Why I Chose The Xperia Z and not HTC One

Sticky F

Senior Member
Apr 8, 2013
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Sorry once again I have to disagree. Games look great on the One, although I have to say I am not a big smartphone gamer, can't see the point in them, so wouldn't really care either way.

All I can comment on are simple truths.

1. Load up a HD video on youtube, or indeed any HD video, and watch it on both phones. The Z is washed out, there is not as much detail or sharpness to the picture. Video's literally look lifelike on the One.

2. Show someone pictures or video's you've taken, or look a website with someone you know on both screens and the Z washes out to both parties when you are both trying to look at the same time, even at very shallow angles.

3. Just get them side by side and swype through menus, across the homescreen, take pictures, do whatever you like, the Z skips and lags here and there and the One does not.

The One is hardly the only phone that will trounce the Z this year. The GS4 will do everything the Z and the one can, barring being waterproof or having an LCD screen, and it'll be a lot more popular.

I think Sony missed out big time on the Z. I have had to root and install mods to bring the sound and music volume up to acceptable levels, and by acceptable I mean barely acceptable, again the HTC One trounces the Z with 30% more volume and better quality, the performance falls short of the Nexus 4 which uses the same chipset, and the Z camera is excellent but is wrapped up in an under performing phone.

Hate to say it but the Z is just another phone in a long list that falls short for me personally.
How on earth is the Z too quiet when listening to music?


Are you using the stock headphones and if so have you removed the white cotton filters? If no I recommend you do and hear the difference. Any louder and you are doing serious damage to your ears long term. At full volume I wouldn't want it any louder.... Why would anybody want it louder unless they have serious hearing issues
?
 

zodiac100

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2010
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All I see in the video is that both phones have great display quality ^^.
I said the htc one's video playback was acceptable, it's not as good as the Zs, S4 or G pro. Gaming is where the difference is clear.
The other guy was saying he's compared them and the Zs was washed out and horrible. Well my eyes tell me that the Zs was better and clearly too even though the htcs is acceptable.
All of a sudden, viewing angles and colour saturation or over saturation I should say has now become the only test of display capabilities. According to most tech sites, and I'm saying that's a very stupid position to take.
There's a lot more to displays than that, to suggest otherwise is misleading bordering on dishonest. It's like they show you only what they want you see. When taken in the round, to say the one's display is the best on the market is to put it mildly, untrue. It has it's strong points and weaknesses. Strong on viewing angles but that's it. Colour is subjective and cannot be used as an absolute reference to say a display is good because it's very colourful while another is bad because it's not so colorful. Some people like heavily saturated displays while others don't and that's where it ends. Broaden the comparison to include video and graphics, and the One starts to fall down the pecking order.
I can see why phones4u put it behind the Z and S4 in terms of quality. The thing most normal people spend the longest time doing on their phones is watching videos and playing games, and so if the s4 and Z are better at those things, then you've got to give those displays the upper hand irrespective of what the deep black viewing angle loving tech minority have to say about it. They can make as many nonsensical reviews as they wish, the fact remains, the one's screen isn't anywhere near what they claim it to be.

Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
 

omersak

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
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I've actually owned both phones, so this isn't the typical 'tried at shop for 30 minutes' BS.

Please note that this is strictly my opinion and it can easily be the opposite for someone else. In my opinion they are both truly amazing devices and we're lucky to be spoiled with choice.

In terms of build quality, The Xperia Z is put together better, and built more reliably. My HTC One has a gap in the on the top of the front plate, and it's sharp edge protrudes a bit. This doesn't bother me, just mentioning it. The HTC One feels more premium in the hand but the Xperia Z feels much slimmer, especially in the center where the HTC One's hump is. A tie, i'd say.

One thing that annoyed the crap out of me with the Xperia Z was it being prone to picking up dust - which I happen to be OCD about. I honestly haven't ever seen something so susceptible to dirt, EVER. I'd be cleaning and washing it 10-20 times a day because it looked so sexy when clean but an eyesore when dirty.

Design - I initially hated the design of the HTC One. It is actually a very sexy device, in person. So is the Xperia Z with it's beautiful monolithic design. I can't choose one over the other. A tie again.

Now here's some controversy - I like the screen of the Xperia Z better *SHOCK/HORROR*! The contrast and brightness of the HTC One screen is far superior and when looked for afar it pops out like a sexy beast - but I look for other things in a screen to win me over.

The main win for the Xperia Z screen is its clearness. This is hard to explain - when you look at whites and grays one the HTC One screen real close, one can see tiny and very fine multi-colored dots. I saw this on the Lumia 920 as well. As a result, grey text on white looks grainy. On the Xperia Z the text looked as clear as glass - or a printed picture. It looks more like a 1080p screen, to me. when I got the HTC One I was extremely depressed. It's not noticeable to the sane person, but given my OCD tendencies it made my eyes bleed. I don't notice it much now.

Also, the Xperia Z screen has better hue and a closer to white colour balance (the htc one is on the cooler side), and is very pleasing on the eye. For me (remember - my opinion), the Xperia Z wins here.

When it comes to the camera - since i'm a hermit who spends his life indoors - the HTC One wins quite easily here. Honestly, the pictures it takes in low-light are absolutely, gobsmackingly amazing. I could just NEVER take a decent picture with the Xperia Z - even with burst mode. When I had the Xperia Z i'd always have to reach over for my iphone to take pics. Well, the HTC One easily bests them both for my use. Big win for the HTC.

The performance of the HTC One is much better than the Xperia Z. While they're both fast and smooth, the HTC One is smoother and lags less and is faster in day to day operation. I'd say noticebly, at that. Gaming performance (Real Racing 3, Modern Combat 4) seems about the same, to me.

I'm having huge problems with the Battery on the HTC One. It's been absolutely horrendous - because I use HSPA 24/7. The RF performance of the HTC One is much worse than the Xperia Z (aluminium?) and it keeps switching between 3G and HSPA, whereas the Xperia Z would always be rock solid on HSPA. This may even be a deal breaker for me as it has annoyed me to no end. I'd say i'm getting around 30% more battery on the Xperia Z with typical use - which wasn't THAT great to begin with.

On the other hand, Wifi performance is absolutely phenomenal on the HTC One. My xperia z had absolutely abysmal Wifi performance and it wouldn't up pick up any signal in my room. My iphone 5 gets 1 bar. The damn HTC One gets full bars of signal.

What else? It goes without saying that the One's speakers are amazing.

To sum up, I feel these are both equally amazing devices. If ever there's a time to own two android at once, these are the ones to do so with. And if someone goes one way and not the other, it's fully justified.
 
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Sticky F

Senior Member
Apr 8, 2013
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For myself it was out of the One or Z and I chose Z.

I preferred the look & more flexible design of the Z.

And no micro SD or NFC killed it for me with regards to the one.

Being a music lover loading up an SD card with music is a must. I find listening to my favourite artists mainly bass line orientated stuff gives me a broad smile. The sound quality of the Walkman app is simply lush. The bass response is fantastic and that's with just the stock headphones.
 

zodiac100

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2010
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I've actually owned both phones, so this isn't the typical 'tried at shop for 30 minutes' BS.

Please note that this is strictly my opinion and it can easily be the opposite for someone else. In my opinion they are both truly amazing devices and we're lucky to be spoiled with choice.

In terms of build quality, The Xperia Z is put together better, and built more reliably. My HTC One has a gap in the on the top of the front plate, and it's sharp edge protrudes a bit. This doesn't bother me, just mentioning it. The HTC One feels more premium in the hand but the Xperia Z feels much slimmer, especially in the center where the HTC One's hump is. A tie, i'd say.

One thing that annoyed the crap out of me with the Xperia Z was it being prone to picking up dust - which I happen to be OCD about. I honestly haven't ever seen something so susceptible to dirt, EVER. I'd be cleaning and washing it 10-20 times a day because it looked so sexy when clean but an eyesore when dirty.

Design - I initially hated the design of the HTC One. It is actually a very sexy device, in person. So is the Xperia Z with it's beautiful monolithic design. I can't choose one over the other. A tie again.

Now here's some controversy - I like the screen of the Xperia Z better *SHOCK/HORROR*! The contrast and brightness of the HTC One screen is far superior and when looked for afar it pops out like a sexy beast - but I look for other things in a screen to win me over.

The main win for the Xperia Z screen is its clearness. This is hard to explain - when you look at whites and grays one the HTC One screen real close, one can see tiny and very fine multi-colored dots. I saw this on the Lumia 920 as well. As a result, grey text on white looks grainy. On the Xperia Z the text looked as clear as glass - or a printed picture. It looks more like a 1080p screen, to me. when I got the HTC One I was extremely depressed. It's not noticeable to the sane person, but given my OCD tendencies it made my eyes bleed. I don't notice it much now.

Also, the Xperia Z screen has better hue and a closer to white colour balance (the htc one is on the cooler side), and is very pleasing on the eye. For me (remember - my opinion), the Xperia Z wins here.

When it comes to the camera - since i'm a hermit who spends his life indoors - the HTC One wins quite easily here. Honestly, the pictures it takes in low-light are absolutely, gobsmackingly amazing. I could just NEVER take a decent picture with the Xperia Z - even with burst mode. When I had the Xperia Z i'd always have to reach over for my iphone to take pics. Well, the HTC One easily bests them both for my use. Big win for the HTC.

The performance of the HTC One is much better than the Xperia Z. While they're both fast and smooth, the HTC One is smoother and lags less and is faster in day to day operation. I'd say noticebly, at that. Gaming performance (Real Racing 3, Modern Combat 4) seems about the same, to me.

I'm having huge problems with the Battery on the HTC One. It's been absolutely horrendous - because I use HSPA 24/7. The RF performance of the HTC One is much worse than the Xperia Z (aluminium?) and it keeps switching between 3G and HSPA, whereas the Xperia Z would always be rock solid on HSPA. This may even be a deal breaker for me as it has annoyed me to no end. I'd say i'm getting around 30% more battery on the Xperia Z with typical use - which wasn't THAT great to begin with.

On the other hand, Wifi performance is absolutely phenomenal on the HTC One. My xperia z had absolutely abysmal Wifi performance and it wouldn't up pick up any signal in my room. My iphone 5 gets 1 bar. The damn HTC One gets full bars of signal.

What else? It goes without saying that the One's speakers are amazing.

To sum up, I feel these are both equally amazing devices. If ever there's a time to own two android at once, these are the ones to do so with. And if someone goes one way and not the other, it's fully justified.
The clarity and detail of the display is due to the cooler colour tone. That's what I've come to realize. Over saturation can do strange things to the display. It may look nice at ui level with colorful icons that pop out at you, but it throws up issues elsewhere. Sony went down the saturation route last year with the S, and it resulted in that all too familiar yellowy tint.
The HTC has a bluish tint which is even more overbearing than the yellow one on the S.
If you've got both, load up asphalt 7, nova 3 or alien vs Predator, on both phones and you'll see the bluish hue on the ones display. It's also present on the iPhone 5. It makes the visuals look augmented and not as the developers intended. On the Z, it's just all so clearly seen and that's why I've eaten humble pie and accepted that I was wrong and Sony were right.
You see, I was one of those who lambasted the Zs display in the early days before I got my hands on it. But I've come to realize that in truth clarity is the best way to go and not colour.
About the lag, it's mostly to do with Sony's widgets, I find using as few of them as possible helps but to be honest, it's only occasional on. 434 so it's not a concern of mine.
I suppose on the camera front, before purchasing either device, users need to look at their album apps and gauge what sort of pics they mostly take. If you've got more low light shots in there then the one's for you but if on the other hand, you've got more daylight pictures, the Zs the way go.
I know enough about processors and I'm talking experience here to know that the differences in performance would be marginal. Maybe you use the Z more often than your one. You can't possibly use them in equal measure and so you notice more on one than the other.
You're right about the WiFi though, absolutely terrible but I disagree with you on the iPhone's camera. Maybe it's a personal thing, but for me the Zs camera beat the iPhone in all the comparisons I've done personally. The iPhone has a habit of taking and shooting videos with a greenish hue about them.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
 
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Sticky F

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I'm wondering why some have had problems with wifi performance? I've had no problems whatsoever and that's on about 5 different modems.
 
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barondebxl

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Jul 8, 2011
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I've actually owned both phones, so this isn't the typical 'tried at shop for 30 minutes' BS.

Please note that this is strictly my opinion and it can easily be the opposite for someone else. In my opinion they are both truly amazing devices and we're lucky to be spoiled with choice.

In terms of build quality, The Xperia Z is put together better, and built more reliably. My HTC One has a gap in the on the top of the front plate, and it's sharp edge protrudes a bit. This doesn't bother me, just mentioning it. The HTC One feels more premium in the hand but the Xperia Z feels much slimmer, especially in the center where the HTC One's hump is. A tie, i'd say.

One thing that annoyed the crap out of me with the Xperia Z was it being prone to picking up dust - which I happen to be OCD about. I honestly haven't ever seen something so susceptible to dirt, EVER. I'd be cleaning and washing it 10-20 times a day because it looked so sexy when clean but an eyesore when dirty.

Design - I initially hated the design of the HTC One. It is actually a very sexy device, in person. So is the Xperia Z with it's beautiful monolithic design. I can't choose one over the other. A tie again.

Now here's some controversy - I like the screen of the Xperia Z better *SHOCK/HORROR*! The contrast and brightness of the HTC One screen is far superior and when looked for afar it pops out like a sexy beast - but I look for other things in a screen to win me over.

The main win for the Xperia Z screen is its clearness. This is hard to explain - when you look at whites and grays one the HTC One screen real close, one can see tiny and very fine multi-colored dots. I saw this on the Lumia 920 as well. As a result, grey text on white looks grainy. On the Xperia Z the text looked as clear as glass - or a printed picture. It looks more like a 1080p screen, to me. when I got the HTC One I was extremely depressed. It's not noticeable to the sane person, but given my OCD tendencies it made my eyes bleed. I don't notice it much now.

Also, the Xperia Z screen has better hue and a closer to white colour balance (the htc one is on the cooler side), and is very pleasing on the eye. For me (remember - my opinion), the Xperia Z wins here.

When it comes to the camera - since i'm a hermit who spends his life indoors - the HTC One wins quite easily here. Honestly, the pictures it takes in low-light are absolutely, gobsmackingly amazing. I could just NEVER take a decent picture with the Xperia Z - even with burst mode. When I had the Xperia Z i'd always have to reach over for my iphone to take pics. Well, the HTC One easily bests them both for my use. Big win for the HTC.

The performance of the HTC One is much better than the Xperia Z. While they're both fast and smooth, the HTC One is smoother and lags less and is faster in day to day operation. I'd say noticebly, at that. Gaming performance (Real Racing 3, Modern Combat 4) seems about the same, to me.

I'm having huge problems with the Battery on the HTC One. It's been absolutely horrendous - because I use HSPA 24/7. The RF performance of the HTC One is much worse than the Xperia Z (aluminium?) and it keeps switching between 3G and HSPA, whereas the Xperia Z would always be rock solid on HSPA. This may even be a deal breaker for me as it has annoyed me to no end. I'd say i'm getting around 30% more battery on the Xperia Z with typical use - which wasn't THAT great to begin with.

On the other hand, Wifi performance is absolutely phenomenal on the HTC One. My xperia z had absolutely abysmal Wifi performance and it wouldn't up pick up any signal in my room. My iphone 5 gets 1 bar. The damn HTC One gets full bars of signal.

What else? It goes without saying that the One's speakers are amazing.

To sum up, I feel these are both equally amazing devices. If ever there's a time to own two android at once, these are the ones to do so with. And if someone goes one way and not the other, it's fully justified.
You definitely owned the two I can tell as your review is accurate. But I'm surprise that your prefer the XZ screen. By no mean it is a bad screen, in fact all reviews say that the screen is super sharp ( it better be at 441ppi lol) but the colors at a viewing angle is really bad and the acts are not deep blacks not only compared to AMOLED screens, but also leading LCD screens like The HTC one. Now some will say that they don't look at their screen at a viewing angles, usually nobody does but when you critic a screen, you analyze it from all angles ( no pun intended), colors, blacks, whites, outdoors visibility, sharpness, dpi, ppi, VIEWING ANGLES ect.... I just don't see how is the XZ better than the other 1080p screens. I would even go as far as saying that I personally, prefer the screen on the HTC One X because it has amazing colors. outdoor visibility is top notch, whites are so white, blacks are great and viewing angles are insane. At 720 p the screen is already sharp enough too. Just my opinion ;)

ps: Oh one more thing, in terms of BUILD QUALITY, the Xperia Z SMOKES the HTC One. build quality is different than design though.
 
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omersak

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
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You definitely owned the two I can tell as your review is accurate. But I'm surprise that your prefer the XZ screen. By no mean it is a bad screen, in fact all reviews say that the screen is super sharp ( it better be at 441ppi lol) but the colors at a viewing angle is really bad and the acts are not deep blacks not only compared to AMOLED screens, but also leading LCD screens like The HTC one. Now some will say that they don't look at their screen at a viewing angles, usually nobody does but when you critic a screen, you analyze it from all angles ( no pun intended), colors, blacks, whites, outdoors visibility, sharpness, dpi, ppi, VIEWING ANGLES ect.... I just don't see how is the XZ better than the other 1080p screens. I would even go as far as saying that I personally, prefer the screen on the HTC One X because it has amazing colors. outdoor visibility is top notch, whites are so white, blacks are great and viewing angles are insane. At 720 p the screen is already sharp enough too. Just my opinion ;)

ps: Oh one more thing, in terms of BUILD QUALITY, the Xperia Z SMOKES the HTC One. build quality is different than design though.
That's true but, like I said, i have a different criteria for liking a screen with others may not have. Should have mentioned I'm a huge typography nut and the Xperia Z does a better job in presenting text as it doesn't have that grain/noise in the whites/grays - also a the color balance is closer to white - So I prefer that in a screen and like the Xperia Z better. Gray on white text on the HTC One has a gritty sort of look to it - it isn't uniformly smooth (again, this is when looked really OCDishly close up which is what I do).

About the sharpness - the HTC One is 'sharper' but it's like, to a limited extent, comparing the camera output from a top of the line point and shoot camera to a DSLR - the output of the camera appears sharper than the DSLR at first glance - but upon closer inspection the DSLR image is more smooth/grain fee and easy on the eye - and pulling in more detail.

And yes, it should be mentioned the One having far superior viewing angles and superior outdoor visibility - that combined with more saturated colors and noticeably better contrast would make it the better screen for around 80% of everyone out there. Viewing pictures and videos is a joy on the HTC One (the bravia engine doesn't count on the XZ, it just makes everything look artificial).

The One X screen still smokes them both when it comes to display characteristics. Has to be the most pleasing display I've ever laid my eyes on - contrast, whites, hue - everything was pretty much perfect. The only thing that comes close is the iphone 5 but its white aren't as good.

On a side note regarding screens, I'm really interested in the 'Adobe RGB' screen mode on the S4 which is said to be more accurate and white than the HTC One - if they can get their whites and color accuracy right along with their AMOLED blacks it may just be THE screen to beat (this coming from someone who isn't a fan of AMOLED's though andreilux's kernel made it much better on the Note 2).
 

barondebxl

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Jul 8, 2011
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That's true but, like I said, i have a different criteria for liking a screen with others may not have. Should have mentioned I'm a huge typography nut and the Xperia Z does a better job in presenting text as it doesn't have that grain/noise in the whites/grays - also a the color balance is closer to white - So I prefer that in a screen and like the Xperia Z better. Gray on white text on the HTC One has a gritty sort of look to it - it isn't uniformly smooth (again, this is when looked really OCDishly close up which is what I do).

About the sharpness - the HTC One is 'sharper' but it's like, to a limited extent, comparing the camera output from a top of the line point and shoot camera to a DSLR - the output of the camera appears sharper than the DSLR at first glance - but upon closer inspection the DSLR image is more smooth/grain fee and easy on the eye - and pulling in more detail.

And yes, it should be mentioned the One having far superior viewing angles and superior outdoor visibility - that combined with more saturated colors and noticeably better contrast would make it the better screen for around 80% of everyone out there. Viewing pictures and videos is a joy on the HTC One (the bravia engine doesn't count on the XZ, it just makes everything look artificial).

The One X screen still smokes them both when it comes to display characteristics. Has to be the most pleasing display I've ever laid my eyes on - contrast, whites, hue - everything was pretty much perfect. The only thing that comes close is the iphone 5 but its white aren't as good.

On a side note regarding screens, I'm really interested in the 'Adobe RGB' screen mode on the S4 which is said to be more accurate and white than the HTC One - if they can get their whites and color accuracy right along with their AMOLED blacks it may just be THE screen to beat (this coming from someone who isn't a fan of AMOLED's though andreilux's kernel made it much better on the Note 2).
I actually know exactly what you mean when you spoke earlier about the graininess of the lumia 920 ( I know some people don't). When I first had my lumia 920, colors were great, the screen was super sensitive but when I opened the browser and saw that text on white background I was so disappointed. It looks super grainy, text didn't look sharp at all, I don't know what causes this. So you see it on the One too? That is a disappointment cause I can clearly notice it too.

I haven't seen the S4 but judging from the vids the screen looks fantastic.
 

omersak

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Oct 15, 2010
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The clarity and detail of the display is due to the cooler colour tone. That's what I've come to realize. Over saturation can do strange things to the display. It may look nice at ui level with colorful icons that pop out at you, but it throws up issues elsewhere. Sony went down the saturation route last year with the S, and it resulted in that all too familiar yellowy tint.
The HTC has a bluish tint which is even more overbearing than the yellow one on the S.
If you've got both, load up asphalt 7, nova 3 or alien vs Predator, on both phones and you'll see the bluish hue on the ones display. It's also present on the iPhone 5. It makes the visuals look augmented and not as the developers intended. On the Z, it's just all so clearly seen and that's why I've eaten humble pie and accepted that I was wrong and Sony were right.
You see, I was one of those who lambasted the Zs display in the early days before I got my hands on it. But I've come to realize that in truth clarity is the best way to go and not colour.
About the lag, it's mostly to do with Sony's widgets, I find using as few of them as possible helps but to be honest, it's only occasional on. 434 so it's not a concern of mine.
I suppose on the camera front, before purchasing either device, users need to look at their album apps and gauge what sort of pics they mostly take. If you've got more low light shots in there then the one's for you but if on the other hand, you've got more daylight pictures, the Zs the way go.
I know enough about processors and I'm talking experience here to know that the differences in performance would be marginal. Maybe you use the Z more often than your one. You can't possibly use them in equal measure and so you notice more on one than the other.
You're right about the WiFi though, absolutely terrible but I disagree with you on the iPhone's camera. Maybe it's a personal thing, but for me the Zs camera beat the iPhone in all the comparisons I've done personally. The iPhone has a habit of taking and shooting videos with a greenish hue about them.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

As I stated, both were smooth and fast, but the HTC One opens the same app faster and has less micro lags throughout the UI. As gaming performance is pretty much identical, this can't be attributed to the processors - the only logical conclusion is that Sony just needs to tweak the software a smidgen.

I really tried to get a decent pic from the Z but couldn't! Indoors, it was wither blurred or riddled with noise or NR artifacts. I do agree that it's resolution advantage will make it a superior camera to the One for outdoor photos - but indoors the One really trounces it (and everything else i've used) in low light. Also, the f2.0 lens makes it a very creative and interesting camera for macro photography - great bokehs and selective focusing due the unique DoF.

Should mention that the video quality is better on the One as well - it has an aggressive exposure system and a tendency to blow highlights but once that's under control it captures richly detailed video. Not as uniformly good as the Note 2/S3, but still good. The Xperia Z captures noticebly less detail, though it exposes the scenes well.

Extreme low light video is an area where the HTC One should excel but it's tendency to use slow shutters causes the video to jitter, sometimes. This definitely needs a software update. As far as audio capture goes, the XZ wins here for me - the HTC One picks up too much background noise (it may be software/hardware problem but a lot of other users as reporting the same 'hissing' in videos). I haven't used it at a concert so I don't know about the dual membrane mic thing.

---------- Post added at 07:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 AM ----------

I actually know exactly what you mean when you spoke earlier about the graininess of the lumia 920 ( I know some people don't). When I first had my lumia 920, colors were great, the screen was super sensitive but when I opened the browser and saw that text on white background I was so disappointed. It looks super grainy, text didn't look sharp at all, I don't know what causes this. So you see it on the One too? That is a disappointment cause I can clearly notice it too.

I haven't seen the S4 but judging from the vids the screen looks fantastic.
I definitely see the same exact thing on the One and went into depression for around 3 days, haha. The 1080p resolution means that it isn't as bad as it was on the Lumia 920, but it's definitely there when you look for it. I mean, I've only seen the One that I have but it's there and it's annoying. The problem is that no-one knows what I'm talking about so it's hard to verify. The One has three different screens, 2 from JDI and 1 from Sharp - Mine is a JDI variant.

I haven't seen this phenomena on any AMOLED screen, nor on the One X, Padfone 2, iPhone 5 and other recent IPS-LCD screens. The Xperia Z has completely smooth whites and grays and at 1080p the text looks crystal compared to the One. Admittedly, I've sort of gotten over it, but it is there.

EDIT: Another problem is that it's impossible to take a pic of, for some reason.
 

Option58

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Oct 27, 2011
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I agree. Screen seemed really washed out :\. But viewing angles not, they are just fine.

No AMOLED does not make it look washed out. I hate AMOLED.
I own an Xperia Miro. That made it look washed out... But seems like my phone is TFT also :\
I will check the store again and this time settings and not xperia UI, I will check pictures...
Okay, so I've been a local store and saw an Xperia Z, here are my thoughts.

First I found on-screen buttons pretty good and simple...
Then I found a screen really, really awful. Sooo washed out I could not believe. Tell me guys is this way to save battery or....
Then I found It too big, I am beginning to understand why is the One smaller. (btw never seen htc one in real life).
Then I found Xperia Interface sooo better than Sony 2012. It was beautiful. I had my toggles. I think I would never install Cyanogenmod xD =) And I find interface on my Xperia Miro 2012 crappy, installed Nova rightaway.
And lastly it was so smooth, so great. Before I saw it I had been thinking Snapdragon 600 made S4 Pro really bad. Now I see it is beast of an CPU.

In conclusion I would maybe buy it as a phablet and I see its purpose there. But I clearly see it is not a phone and never intended to be that.

Don't get me wrong I am actually a Sony fanboy, but this really dissapointed me (in terms of screen) :\
Washed out colors stops me from buying it and maybe 4.7 would be great for me.
So with that said I think I am going for HTC One :)
So um, guys. Remember that post from few days ago...
So I went to that store again...

At first I turned it on and saw pale colors and really bad colors. Then I went to settings. Brightness was 100% and BE2 was on. Then I went to gallery, colors were really awful.

Then after 2 seconds the screen refreshed itself in gallery!! The colors were really good and strong and bright. Was like in commercial on Sony's site. Sharp really all the time.

So it seems like Sony is using some kind of processing to save battery or something...:/
I would love to find mod to turn it off here on xda. :D

Maybe I will reconsider Sony as a phablet.
But starting to get used to big screen...:D
 
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biffsmash

Senior Member
Nov 19, 2007
795
200
0
I'm starting to get annoyed with the Z. Mainly over the speed of the phone, the little bugs 434 has brought out in it, and it's tendency to lag and stutter across the whole of the phone. Also, when the phone is on the desk even at a slight angle, reading text is almost a waste of time.

I really wanted to love this phone but the cons outweigh the pro's I think.

The Z has an excellent camera, better than the one, low or normal light. A day of testing pretty much confirmed this for me. The screen on the other hand just doesn't cut it. even if viewing bang on straight. Videos look so much better on the One screen. As for audio, again the One blows the Z away. And youtube videos in surround sound on the One's speakers sound like they are inside your head it's scarily good.

Now i've found out for sure my Z cannot be unlocked for custom roms it'll only be a matter of time before I sell it.

Sony have created a phone even iphone people like, but are not quite there with the speed and overall smoothness of the phone, and they require better screen and audio from the speaker as well as the headphones.
 

Cookie Ninja

Senior Member
Jan 21, 2010
2,043
699
193
I'm starting to get annoyed with the Z. Mainly over the speed of the phone, the little bugs 434 has brought out in it, and it's tendency to lag and stutter across the whole of the phone.....
Lag is usually related to background running programmes and threads, that have hogged most of the memory, leaving little for the foreground app or the gpu to make transitions smoothly. IMO, the prime culprits are always Google-created apps that are installed to system, and cannot be easily be uninstalled (unless you have root privileges), and some can only be disabled. I have uninstalled / disabled the following on all my Android devices, (even the slowest, single core less memory devices), and have performed better than the average and have better battery performance. Pick and choose those you want to uninstall/disable, reboot and watch your Xperia Z perform like greased lightning on steroids.
1. All live wallpapers (uninstall)
2. All Google sync apks (contacts, calendar, bookmarks etc) (disable).
3. Gmail, gtalk, gmaps, chrome (biggest memory hog) (uninstall).
4. Facebook katana and all Xperia/ Google/ Timescape /social life apks related to Facebook, Twitter, picasa sync and LinkedIn. (disable/uninstall).
5. Google backup transport)(disable/uninstall).
You will have to use the mail app for Gmail and forgo Facebook, and sharing/ sync with Google....

Dead cookies leave no trails...
 
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brockyneo

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2010
3,568
371
223
In The Matrix
ive got both htc one and xperia z (girlfriend has the htc one now) and i must say i prifair the xperia z in almost every way, yes i miss the speakers and the beats audio, but when it comes to display i find both amazing but for me the xperia screen just looks that bit better and is bigger obviously and the viewing angles dont mean nothing to me i look at my phone in front of my face lol :victory::silly: and the xperia z seems to run smoother and is lighter less confusing

safe to say i hope ive made the right choice just hope that development for the xperia picks up like the samsung and htc devices do :laugh:
 
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doministry

Senior Member
Sep 25, 2008
4,242
431
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Bytom, Poland
doministry.blogspot.com
No issues here, all great.

The only problem I have is Socialife which is so sweet for Twitter etc..
This is unreliable software which has basic problems with fetching updates from Twitter etc in time.
Shame SONY! And the previous software worked like a charm (Timescape)
 

Zrile

Member
Apr 18, 2013
15
0
0
I chose it because of price difference, 150€ on contract. Which is huge difference to me, so htc one has to be twice better to justify its high price here. If I could chose any phone It could only be SGS IV besides Xperia Z.
Also I come from nokia 5800, and I find screen quality and other things very good :p
And Nokia 5800 still has 10 times better speakers than the ones in HTC One.
Too bad Nokia doesn't do android phones, but that's thread derailing.
 
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