[Xperia Z General] Dpk1:
I've had a few samsung (wave, galaxy s, note2) as well as sony smartphones (LWW, Xperia S, Xperia ZL) in the recent past. Before these i used nokia smartphones. I'm neither biased nor a fanboy towards any particular brand.

Since u've asked, so here i'll let you know my opinion about note2 vs ZL only.

Design & build quality

: I feel that Sony ZL design n build quality is far better than recent Samsung flagship devices like note2 (one of the main reason i sold note2). ZL, apart from its premium look n feel, would fare better with daily wear n tear & have better chance of survival in case of an accidental fall.

Screen

: ZL screen is stunning (doesn't have as good viewing angles or black levels as SAMOLEDs but has better sunlight legibilty). I feel the colours are better on ZL and reading/ browsing text is much better on ZL than note2 (esp. tiny letters) coz of very high pixel density, don't need to zoom often. Also i didn't like the bluish whites & greys on AMOLEDs. Bigger screen on note2 is a joy to watch videos but ZL is more crisp (esp. with BE on).

Battery

: Already discussed, better on note2 (7hrs screen time on moderate use). Decent on ZL (5+ hrs screen time with similar use).

Camera

: Overall its better on Xperia ZL (esp. using burst mode during day & auto at night). I find the colour & details captured to be better by ZL cam than note2. The physical camera key allows quick launch from sleep (faster than note2). Note2 cam is not far behind though.

Sound

: Internal speaker & earphone volumes louder on note2. Default sound quality better on ZL (esp via a good pair of headphones) but can tweak it to sound excellent on the note2. Loudspeaker for calls louder on the ZL (weak on note2).

Call & GPS maps

: equally good on both.

Software & Development

: I like the sony UI better than samsung TW. Seems aesthetically more appealing. Functionality & fluidity wise both equally good. But samsung beat sony in the updates (much faster esp. for samsung flagship devices). At xda, much active development for samsung (custom roms etc.) but i don't care much for custom roms (never used any even on my note2). Overall ZL is bit faster to operate than note2.

Hardware/ Chipset

: both the ZL and note2 have more than enough processing power & memory to meet the requirements of current android platform. To nitpick though, some say that snapdragon quad core krait has a very slight edge over exynos quad core used in note2. Hey, i'm no expert on this but thats what i've gathered from various tech sites.

Others

: feature wise both the ZL and note are equally good. S pen is a plus on note2 if one uses it often (esp. for sketching or taking notes). ZL, owing to its stunning screen to bezel ratio & small form factor, is better for one hand use.

Major flaws/ bugs

: Note2 (earlier batches) suffers from buggy emmc (like GS3) leading to sds in many cases. Many report sandisk 64gb/32 gb microSDXC cards being corrupted on note2/GS3. None of these yet reported wrt sony Z/ZL, only time will tell.

Conclusion

: To sum up i like everything better on sony ZL than note2 (except the bigger screen & battery life).

I think this post has gone far too big than intended, so i stop here. All said above is my honest opinion. Thanks for reading.