UPDATED 10:21 EDT / APRIL 21 2015

Sony CEO Kazou Hirai NEWS

Sony’s Xperia Z4 vs. other flagship smartphone releases

Sony Corp. has quietly launched its flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z4, in Japan. Why the subdued launch? It might be due to the fact that the device doesn’t have any outstanding features to brag about, unlike the other flagship smartphones that recently came on the market.

Its predecessor, the Xperia Z3, was launched in September of last year, and this year’s model is a slight upgrade to that.

Sony Xperia Z4

 

Though the Xperia Z4 may not deliver jaw-dropping features, and there is no news yet as to when the device will be available in other markets outside of Japan, it’s still worth comparing to the recent flagship smartphone releases.

Sony Xperia Z4 vs. other 2015 flagships

 

Design and dimension

Sony Xperia Z4: Height 146 x width 72 x depth 6.9 mm; weight 144 g. The Z4 features sharper edges compared to its competitors, with its casing made up of metal and glass. Unlike the Z3, the speakers have been pushed to the edge of the top and bottom bezels, it now has one slot for both the nano SIM and microSD and a cap-less microUSB port at the bottom of the device, but it still features a dedicated camera button for easily taking photos, even underwater. It will be available in white, black, copper and aqua green.

BlackBerry Leap: Height 144 mm x width 72.8 mm x depth 9.5 mm; weight 170 g; features an edge-to-edge display, slim design, and perforated texture back housing with a soft-touch finish that delivers grip and comfort for the user. It features dedicated keys for volume control, mute and lock-power on/off. The signature physical QWERTY keyboard is missing, but it does have an on-screen BlackBerry Keyboard that can be used in portrait or landscape mode that features contextual auto-correction, next-word prediction and a personalized learning engine that gets to know the way you type.

HTC One M9: Height 144.6 mm x width 69.7 mm x depth 9.61 mm; weight 157 g. It features a dual-tone all-metal body with mirrored edges that are ergonomically tapered to effortlessly fit your grip. The unibody back is curved to deliver the streamlined look and feel of the HTC One series smartphones.

Galaxy S6: Height 143.4 mm x width 70.5 mm x depth 6.8 mm; weight 138 g. Features include a metal bezel that cascades into sophisticated glass, and it sports a Gorilla Glass 4 back cover.

iPhone 6: Height 138.1 mm x width 67 mm x depth 6.9 mm; weight 129 g. The phone fFeatures an ion-strengthened cover glass, rounded edges and curves that seamlessly connect with the anodized aluminum enclosure at the back.

Display

Sony Xperia Z4: 5.2-inch Triluminous display running X-Reality Engine, 1080 x 1920 pixels, topped off with shatter-proof glass.

BlackBerry Leap: 5-inch HD touch display with 1280 x 720 pixels.

HTC One M9: 5-inch Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen display with 1920×1080 pixels, ~441 ppi pixel density and Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

Galaxy S6: 5.1 inches, 2560×1440, Super AMOLED display with 577 ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

iPhone 6: 4.7 inches, LED-backlit, widescreen multi-touch display with IPS technology; 1334×750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi or Retina HD display, with a fingerprint-resistant, oleophobic coating on the screen.

Internal components

Sony Xperia Z4: Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810, Quad-core Cortex-A53 & Quad-core Cortex-A57 and Adreno 430 GPU. It is available in 32GB and 64GB, which can be expanded to up to 128GB via microSD, and features 3GB RAM. It also features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, microUSB 2.0.

BlackBerry Leap: Qualcomm MSM 8960 1.5 GHz processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB Flash, which is expandable to up to 128GB via microSD. It also features Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz, 4G Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, GPS and micro USB 2.0.

HTC One M9: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa core 64-bit, 4 x 2.0GHz + 4 x 1.5GHz, Adreno 430 GPU, and an internal memory of 32GB, which can be upgraded to up to 2TB with a microSD. It also features 3GB RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, infrared and microUSB 2.0.

Galaxy S6: Exynos 7420 chipset; 64-bit Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A5; 32/64/128GB memory with no microSD slot for expansion; 3GB RAM; NFC; infrared port; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot; Bluetooth LE; A-GPS, GLONASS and Beidou.

iPhone 6: A8 chip with 64-bit architecture; M8 motion coprocessor; runs iOS 8; available in 16/64/128GB with no microSD slot; NFC chip; Bluetooth 4.0; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band and Wi-Fi hotspot.

Camera

Sony Xperia Z4: 20.7MP primary camera with 5248 x 3936 pixels, autofocus, LED flash and features geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR and panorama. For the secondary or front-facing camera, it is at 5.1MP at 1080p@30fps.

BlackBerry Leap: 8MP auto-focus primary camera with five times digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps, flash, touch to focus and video image stabilization. It has a 2MP front-facing camera that is capable of recording 720p HD videos and has three times digital zoom.

HTC One M9: 20MP primary camera with dual-LED flash with features, such as automatic simultaneous video and image recording, geo-tagging, face/smile detection, HDR and panorama; and a 4MP HTC Ultra Pixel front camera.

Galaxy S6: Back camera: 16MP, 5132 x 2988 pixels, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash. Selfie camera: 5 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR; and wide-angle lenses.

iPhone 6: 8MP iSight camera with 1.5µ pixels; autofocus with focus pixels; True Tone flash; five-element lens; sapphire crystal lens cover; auto image stabilization; burst mode; slo-mo video; 1.2MP FaceTime camera; burst mode; auto HDR; geo-tagging; face detection.

Sensors

Sony Xperia Z4: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass and barometer.

BlackBerry Leap: Accelerometer, Proximity and Ambient light.

HTC One M9: Ambient light, proximity, accelerometer, compass, gyro, magnetic and a Sensor Hub.

Galaxy S6: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture and heart rate.

iPhone 6: Barometer, three-axis gyro, accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and fingerprint.

Battery

Sony Xperia Z4: Non-removable Li-Ion 2930 mAh.

BlackBerry Leap: Has a 2800 mAH battery that the company promises can last up to 25 hours with mixed use.

HTC One M9: A non-removable Li-Po 2840 mAh battery that can last up to 391 hours on standby, 25 hours and 20 minutes talk time on 2G, or up to 21 hours and 50 minutes on 3G. It has a Quick Charge feature that charges to up to 60 percent in just 30 minutes.

Galaxy S6: Non-removable Li-Ion 2550 mAh battery.

iPhone 6: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion 1810 mAh battery with a standby time of 250 hours.

Operating system

Sony Xperia Z4: Android 5.0 Lollipop.

BlackBerry Leap: BlackBerry 10.

HTC One M9: Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense.

Galaxy S6: Android 5.0 Lollipop.

iPhone 6: iOS 8.

Image source: http://www.sonymobile.co.jp

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