We have two of Sony’s best here – biggest of the Sony Xperia lineup, the Xperia Z Ultra and the very popular Xperia Z. The Xperia Z Ultra is the company’s first attempt at a phablet device while the Xperia Z was meant to the company back into the race.
The Xperia Z Ultra was launched in July while the Xperia Z was launched way back in January. Lets check out how the Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z compete against each other.
Design, Build Quality
The Xperia Z Ultra looks like a bigger version of the Xperia Z in terms of design and build quality. The Xperia Z Ultra is water and dust resistant just like the Xperia Z. The Xperia Z Ultra is one of the biggest phones out there, but it is also the slimmest device with a Full HD 1080p display.
In terms of dimensions, the Xperia Z Ultra is way bigger than the Xperia Z. The Z Ultra is 4 centimeter taller and 2centimeter wider than the Xperia Z, but is 1.5mm thinner. In terms of weight, the Xperia Z Ultra is heavier at 212g while the Z weighs around 146g.
On the front of the phones, we have the display above which we have the earpiece and front camera along with ambient and proximity sensors on both the phones. The earpiece is along the top edge on both the phones. The front camera is at the left side of the earpiece in both the phones.
Both the displays have relatively thick bezels and there are no navigation capacitive keys and hence all the navigation is restricted to on-screen buttons which eats away valuable screen space. The mouthpiece is along the bottom edge.
The design language is similar in both the phones although the Z Ultra has a more mature design with nicely curved edges instead of the flat edges on the Xperia Z.The position of keys is similar with both the power lock key and the volume rocker on the right side of the device. On the Xperia Z Ultra, we have the covered microSD card slot and microSIM card slot on the right side too. There is a uncovered 3.5mm audio jack at the top of the right side on the Z Ultra. While on the Xperia Z, we have just the covered microSIM card slot in addition to the Power lock key and volume rocker and the loud speaker on the bottom end. The volume rocker on the Xperia Z Ultra feels much more comfortable and offers better feedback than the slim one on the Xperia Z.
On the bottom, we have the loud speaker on the Xperia Z Ultra while there is nothing on the Xperia Z.
On the left side, there is the covered microUSB port on both the phones at the top end and the dock connector towards the center.
On the Xperia Z, we have the covered microSD card slot between the two. On the top, we have the secondary microphone on the Xperia Z Ultra while we have the covered 3.5mm audio jack in the Xperia Z.
The back of both the phones is pretty similar with just the camera and the same glossy glass back. Both the phones are fingerprint magnets. The camera on the Xperia Z Ultra is along while the Xperia Z’s 13MP camera comes with a LED flash and secondary microphone. There is NFC on both the phones at the back. Both the phones have non user-replacable battery and the back cover is not removable.
Overall, both the devices look pretty much same. The Xperia Z Ultra is however, very big and pocketability is an issue.
Display
Both the phones have a 1080p Full HD display. The Xperia Z Ultra has a 6.44inch Sony Triluminous display while the Xperia Z has a 5inch Mobile Bravia Engine 2 display. The Xperia Z Ultra has a pixel density of 344ppi while the Xperia Z has a 441ppi display. Both the displays are sharp.
In terms of brightness, both the displays were good, but we found that the display on the Xperia Z Ultra was a little more bright. In terms of color saturation, the Xperia Z Ultra was way ahead of the Xperia Z with richer colors. When it came to contrast, the Xperia Z Ultra had better contrast while the display on the Xperia Z looked washed out.
Overall, we liked the display on the Xperia Z Ultra.
Hardware and Performance
The Xperia Z Ultra is one of the first devices to be powered by the Snapdragon 800 SoC and is clocked at 2.2GHz, has 2GB RAM and graphics is taken care by Adreno 330 GPU while the Xperia Z is powered by the previous generation 1.5 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon S4 Pro, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.
Both the phones come with 16GB of internal storage and have microSD card slot for storage expansion. Out of the 16GB, both the phones have around 11.7GB user accessible memory.
Out of the 2GB RAM, both the phones have 1.8GB usable RAM and the Xperia Z Ultra has 1GB free RAM while the Xperia Z has 1.3GB free when the devices are idle.
The newer processor clearly gives the Xperia Z Ultra an advantage in terms of performance. The Xperia Z Ultra is faster in opening apps and switching between them.
In benchmarks, the Xperia Z Ultra easily beat the Xperia Z.
Camera
The Xperia Z Ultra has a 8MP camera at the back and 2MP camera at the front while the Xperia Z has a 13MP camera at the back and 2.2MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from the both the cameras. The Xperia Z Ultra does not have a flash while the Xperia Z has a single LED flash.
The camera UI is exactly same on both the phones. It is typical Sony UI with various options on the left side. It has the same screen for photos and videos. Both the phones are able to capture 1MP photos while recording videos.
In terms of image clarity, the Xperia Z was slightly better with less noise and more details. You can check out the camera comparison video below to know more.
Software features
The Xperia Z Ultra runs on a more recent version of Android – 4.2.2 Jellybean while the Xperia Z runs on Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. Both the phones are overlaid by Sony’s custom UI on top making the look and feel exactly similar. The only noticeable change among the two is probably just the lock-screen widgets while everything else looks pretty similar.
Both the phones come with Sony’s small-apps feature which lets you choose a miniature version of the app that can be placed anywhere on the screen.
In terms of software, there is nothing to differentiate the phones.
Gaming
Both the phones are quite good for gaming and the Xperia Z Ultra is excellent because of its excellent and bigger display. The Xperia Z Ultra is powered by a new generation processor and GPU which gives it a clear advantage in the gaming. The textures and details on the Xperia Z Ultra is better.
Battery and Connectivity
The Xperia Z Ultra has a 3050mAh battery while the Xperia Z has a 2330mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the bigger battery in the Xperia Z Ultra is better, but only by a small margin.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, WiFi Direct, USB OTG and microUSB(MHL) connectivity. Only Xperia Z Ultra has support for WiFi 802.11 ac band.
Conclusion
The Xperia Z Ultra was just recently launched while the Xperia Z is more than six months old. The Xperia Z Ultra is a device to take Sony’s market into phablets and beyond 6inches while the Xperia Z was meant to be Sony’s flagship.
Advantages of Xperia Z Ultra over Xperia Z
- Better and bigger display
- Better performance
- Better for media consumption and gaming
- Better battery
Advantages of Xperia Z over Xperia Z Ultra
- Cheaper price point
- Pocketable size
- Better camera
