Key Difference: Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The Sony Xperia Z is the latest smartphone designed, manufactured and marketed by Sony Mobile and was released February 2013. The Xperia Z is a bar phone that is available with 5 inch TFT touch screen that has approximately 441 ppi pixel density that produces a sharp and clear display. The phone sports 1.5 GHz Quad-core Krait, 2GB RAM with up to 16 GB internal memory storage capacity and up to 32 GB expandable storage available. The Sony Xperia ZL is very similar to its counterpart the Xperia Z; however, it differs in some aspects and is also believed that it will be offered for a lower price compared to the Z. Sony has managed to make the ZL even smaller and more compact compared to the Z.

Technology is very dynamic and almost every year a bunch of new phones and tablets are available in the market. These are either new models or an upgrade to the previous ones. This ensures that everyone has new options to choose from. These smart phones have become a very important part of many people’s lives. It has allowed users to do everything on the go. However, to stay constantly updated with the newest technology requires money. Hence, comparing phones has become a must when purchasing a new cell phone.

After building anticipation for almost three months, Samsung has officially released the newest variant of its flagship phone. To many the time spend waiting has not been wasted, while others seem to believe that the phone is not that intriguing to make them upgrade from their current S3s and iPhones to the S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The weight of the phone has also been reduced to 130 g and the width of the phone has been reduced by 1mm. The phone has sharper and straighter lines with just curved edges. In terms of design it is quite similar to the S3. The chassis is made up of polycarbonate plastic and the display is highly sensitive that accepts touch through gloves. The phone is available with either the 1.6 GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 5 processor or the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon Fusion Pro quad-core processor, depending on the market. It is available with 16/32/64 GB internal capacity options and if that is not enough it can be upgraded by another 64 GB using the SD slot. The S4 comes with 2 GB RAM, which has become a norm for smartphones these days.

The phone comes with a stunning 13 MP primary camera, a 2 MP secondary camera and HD video recording capability. The S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but it has yet to be seen if it will offer an upgrade to the new Key Lime Pie version when it is available in mid-2013. The phone is available in two colors Black Mist and White Frost, though there may be chances for other colors once the phone is available for purchasing. Now for the fun part! The phone offers brand new features that are sure to pull in some big spenders. The S4 offers hovering capabilities known as Air Wave, which allows users to swipe between screens, videos, photos without actually touching the screen. Another fun feature is the Smart Scroll and Smart Pause; Smart Scroll uses a sensor and the front camera to automatically scroll when a person is done reading a certain paragraph. The scrolling can also be controlled using tilt. Smart Pause uses the sensor to pause videos automatically when the phone senses that the person is no longer looking at the screen and then resumes when the person looks back at the screen.

Group Play is a feature that allows users to use NFC or Bluetooth to tap and transfer videos, photos, music and even engage in multiplayer games with other S4 users. There are many new camera features as well including dual camera, sound & shot, drama shot, story album, cinema photo and eraser mode. Dual camera allows users to use both the cameras at the same time including when trying to take a photo. The person taking the photo can place their face to the photo taken using the secondary camera or vice-versa. Sound & Shot feature takes 9 seconds of audio when capturing a photo. Drama Shot combines all the actions from a Burst shot into one screen. Story album enables the users to create an album using their shots and audio. Cinema photo feature allows the users to animate one portion of an image, while keeping the rest simple. Eraser Mode allows users to erase objects from the image that they do not wish to include. Other features also include S Health (users can track their diet, steps, exercises, etc.), S Translator, S Voice assistant, Galaxy S Voice Drive and Integrated Optical Reader. Samsung has yet to announce the release date and the price of the S4.

The Sony Xperia Z is the latest smartphone designed, manufactured and marketed by Sony Mobile and was released February 2013. The phone is powered by Android and is one of the latest additions to phones launched by Sony after its separation from Ericsson. The Xperia Z is a bar phone that is available with 5 inch TFT touch screen that has approximately 441 ppi pixel density that produces a sharp and clear display. The design of the phone is focused on creating a balance and symmetry in all directions and is termed as “OmniBalance” by Sony.  The phone is held together by a skeleton frame made from glass fibre polyamide. The glass on the front and back are covered by shatterproof film. One of the amazing features about the phone is that it is dust and water resistance. It has captured attention for its ability to being submerged in water.

The phone differs from its predecessors in many ways. The company has also shifted the power button from the top of the phone to the middle of the right side making it easier for the person to operate the phone with one hand. The phone sports 1.5 GHz Quad-core Krait, 2GB RAM with up to 16 GB internal memory storage capacity and up to 32 GB expandable storage available. The quad-core processor makes the phone pretty fast and powerful, though Wired Magazine claims that the phone is a bit slow during starting up the camera. The phone offers a 13.1 MP Exmor RS camera and a 2 MP 1080p Exmor R front camera. The camera reviews on almost every website have been spectacular claiming that phone produces crisp images and the quality of the pictures is good even in low-lighting situations. The phone also offers USB-on-the-go, which allows users to connect USB drives to the phone. The phone is also offered at a decent price is considerably worth the every penny it charges.

The Sony Xperia ZL is very similar to its counterpart the Xperia Z; however, it differs in some aspects and is also believed that it will be offered for a lower price compared to the Z. Sony has managed to make the ZL even smaller and more compact compared to the Z. The ZL maintains the 5-inch display in the dimensions 131.6 x 69.3 x 9.8 mm. The ZL offers the same processor, internal storage capacity, RAM and software. The ZL is also available with 4.1 Jelly upgradeable to v4.2.  The ZL is also slightly heavier than the Z but it does not make that big of a dent on the design.

The major difference is ZL does not offer the dust and water resistance that is boasted by the Z. However, it does offer shatter-proof sheet and scratch-resistance glass on the front.  The back isn’t the glass that is available in the Z but has a matte or textured finish, making it easier and more comfortable to hold. The ZL also has slight differences in button and SIM slow placement. The SIM and microSD card slots are placed on the bottom lower of the back panel, while in the Z the slots are placed above the power button on the right hand side. The ZL also offers a dedicated camera button which is not available in its big brother. The ZL also lacks contact points which are available with the Z. The contact points allow the phone to be connected to a charging dock that is sold separately. The placement of the front camera also differs. The front camera in the Z was located on left-hand corner, while in the ZL it is located in the right-hand corner. However, this does not make a difference when using the phone for video conferencing. Two new features that the ZL boasts is infrared/IrDA functionality and one-touch mirroring. The IR feature allows the phone to be used as a remote with any device that supports IR and one-touch mirroring allows the phone to send, receive and play audio and video files by touching another device that supports the feature. The ZL has yet to be launched and the price has also not been fixed for the device.

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Sony website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk, and GSMArena.com.

Image Courtesy: samsung.com, sonymobile.com