Key difference: The Sony Xperia ZR is essentially a smaller version of the flagship Xperia Z that offers much of the same features. Like the Xperia Z, the new Xperia ZR is water and dust resistant. However, the phone can also be used underwater and can sustain being submerged under water for up to 30 minutes, unlike the Z. The Xperia ZR runs on Android OS, v4.1 Jelly Bean, which is powered by a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 processor with 2 GB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the much awaited 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.

Sony is a prominent technology company and is known best for its electronics such as phones, TVs, gaming systems, etc. Xperia is a well known brand of smartphones that are a part of the Sony Mobile. The Xperia brand was initially a collaboration with Ericsson but has since then been dissolved. Now, Sony has single handedly taken it upon itself to ship out new phones, while maintaining the level of quality and design of the older versions.

One of the most popular phones recently has been the Xperia Z, which is a dust-proof and water-proof phone. It was the flagship phone for Sony. Sony has since announced smaller and cheaper variants of the phone: the Sony Xperia ZL and the Sony Xperia ZR. The Sony Xperia ZR is essentially a smaller version of the flagship Xperia Z that offers much of the same features.

Like the Xperia Z, the new Xperia ZR is water and dust resistant. However, the phone can also be used underwater and can sustain being submerged under water for up to 30 minutes, unlike the Z. Nonetheless, the ZR cannot be submerged under salt water, fresh water only! The device has a dedicated camera key which allows the user to shoot images and HD video underwater.

The Xperia ZR runs on Android OS, v4.1 Jelly Bean, which is powered by a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 processor with 2 GB of RAM. The phone has 8 GB of internal memory which is expandable by up to 32 GB via a microSD card.

The phone features a 4.55 inches TFT screen which is “as impressive as HDTV – HD Reality Display,’ according to Xperia ZR’s website. The screen is enhanced by the Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 and has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The phone also has a 13 megapixel fast-capture camera with Exmor RS, which enhances low lighting images. The device also has a secondary front-facing VGA camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the much awaited 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 information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Sony Xperia website, the Samsung website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk and GSMArena.com.

Image Courtesy: sonymobile.com, samsung.com