yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z General] zodiac100:
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.
[Xperia Z General] Sticky F:
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.
[Xperia Z General] barondebxl:
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.
[Xperia Z General] omersak:
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).
[Xperia Z General] barondebxl:
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.
[Xperia Z General] omersak:
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 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.
[Xperia Z General] Option58:
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
[Xperia Z General] moraymol:
i am having lt26w and it's fine
[Xperia Z General] biffsmash:
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.
[Xperia Z General] Cookie Ninja:
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...
[Xperia Z General] avetny:
I don't know about you guys, but this phone is already strain me.

I can't wait to get something new.
[Xperia Z General] brockyneo:
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:
[Xperia Z General] doministry:
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)
[Xperia Z General] Zrile:
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.
[Xperia Z General] zodiac100:
I disagree on the video quality. From what I've seen, the Z produces better quality and smoother frame rates. Maybe we judge them differently. Gaming graphics is where things are more absolute. If anyone has seriously compared the graphics on both and says the one's better, I'd have to call them blind. Sorry!

The Zs camera takes decent enough pictures in low light. Increasing the exposure a bit helps but hey it's a 13mp smartphone camera. Low light pictures are never going to shine. To be honest, unless you live you life at night, I really can't see the pressing need for low light performance, never mind at the expense of good light shots.

If your indoors at night, turn on the lights when you want to take pictures. The only real use of that low light business is in the night club. Most other venues have some form of lighting.
[Xperia Z General] doministry:
Well I think in gereral all those top phones produce night shots which are good enough to be enjoyed and be used.

No shame really.
[Xperia Z General] Teknohtc:
I finally got to play with the One for a few hours and i gotta say, this is one impressive device!

-Very thin

-wicked speakers(destroys XZ even with Pure X Mod)

-nice U.I

-amazing build (aluminum frame)

-light

-very comfortable to hold (more than the XZ)

-Great Camera (Zoey is amazing and does take better video than the XZ)

-Virtually no lag very smooth and fast (XZ had lag on their U.I)

-the display is the best i have seen yet! (Destroys the XZ display)

-No MSDS (which the XZ has and is a HUGE must for me)

-Locked Bootloader :( (Xperia Z is open)

The first impressions of this device is that this is one serious smartphone and, sorry to say this but, the HTC One blows the Sony Xperia Z out of the water! The only thing the XZ got going for it is water/dust resistance, higher MP camera,MSDS(Big +),and a lanyard hole.

-Headset sound can't say anything about it since i didn't listen.

-Battery (when i have it for a month i will know)

I am getting a HTC One next week and have a full test with it for a month then i will choose..... :D

and for those fanboys out there, I love my XZ! but, the HTC One is a device i simply can't ignore till i tried it out for a bit it is a great looking device that performs! also, don't knock the HTC One device till you tried it.All the One vs XZ reviews that say the One is better than the Z is true!
[Xperia Z General] akuma2012:
I agree 100 % .
[Xperia Z General] Cookie Ninja:
You forgot another significant BIG Plus that the Xperia Z scores over the HTC..

Easily unlockable bootloader and fully rootable system, not the silly HTCdev unlock procedure that HTC has for their bootloaders, at the end of it you remain on "S-On, HTCdev unlocked" and not fully S-Off. You can't flash ROM + kernel, the kernel has to be adb flashed separately, and you can NEVER flash a new radio with a S-On boot. HTC has been consistent in locking down their bootloaders with a signed method that has been difficult to crack at best. The HTCdev unlock is a wuss method for unlocking the capabilities of the phone. HTC discourages devs from freely creating mods and improvements to their implementation of Android by deliberately delaying in the release of source codes and firmware for their 'propreitary' hardware, so once the phone reaches EOL, no dev can keep it running, and HTC can sell newer phones and the cycle progresses.... Not like Sony, the X1 and X10 is still strong in OS development. HTC realised this in the HD2 which has branched from WM6.5 to android, meego, and WP7. If they sell such good hardware, and fully unlockable, then their subsequent models will never sell.....

I prefer S-Off and fully unlockable phones, with source codes and firmwares, which Sony supports....

Dead cookies leave no trails...
[Xperia Z General] Teknohtc:
Solid point! I like flashing ROM's and Kernels this is one of the main reasons i like Android over the other OS's out there.
[Xperia Z General] G1_enthusiast:
why in the world would you ever want to flash radio? all it does is manage your BAND...

anyway, I am currently using S3 with a zerolemon battery, and i really want to switch to this phone due to the durability factor, but man! I think I will missed going on 2-3 days without having to charge. Real dilemma for me right now! the HTC ONE while it is nice, but honestly durability factor is questionable and we all know for sure it cant survive a water test, and i'm about to move to hawaii too so using a phone near the water is a probability. Plus while some claimed that the HTC one score a higher benchmark but honestly I think Sony need to work out the bugs in their android and since when does 2 core not enough? my S3 s4 dual core get everything done on AOKP rom without a freaking hiccup.
[Xperia Z General] Teknohtc:
Brah, more cores,more powerful,more multitasking, more better! :D
[Xperia Z General] G1_enthusiast:
I honestly think its more of a marketing gimmick (just like Mega pixel, a true photographer know its not the megapixel that made the image good looking, its the quality of the lens)

if there is an apps to show u how much core you use through out the day while loading apps and playing games, im willing to bet you only use 2 core most of the time. there is absolutely no game on Android market that i cannot run with my S3. If loading time of 4-5 second is a factor then you need to get yourself a life because you playing way too much games and ur addicted.
[Xperia Z General] Teknohtc:
It's just the pace of technology, it's moving fast and the cellphone business is extremely competitive so, companies push out the best that they have even though it's not need. 8 Cores (S4) on a mobile device is just amazing on the technical side of things! Is it needed? Nope but, since Android is open, they can push out these technical based monsters and they do and i am glad that they do! :D

As a amateur photographer it's true that the lens is a big part of the picture and lower MP's will affect the look of the picture especially, when cropped! :D
[Xperia Z General] electric0ant:
I just wanted to say that I got the HTC One but then traded it for an XZ.

Yes the HTC does have a very nice aluminium body, but in my opinion the XZ has just as good premium build with the glass on all sides. To be honest i was a bit disappointed with HTC's "gapless" body. there have been a lot of posts about the build quality, mine had some minor gaps as well and teardown showed its not a true unibody as htc advertised, the speaker grills on the front are just two aluminium pieces glued on.

Also after using the HTC one, i got fed up with the sense UI again (got fed up with htc one x last time) .

stupid power saver notification is always at the top and HTC disabled the option to disable this notification. this stops my other notifications auto expanding which is what i want.

I guess I just like stock android, and sony's UI is closest to that, thats probably why I like it.

Also I have a pebble watch which I cannot use with the HTC one. the pebble needs accessibility settings turned on for notifications. but there is a bug when this is turned on. the lock screen does not work properly. touching anywhere on the screen will cause the default action. in the lock screen it will unlock, when there is an incoming call it will answer the call, when the alarm is ringing it will dismiss the alarm. these things happened a numerous times when getting the phone out of my pocket.

don't get me wrong the HTC One is still a good phone, but it just wasn't the ONE for me. :p
[Xperia Z General] brockyneo:
Don't know if im speaking for myself here but I've had both htc one and xperia z and I find the xperia z screen better in almost every way to the htc one and the gf has the one still so I've compared side by side

For me the only thing the one is better for is the speakers and at the moment more development (roms etc)
[Xperia Z General] electric0ant:
have you tried viewing the screens at an angle? The XZ screen washes out when not viewed directly but the HTC One's screen doesn't.

the HTC One's screen is a better screen by this regard (much better viewing angles), but this really isn't going to be an issue for most people as most people will only really look at their screens directly anyway.(me included), I found the bugs and my general dislike for sense bothered me much more than the viewing angles of the screen on the XZ.
[Xperia Z General] brockyneo:
Let's be honest viewing angles are pointless as 99% of the time the phone is in front of ya face and when both phones are viewed as they should I feel the xperia is a better screen lol
[Xperia Z General] RoChinu:
Very true.. The only cases people actually use viewing angles is when they play games like temple run where you have to tilt your phone and when they watch videos with friends.
[Xperia Z General] roxas89:
Just wanted to say I got my XZ today and I love it :) it was a tough choice really between the Z and the One but I had several horrible experiences with HTC before specially the One X so no regrets till now.
[Xperia Z General] mathen:
I dont know,but I hate my XZ.:( Its screen is not upto mark,also I get bugs in camera app too,like small black dots here and there,which get resolved only by a reset. looking forward to Samsung S4 or HTC One now:cyclops:
[Xperia Z General] wawyed:
What about sending it on warranty?
[Xperia Z General] fitcherama:
Perfect!

I couldn't agree more with what you say.

I had the HTC One for a week before swapping it for the XZ. It just didn't feel 'right' in spite of being a beautiful phone. The XZ just floats my boat.

Your viewing angle comment made me laugh - exactly! How often (never) do you look at a phone sideways?!

Thanks for a great and accurate review.
[Xperia Z General] abd_alazeez2002:
For Me the only time I look at my XZ at an angle when I use it on bed and it is not big problem for me

Beside colours became washed out a bit, not degradate to black or gray like old lcd screens.

So still, colours can be identified
[Xperia Z General] highdiver_2000:
Xperia Z is going to be a pain to charge. Unless you are getting 2 docks (1 for office, other for home). Otherwise the rubber plug will just break off. Nokia E71 users will remember.

HTC One bootloader unlocking process looks complicated.

Samsung S4, based on S2 and S3 threads, the future for third party ROM does not look bright.

Decisions, Decisions. #firstworldproblem.
[Xperia Z General] wawyed:
The plugs has been tested for the entire life of the device. Around 2 years. Also I'm sure they aren't expensive.
[Xperia Z General] OsiBasi:
The plugs are covered by the 2 year warranty, why do people make this a problem? - if they brake send it in for repair, it takes 3-7 days.
[Xperia Z General] scottholio:
Thanks OP, for the info/review.
[Xperia Z General] G1_enthusiast:
in the U.S the XZ is very rare and to have it in water amazed people even more! I rather have a phone that no one has then have a phone that everyone have. makes it stand out.