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Sony Xperia Z2 vs iPhone 5s: first look

By PhoneArena Team

Updated: Feb 24, 2014, 5:26 PM

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The Sony Xperia Z2 is shaping up to be the flagship to beat this spring season, as it improves greatly on the specs of the Z1, and adds some perks like stereo speakers. Therefore we ought to put it against Apple's finest for the moment - the iPhone 5s.

Design

Measuring at just 8.2 mm, Sony's newest flagship a tad thicker than the iPhone 5s, and quite a bit larger and heavier. It features Sony's signature rectangular OmniBalance design with soft edges, and a centerpiece round metallic power key on the side. The phone is again built on a solid one-piece aluminum frame, clasping the glass front and back panels, exuding a premium feeling, and feels great in the hand. Apple's iPhone also features premium metal and glass materials for the chassis, but is much more compact and easy to use with one hand. Both handsets have some unique design features to flaunt - Apple has the Touch ID fingerprint sensor embedded in the home key, while the Z2 is waterproof, and has stereo speakers.

Display

The Z2 has a 5.2" 1080p Triluminos display, with a new imaging technology, dubbed Live Colour LED, which uses red and green phosphor with blue LEDs, and has tailored color filters on top, that allegedly produce brighter and more evenly spread lighting. It's still of the IPS variety, just like the 4" 640x1136 pixels display on the iPhone, though, ensuring good viewing angles, but sports higher pixel density than what the 5s offers. Apple has proven many times that its phone display panels flaunt almost perfect color representation, and are also extremely bright, which the Z2 has yet to demonstrate with the Live Colour LED tech.

Interface

The Z2 carries Sony's own interface overlay, coated over Android 4.4 KitKat. There are numerous functionality improvements, like DoubleTap to Wake, a Smart Call function, and a bunch of new extras in the camera interface. The iPhone runs the latest iOS 7, with its command and notification centers, with widgets missing from the homescreen interface.

Processor and memory

Sony Xperia Z2 comes with a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset with LTE support, paired with the whopping 3 GB of RAM. This processor is just a step below Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 805, which ensures that the Xperia Z2 won't seem underpowered for the foreseeable future. Apple offers a no-less fast, 64-bit A7 processing chip in its handset, and 1 GB of RAM. The 5s has 16 GB of internal memory from the box, just as the Z2, which, however, carries a microSD slot for more.

Camera

Sony again uses the 20.7 MP camera of the Z1, but this time enables 4K video recording from the get-go, making the Z2 "the world’s best camcorder in a waterproof smartphone". You can also shoot 120fps footage, and select where the footage should turn into slow-motion one. The still shots are also getting new options, such as Background defocus. This new camera option will captures two photos at different focus settings, and blends together the different depths, leading to a blurred out background for more artsy photos. Apple's iPhone 5s has consistently delivered great results in our camera comparisons, and it flaunts a very simple, easy to use camera app.

Expectations

In terms of size, Sony's new Xperia Z2 dwarfs the iPhone 5s so much, that they aren't even in the same category when it comes to one-handed usage. When it comes to specs, both phones have excellent displays, and very fast processors that ensure lag-free experience. Apple provides a unique Touch ID fingerprint sensor, while Sony counters with a waterproof chassis and stereo speakers. Given that the phones are similarly priced, the choice will depend entirely on your willingness to lug around the larger body, but much bigger screen of the Z2, or the more compact chassis of the iPhone 5s.

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