and out software and the respective ecosystems that envelop these devices are where these two smartphones diverge quite dramatically the Xperia z2 comes running the latest version of Android 4.4.2 beneath Sony's heavier custom UI this time around Sony has packed quite a few more features for better or for worse into what used to be a fairly lightweight custom Android strain over time sony has been adding more as other Android OEMs are trying to trim the fact we're not totally turned off by Sony software it's still pretty frothy it just feels like Sony is trying too hard to differentiate its software in areas that doesn't exactly need to focusing on areas other manufacturers have already explored and backtracked on the Lumia icon on the other hand runs Windows Phone 8 which is still the current version of Windows Phone the Windows Phone 8.1 release date is set for July 11th and until then the icon remains to be plagued by a slightly aged version of Windows Phone it's not bad just bland especially after getting a glimpse of Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview things like Cortana action center and wallpapers would really add some much-needed pizzazz to the icon the biggest difference however is still application support Android by and large has a significant lead in application support and while the so-called app gap on Windows Phone is narrowing it still exists no way around it for more granular information on that respective software on these devices be sure to check out our for reviews both written and video on pocket now with the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 801 chips in the icon and z2 respectively both of these devices are built for speed and performance they zip through everyday tasks and heavy gaming switch apps quickly and rarely ever stutter they're virtually impossible to bog down what you can do with that performance however is a different story the app ecosystem especially gaming a multimedia somewhat limit the capabilities of the Windows Phone experience there are far more popular gaming titles on Android or graphically intensive games and a lot more content to push your phone to the limit if that's not quite what you're after then it doesn't matter anyway and you can rest easy knowing both of these phones will far exceed your performance needs for the foreseeable future speaking of multimedia the loudspeakers on these two phones offer different advantages despite having front firing speakers the audio experience on the Xperia z2 isn't all that impressive the speakers produce a clear crisp sound with little bass response the volume is considerably lower than that of the icons which is far louder but with less definition it's a trade-off that leaves us feeling dissatisfied either way comparing call quality and data speech is somewhat pointless seeing as the icon is on Verizon and we've been using the z2 on AT&T but to hit the high points the call quality was actually notably better on the Lumia icon particularly in the earpiece quality while the c2 sounded muffled into quiet let's put up impressive data speeds though reaching well into the double digits for downlink speeds and posting great uplink speeds as well battery life is also comparable despite the 780 million power difference we started to kill both of these handsets in a single day of usage we won't say it's impossible but they're snapping lots of photos benchmarking gaming syncing multiple Gmail accounts and social accounts and browsing the web both easily mustered a full day plus abuse but let's be honest what you guys are really here for is the camera performance Michael called the z2 the best Android camera experience to date despite no oh is in relatively low contrast and although the icon isn't quite as capable as the June 20 it puts out some compelling images - by default despite the 20 and 20 point 7 megapixel sensors the icon is set to take 5 and 16 megapixel images and the z2 is set to take 8 megapixel photos out of the box in broad daylight both managed to take exceptional images though the z2 has the tendency to overexpose on the superior auto mode at the same time the SI toos pictures appeared much warmer and natural in photos not in direct sunlight whereas the icon often produced cool lifeless pictures the next time we'd take a picture the opposite would be true and just like daylight photos low-light shots left us just as torn and undecided at times the Xperia z2 s camera would produce more natural colors and detail and poorly lit scenes even with no OS other times the icons optical image stabilization would come to save the day and help capture significantly more detail with little light all of these samples of course were shot using the out-of-the-box settings and auto mode fortunately for those who want to get their hands dirty in the more intricate photography settings both camera apps come with manual modes and all we'd be grasping at straws if we picked a clear winner and image sensing who put it this way both are going to deliver better than which camera experience but if we had to choose we depict the icons 20 megapixel camera mainly due to the Nokia camera app and oh is we're in a great place we live in a world where we have to dig deep to nitpick and choose a winner in a device comparison and surprisingly this is one of the most balanced comparisons we've done of late to phones with gorgeous displays beautiful industrial designs above average battery life great camera performance and tons of horsepower they both have the tiny things we love like physical shutter buttons and the icon has wireless charging and the z2 is water-resistant the flaws of these two are few and far between and that makes it particularly difficult to choose a winner but we did anyway until the Windows Phone 8.1 update hits the icon feels a little sterile for our tastes and Windows Phone itself is still working through some growing pains and that's literally the only reason we'd recommend the z2 over the icon unless you're looking to save a buck you can pick up the lumia icon from Verizon Wireless for 549 sans contract about two hundred dollars cheaper than you can currently get a z2 in the US other than that we'd be hard-pressed to choose one of these phones over the other oh thanks for watching if you enjoyed this comparison and be sure to click the thumbs up button below and of course subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one in the future be sure to follow us on all the usual places but our Facebook and Google+ at Park it now I'm Kayla Martin you can find me on Twitter at testify and I will see you next time