[Xperia Z1 General] XxLordxX:
Before owning a Z1 I had a Xperia X10 Mini Pro and a Galaxy S4. When I decided to upgrade my old X10 Mini Pro I started to search for the best device available in the moment, I had 3 options back then, which were Xperia Z, HTC One and Galaxy S4. After reading a lot, I decided to change from Sony to other device, and many people started to pressure me to get S4 because it was Samsung. In the end I got the S4, which was an amazing device indeed, very powerful and had an amazing screen.

Back in January, my S4 broke (apparently bootloader problem :P) and Samsung refused to fix it (I never asked to do the repair free of charge, actually I said I'd pay, but they still didn't want to fix it)! So, I'm staying away from Samsung after this. And when you have such a powerful device you don't want to downgrade anymore, so I started to search for a great device that would be good for me. I was between Nexus 5 and Z1, personally I'm not a big fan of LG, and the point that I already had a 32GB Sdcard from my S4 made me go for Sony again, if I have to change a device it'll surely be Sony again lol.

Now to the true comparison between S4 and Z1 (I never used a S5 before, so I decided to share what's the experience of changing from Samsung to Sony). When it comes to processing power, Z1 simply destroys S4, true, it's not fair comparing a Snapdragon 800 to a 600, but not only the processor is faster, but the OS in Z1 was optimized, so it gives you a better experience, not only Xperia UI is faster, but is way better looking that Touchwiz, which looks too colorful and somewhat "childish" to me (just my personal opinion). It takes me to another point in UI, now comparing Sony, Apple and Samsung... If you look at Apple iOS 7 design, it's all colorful like Touchwiz, personally I'm not a big fan of those colorful "happy/childish" designs, sometime back if you asked me about iOS design (before 7), I'd say it is professional looking, while Touchwiz was focused more on a different aspect. Now, if you ask me the same thing, I'd say that Xperia is the one with professional looking, while the other two are fighting for a younger fanbase probably.

In terms of holding the device, I never had a problem with either, however, I feel using my Xperia with two hands more than I think I did with S4, not that it is a problem though, as most of times I'm using the cellphone with only one hand, but, being a person with 190cm I have very big hands, which probably helps in this. The thing is that Xperia feels more premium due to the glass back, it's also more comfortable to hold feeling it like this.

And talking about the exterior characteristics of the device, there's one thing that's really funny that happens. When I owned a S4, people would look at it and ask: "Is it a S4?", and only after I answered "yes", they'd say "OMG! That's so GREAT!!". Now with Z1, they don't even know the device, they look and say "OMG! It looks amazing!! What device is it?", I never thought the device aesthetics would do much, now I know how it changes the way others will look at your cellphone.

Another thing that I need to say is about the camera and screen. I'm not a professional photographer, actually I took just a few, so the amazing Z1 camera is just a bonus for me, but I think Xperia's camera beat easily Galaxy's camera, specially having a physical button! When changing from X10 Mini Pro to S4 I actually felt a little harder to took more focused pictures without a button :P. And the screen is hard to compare, both have an amazing screen, but I will give the point for S4 on this one, the viewing angles were way better, however you have a display over saturated in Galaxy, which can be a little annoying, that's why I loved Sony's display :D.

Also, like said by someone before me, I think Samsung has many useless apps, while Z1 had apps that I actually used or if I didn't use there were just a few anyway. At least, but not last, I like the exclusivity of being a Sony user, as everyone either has an iPhone or a Samsung :cool:.

Glad to know that OP liked his new acquisition :). Personally Samsung is a no go for me anymore, hope you enjoy your device ^^.

~Lord