Sony Xperia Z2 Versus HTC One

Sony has just unveiled the world’s best camera and camcorder inside an interesting smartphone called Xperia Z2. No one can deny that it has various improvements from what we have seen in its Xperia Z1 predecessor, but what about HTC One? We are all aware of the fact that here aren’t too many smartphones that come with front-facing stereo speakers, but both these handsets offer us this advantage. This was one of the most important key marketing highlights of HTC’s One handset and now Sony has applied the same strategy to its latest Xperia Z2, but what about the other included specs and features? Who’s the winner at all major chapters? We invite you to discover us together, by analyzing Xperia Z2 versus HTC One:

Design

Which of these handsets do you like the best? It is obviously that HTC One was and probably will remain one of the best-designed phones that we have ever seen. The screen is extended to the edges of the chassis like never before, so you are getting a 4.7-inch Full HD display without the additional heft you’d probably expect. So, we won’t deny that at 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm with a weight of 143 g HTC One isn’t the lightest model from the current market, but it still slides nicely in your pocket and doesn’t fell like being overweight, but more as having a premium build and an elegant metallic chassis.

When it comes to Xperia Z2, it might be indeed thicker at 8.2mm, but also a little heavier at 163g, although you can imagine that it is hard to feel that difference and take this aspect as a departure element. Despite previous rumors, this handset looks almost identical to the Xperia Z1, having an unchanged metal edging just as HTC One, with glass back and large bezels above and below the screen, but there is something that sets it apart from its competitor. Xperia Z2 is dust resistant and waterproof thanks to its IP55 & IP58 standards, allowing it to be submerged for up to no less than 30 minutes in water 1 meter deep.
But aside from that, both Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One smartphones have a premium look, with zero-gap construction, so we can assure you that you won’t find any gaping distance or holes that could make you question their quality.

Display

Xperia Z2 comes with a 5.2-inch IPS LCD Triluminos display and we want to tell you from the start that it is Full HD at no less than 1080 x 1920 pixels. Moreover, here we can find Sony’s X-Reality technology which successfully optimizes colors, sharpness and contrast while also reducing noise. As for HTC One, the screen resolution may be the same, but don’t forget that Sony claims that it has the best color reproduction of any smartphone on the market with its Live Color LED tech and we have no doubts about that.

But the fact that HTC One has a 4.7 inches Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen (also coming with Corning Gorilla Glass 2) might lead to different interpretations. Some of you might want a bigger screen, while others argue that today’s devices are more uncomfortable than ever, so it is your decision to judge the screen sizes.

Operating System and UI

In terms of OS, Xperia Z2 runs on the most recent Android 4.4.2 OS version, coming with features such as Cloud Printing and Android Cloud services, as well as two Home UI launcher versions to choose from. You have the possibility to choose the Simple Home with less complex icons and a classic UI, but you can also choose any third-party launchers you might like to become default. Moreover, the smartphone has some new features hidden away in its menus such as ‘Smart Backlight Control’ which will keep the screen on while you are looking at it, not to mention the ability to double tap the screen to wake it up, just like LG’s KnockON feature.

When it comes to HTC One, things are a little different: this model was released with the same Android OS, but an older 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) version. But you can imagine that an upgrade to v4.4 (KitKat) is impossible to be forgotten for such a device and that is exactly what it has happened: Verizon and Sprint HTC One versions were already updated to KitKat, just as the Android 4.4.2 KitKat OTA update was on its way to AT&T and T-Mobile HTC One, so there are big chances for most of its users so have already received it.

Processor and Memory

Sony Xperia Z2 is one of the first to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, also boasting four 2.3GHz Krait CPUs, being much faster than that Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 processor found on HTC One that comes along with four 1.7GHz Krait CPUs. Aside from this, an additional 1 GB of RAM means a lot in multitasking and stability, so Xperia Z2 sports 3 GB of RAM to keep performance snappy for games, apps and camera modes, while its HTC competitor has just 2 GB of RAM, once again losing the competition here.

On the storage front, Z2 packs no more than 16GB built in, but it has a microSD card slot which supports cards of up to 64GB. Sadly, HTC didn’t added the slot in order to preserve the design of its handset, as the company said, but it already comes in both 32 and 64 GB versions, so maybe an expandable memory slot was not necessary in the first place.
It is true that the need for a memory card slot is definitely decreasing, especially when we have Dropbox onboard or if we are organized enough and delete all unwanted content, but we still think that this aspect remains one of the most important ones for consumers look for when buying a high-end smartphone, so its lack could be interpreted as a major disadvantage.

Camera

One of the most important points of departure between these two handsets is their cameras. It is enough to tell you that HTC One has a 4 MP UltraPixel sensor, while Xperia Z2 is equipped with an impressive 20.7 MPl sensor, so it is obviously that we know who’s the winner from the start.

Xperia’s Z2 camera main attraction is the ability to shoot 4K video that can be viewed in larger TV screens via DLNA or wireless, also featuring slow-motion video with real-time effects. To be more precise, it has a special Timeshift video mode that gives you the possibility to shoot in 120 frames per second and select individual scenes to slow playback. We must tell you though that it lacks an optical image stabilization, but it has instead that SteadyShot digital image stabilization whichhs the same purpose; and you can even add a STM10 stereo microphone if you need enhanced sound quality for shooting 4K video.

Can you compare all these to a 4 MP shooter that features only the usual autofocus, optical image stabilization, LED flash and other basic image editing tools? Probably not, but take in consideration that back when it was released, HTC One’s camera was considered innovative. The number might sound low, but don’t base your judgment on megapixels alone. Each pixel is bigger, gathering much more light and that is exactly why it is called an UltraPixel. Images provided look stunning on the phone screen, but we must warn you that on the computer screen we see things totally different, the loss of detail becoming obvious. That it is exactly why HTC is said to produce 6 and 8-megapixel UltraPixel camera in the future, the lack of detail being one of the company’s main concerns. There is though one major advantage hat HTC One has: an optical image stabilization that can hold everything together excellently, taking care that focus is on-point.

And backing up the main camera there’s a 2.2MP snapper on the front which can shoot 1080p video at 30fps (for Sony Xperia Z2), while HTC One also has a secondary 2.1 MP that can shoot the same 1080p video at 30fps, so the difference between this two ones is practically unnoticeable.

Frontal Stereo Speakers

HTC was the first one to provide frontal stereo speakers dubbed BoomSound with its One handset and we can only tell you that BoomSound seemed an ideal combination of the two front facing speakers and the inbuilt amp when it comes to boosting the sound through your headphones and adding more bass to your multimedia audio.

But now that Sony has also announced the Xperia Z2 as having its own special audio features, such as stereo speakers and even five different sound engines, they are the ones said to be able to create the perfect blending. To be more specific, you can choose between ClearStereo, Digital Noise Cancellation, ClearPhase, xLOUD audio engines, or ClearBass.

The interesting fact is that the cancellation solution does the digital signal processing in the phone or tablet and not on the headphones themselves, Sony calling it S-Force Front Surround Sound. But the fact that it doesn’t give any specifics on the decibels it is capable of pumping out is the major reason of setting up the stage for this competition between Xperia Z2 and HTC One phone. It is too early to give you a verdict regarding their audio capabilities, but be sure that we’ll be back with fresh details in the near future.

Battery

Sony’s Xperia Z2 3200 mAh battery is able to provide a talk time of around 15.00 hours (2G) and a stand-by time of 28.8 days (690 hours in 2G), as well as 19.00 hours of talk time (3G) and an impressive number of 30.8 days (740 hours) as a stand-by time (3G) which is far better than what HTC One has to offer. Its Li-Po 2300 mAh battery has a stand-by of 500 hours (2G) and no more than 480 hours (3G), as well as a talk time of 27 hours (2G) and up to 18 hours (3G).

So, Sony’s Xperia battery is prepared to support heavy usage, download and video sharing, while HTC One’s doesn’t stay as better as its opponent at this chapter, but they also have that special STAMINA mode from Android 4.4.2 KitKat firmware which is a major advantage. And we can also tell you that HTC One’s battery life is much better than that of Sony’s Xperia Z1, despite of being about the same size.

Price and Availability

The Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona was the ideal opportunity for Sony to reveal its Xperia Z2 and we are all hoping to see it released on the market until the end of this month. As for the price, it is not at all cheap at £599 in UK, €599 in Germany and no less than €699 in France. HTC One is indeed more affordable starting at $550.89 and it went on sale in April last year, but there were different times back them and the specs speak for themselves.

Conclusion

From what we have seen so far, it isn’t so hard to take some conclusions. Both Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One smartphones have a metallic body and a classic design, relatively detail-less overall. We like that they are simple, yet so elegant and these are the qualities that many of you are probably looking for. And yes, the screen resolutions may be the same, but after that things go on separate paths. Xperia Z2 is much more powerful and faster, it has the latest OS and offers an improved camera experience, not to mention the much more respectable battery life, so this is why we are declaring it the winner in this “competition”. But we cannot deny that both have set a new benchmark for audio quality and that HTC One fully deserved its glorious days.