Difference between Sony Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S4

Key Difference: The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a high-end phablet launched on July 3, 2012 and marketed as "the world's slimmest Full HD smartphone." Samsung Galaxy S4 is the flagship phone of the Samsung Corporation.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a high-end phablet launched on July 3, 2012. The company has marketed the device as "the world's slimmest Full HD smartphone." Sony had recently launched its flagship phone the Sony Xperia Z. After the success of Xperia Z, Sony sought to outdo it with the Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

Continuing the legacy of Xperia Z, the Xperia Z Ultra is also dust protected, low pressure water jet protected, and waterproof. It is also shatter-proof and scratch-resistant. The Ultra also utilizes the same "Omni-Balance" design as Xperia Z. The phone features a 6.4 inch screen, on which the user can take notes or draw on with a regular pen or pencil.

Under the hood, the phone has a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8974 Quad Core processor and 2 GB of RAM. It also features an 8 MP camera fast-capture camera with Exmor RS, with 16X digital zoom, as well as a 2 MP front-facing camera. It is powered by a 3050mAh Lithium polymer battery and has 16 GB of internal memory, which is expandable via a microSD of up to 64 GB.

After weeks of speculation, Samsung launched the much awaited Samsung Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The Galaxy S4 boasts new features in 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 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 was launched with some new features such as Air Wave, Smart Scroll and Smart Pause, as well as Group Play and Dual camera mode.

Comparison between Sony Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S4:

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Sony Mobile website, the Samsung website and GSMArena.com.

	Sony Xperia Z Ultra	Samsung Galaxy S4
Launch Date	July 3, 2013	Q2 of 2013
Company	Sony Mobile Communications	Samsung Corporation
Size	179 x 92 x 6.5 mm (7.06 x 3.63 x 0.26 in)	136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm
Display	6.4 inches TFT Capacitive touchscreen	4.99 inches Full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
Screen	1920x1080 pixels, 16M colours (~344 ppi pixel density)	1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi pixel density)
Protection	Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Weight	212 g (7.48 oz)	130 g
2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network	C6806: LTE 700 / 850 / 900/ 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 C6833: LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600	LTE availability depends on the market.
GUI	Sony UI	TouchWiz UI
CPU speed	Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400	1.6 GHz Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 5 processor or 1.9 GHz Snapdragon Fusion Pro quad-Core processor depending on the market.
GPU	Adreno 330	PowerVR SGX 544MP3
OS	Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean)	Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8274 or MSM8974 Snapdragon 800	Exynos 5 Octa 5410
RAM	2 GB	2 GB
SIM Size	Micro SIM	microSIM
Internal Memory	16 GB	16/32/64 GB
Expandable Memory	microSD card, up to 64 GB	Expandable up to 64 GB
Sensors	Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Magnetometer, Gyroscope	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Connectivity	3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA) aGPS ANT+ wireless technology Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology DLNA Certified GLONASS MHL support Media Go Media Transfer Protocol support Micro USB support Native USB tethering NFC PC Companion Screen mirroring Synchronisation via Exchange ActiveSync, Google Sync and Facebook USB charging USB High speed 2.0 and Micro USB support Xperia Link Wi-Fi and WiFi Hotspot functionality	Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, LE, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go, USB Host, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Data	GPRS, EDGE, WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, USB	GPRS, EDGE, WLAN, Bluetooth, USB, NFC, Infrared port.
Speed	HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL	HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP	Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, LE
USB	microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go	microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go, USB Host
Primary Camera	8 megapixel camera fast-capture camera with Exmor RS, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus	13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Secondary Camera	2 MP, 1080p@30fps	2 MP, zero shutter lag, BIS
Video	1080p@30fps, video stabilization, HDR,	1080p@30fps HD video
Camera Features	16x digital zoom Sony Exmor RS for mobile image sensor Continue burst mode HDR for photos & videos Face detection Image stabiliser Object tracking Picture Effect Quick Launch Scene recognition Self-timer Send to web Smile shutter Image sensor Superior Auto Sweep Panorama Touch focus Touch capture White balance	Dual camera sound & shot drama shot group play story album simultaneous HD video and image recording geo-tagging touch focus face and smile detection image stabilization HDR Cinema Photo Eraser mode
Sound Enhancement	Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, Dynamic normalizer, ClearAudio+, Clear Bass, Clear Phase, Clear stereo	Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Audio supported formats	MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/Flac player	MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
Video supported formats	DivX/Xvid/MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player	MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
Battery Capacity	Non-removable Li-Ion 3050 mAh battery	Removable Li-on 2,600 mAh battery
Stand-by	Up to 820 hours	Up to 370 h on 3G
Talktime	Up to 16 hours	Up to 17 h on 3G
Available Colors	Black, White, Purple	Black Mist and White Frost
Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS, MS Exchange
Browser	HTML5	HTML5, Adobe Flash
Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS	TBA
GPS	with A-GPS support and GLONASS	Yes, A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java	via Java MIDP emulator	Yes
Additional Features	Dust protected, low pressure water jet protected, waterproof, shatter-proof and scratch-resistant. Dynamic normalizer Music tones (MP3/AAC) PlayNow service SensMe TrackID music recognition “WALKMAN” application xLoud Experience Google Chrome Google Play Google search Google Voice Search Google Maps for Mobile with Street view and Latitude NeoReader barcode scanner Pan & zoom 3D games Media browser Motion gaming PlayMemories PlayStation Certified Radio (FM radio with RDS) Reader mode SensMe slideshow Sony Entertainment Network TV launcher Video streaming YouTube	Air Wave Tilt Smart Scroll Smart Pause Integrated Optical Reader S Health S Translator S Voice assistant S Memo note apps Galaxy S Voice Drive Dropbox (50 GB storage) Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic TV-out (via MHL A/V link) SNS integration Organizer Image/video editor Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa Voice memo/dial/commands Predictive text input (Swype)