The rumored big brother of the Sony Xperia Z has been launched and it looks like quite a handful.  Phablets, though too big to be a considered a smartphone, and too small to be a ‘real’ tablet, serve a variety of purposes and conveniences, hence the increased interest in them.

“The Xperia Z Ultra is the most exciting revolution in large-screen smartphone entertainment devices with both the slimmest and largest Full HD smartphone display in the world that is second to none.” said Calum MacDougall, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.

“We’re already bringing the best of Sony technology and design across a range of premium smartphones and tablets, and now we are bringing this same premium offering to the large-screen smartphone segment, setting a new standard for others to follow.”

Sony seems pretty confident that its new monster-phone is going to make a big impact, but as always, we’re keen to see how the Xperia Z Ultra stacks up against a bunch of other leading ‘phablets.

Design:

 

Sony Xperia Z Ultra: The front and back are made of tempered glass, creating a seamless surface with the OptiContrast panel housed in an innovative solid metal frame which looks stunning from any angle. It features the same acclaimed OmniBalance design as Xperia Z and Tablet Z. The Xperia Z Ultra is available in a choice of black, white or purple colour finishes.

Samsung Galaxy MEGA: Special polycarbonate body, slim bezel, wide display

Samsung Galaxy Note II: Special polycarbonate body, slim bezel, wide display

LG Optimus G Pro: Smooth metallic highlights done with Laser Cut Contour and a unibody with a clean finish

HTC Butterfly S:

Dimensions:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: Height 179.4 x Width 92.2 x Depth 6.5,  Weight 212g

Galaxy MEGA: 167.6 x 88.0 x 8.0mm, 199g

Galaxy Note II: 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm, 182.5g

Optimus G Pro: 150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4 mm, 172 g

Butterfly S: 144.5 x 70.5 x 10.6mm, 160g

 

Display:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: 6.4” Full HD TRILUMINOS™ Display for mobile powered by X-Reality™ for mobile engine for the ultimate big screen entertainment experience

Galaxy MEGA: 16cm(6.3) HD Super Clear LCD

Galaxy Note II: 140.9 mm (5.5″) HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720)

Optimus G Pro: True Full HD IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density), multitouch

Butterfly S: 5.0 inch Full HD 1080p, 440PPI, Corning® Gorilla®Glass 3

 

Processor:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 processor with 2.2 GHz quad-core CPUs and 4G LTE for fast performance

Galaxy MEGA: 1.7GHz Dual Core

Galaxy Note II: 1.6 GHz quad-core processor

Optimus G Pro: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 Processor with 1.7Ghz Quad-Core CPUs

Butterfly S: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600, quad-core, 1.9GHz

 

Memory:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: 16GB storage, microSD card slot up to 64GB, 2GB RAM

Galaxy MEGA: 16GB, microSD upgradable to up to 64GB, 1.5GB RAM

Galaxy Note II: 16/32/64GB User memory, microSD slot (up to 64GB), 2GB RAM

Optimus G Pro: 32 GB, upgradable with 64GB microSD, 2GB RAM

Butterfly S: 16GB, upgradable with up to 64GB micorSD, 2GB RAM

 

Camera:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: 8 megapixel camera with “Exmor RS for mobile” sensor and HDR for videos and photos, 2MP front-facing camera with FullHD video capture

Galaxy MEGA: 8MP AF w/Flash + 1.9MP

Galaxy Note II: 8 MP rear camera with Auto Focus and LED Flash, BSI; 1.9MP front VT Camera, BSI, Best Photo, Best Face, Low light shot

Optimus G Pro: rear camera – 13 MP, autofocus, LED flash, front camera –  2.1 MP, 1080p@30fps, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization, Smart Shutter, Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter, Live Effects,

Butterfly S: HTC UltraPixel Camera, BSI sensor, Pixel size 2.0 µm, Sensor size 1/3″, Dedicated HTC ImageChip 2, F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens, Smart Flash – Five levels of flash automatically set by distance to subject, 2.1 MP front camera with wide angle lens and HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording with HDR Video, HTC Zoe with Sequence Shot, Always Smile and Object Removal, Gallery with Video Highlights and HTC Share, Continuous shooting and VideoPic, Slow motion video recording with variable speed playback

 

Battery Life:

Xperia Z Ultra: 3,000mAh

Galaxy MEGA: removable 3200mAh battery

Galaxy Note II: Standard battery, Li-ion 3,100mAh; Up to 15 hours and 30 minutes talk time, Up to 24 days of standby time

Optimus G Pro:  Li-Po 3140 mAh battery

Butterfly S:  rechargeable Li-polymer battery, 3200 mAh; Talk time – Up to 25 hours for WCDMA, Up to 29 hours for GSM, Standby time – Up to 659 hours for WCDMA, Up to 544 hours for GSM

 

Connectors:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, 3.5mm jack

Galaxy MEGA: Micro USB, 3.5mm ear-jack

Galaxy Note II: USB 2.0 Host, 3.5mm Ear Jack

Optimus G Pro: 3.5mm jack, micro USB

Butterfly S: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, micro-USB 2.0

 

Wireless:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC

Galaxy MEGA: BT 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac,NFC(UICC, eSE)

Galaxy Note II: Bluetooth® v 4.0 (Apt-X Codec support) LE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi HT40, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, S Beam, Samsung AllShare Play & Control, Samsung AllShare Cast (WiFi Display), Mirroring & Extention, Samsung AllShare Framework

Optimus G Pro: 4G LTE, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Infrared port,

Butterfly S: NFC capable, Compliant with Bluetooth 4.0, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled, Wi-Fi – IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, DLNA for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer, Miracast wireless display standard, Support consumer infrared remote control

 

GPS:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: GPS receiver with A-GPS

Galaxy MEGA: A-GPS + GLONASS

Galaxy Note II: A-GPS, Glonass

Optimus G Pro: S-GPS For Enhanced Location Accuracy

Butterfly S: GPS/AGPS + GLONASS, Digital compass

 

Operating System:

Xperia Z Ultra: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Galaxy MEGA: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Galaxy Note II: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Optimus G Pro: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Butterfly S: Android™ with HTC Sense™, HTC BlinkFeed™

 

Sensors:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: No information yet

Galaxy MEGA: accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass and ambient light sensors

Galaxy Note II: Accelerometer, RGB Light, Digital Compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer

Optimus G Pro: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Butterfly S: Gyro sensor, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor

 

Video:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: No information yet

Galaxy MEGA: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VC-1, VP8Recording/ Playback : 1080p@30fps

Galaxy Note II: Codec – MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VC-1, DivX, WMV7, WMV8, WMV9, VP8; supported format: 3GP(MP4), WMV(ASF), AVI, FLV, MKV, WebM; Full HD(1080p) Playback & Recording

Optimus G Pro: Touch Lock, Dolby® Mobile, and Resume Play Function; supports DivX®, WMV, MP4, 3GP, and 3G2 Formats

Butterfly S: Playback – .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3), Recording – .mp4

 

Audio:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: No information yet

Galaxy MEGA: FM Radio, MP3, OGG, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA,AMR-NB/WB, FLAC, PCM, MID, IMY

Galaxy Note II: Codec – MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, ACC+, eAAC+, AMR(NB,WB), MIDI, WAV, AC-3, Flac, Music Player with SoundAlive

Optimus G Pro:  Supports AAC, AAC+, eACC+, AMR, MP3, MIDI, WAV, WMA Formats

Butterfly S: HTC BoomSound, Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, Studio-quality sound with Beats Audio, Sense Voice, Playback – .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9), Recording – .amr

 

SIM Card:

Xperia Z Ultra: micro SIM

Galaxy MEGA: micro SIM

Galaxy Note II: micro SIM

Optimus G Pro: Micro SIM

Butterfly S: microSIM

 

Pen/Stylus:

 

Xperia Z Ultra: Supports use of pencil and selected stylus or pen (capacitive stylus or metal pen with tip diameter over 1mm) but does not ship with one included

Galaxy MEGA: NONE

Galaxy Note II: S Pen Experience, S Note, S Planner, Email with hand-writing integration, S Pen Keeper, Quick Command, Easy Clip, Photo Note, Paper Artist, Shape Match, Formula Match

Optimus G Pro: NONE

Butterfly S: NONE

 

Odds & Ends:

Xperia Z Ultra: super responsive screen with handwriting recognition, easy-toggle keyboard, Battery STAMINA Mode, “WALKMAN”, Album and Movies media applications, an impressive rating of IP55 and IP58 which makes it both dust resistant and waterproof

Galaxy MEGA: Samsung Apps, Samsung WatchONS Travel, Story Album, Kies(Windows & Mac), Kies air

Galaxy Note II: Air View, Popup Note, Popup Video, Page Buddy / Tag Buddy / Word Buddy, Samsung TouchWiz / Samsung L!ve Panel, Samsung Kies /Samsung Kies Air, Samsung ChatOn mobile communication service, Smart Stay, Direct claa, Screen Recorder, Quick Glance, Samsung ChatOn mobile communication service. Samsung S Suggest.  It also has an Enterprise solution that includes On Device Encryption (H/W), Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, VPN(F5, Cisco, Juniper), MDM(Sybase Afaria, MobileIron, SOTI, Airwatch), CCX, and VMware MVP.

Optimus G Pro: Quick Memo, Live Zooming, Screen Zooming, Message Wallpaper, Icon personalizer, Application Link, Dual Screen, QSLIDE

Butterfly S: BlinkFeed, BoomSound, Zoe, Video Highlights

 

Which Phablet Takes the Cake?

 

Though most sites state that it has an impressive battery, compared to the other smartphones in this category, The Sony Xperia Z Ultra’s not that big of a deal.  However, the biggest takeaway for me is the waterproof feature of the phone.  It may not be something that piques the interest of people, but you have to admit that being able to submerge your phone underwater is pretty cool, even if Sony wasn’t the first to come up with the idea. In any case it’s especially useful if you’re one of those people who often gets thrown in the pool, fully clothed, with gadgets in their pockets, or if you’re just plain clumsy.

Aside from the waterproof feature, all the smartphones here seem pretty much the same in the specifications, with just some audio, video, or camera enhancements that differentiates them.

Sony also announced the SmartWatch 2, a water resistant smart watch that can be paired with another Android device and serve as a second screen.