Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2: A comparison of specs

New Delhi: Samsung and Sony took the wraps off their flagship devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Both devices, falling under the high-end category, promises stunning looks, amazing build quality, amazing camera capability, a powerful battery and a whole gamut of software features that is sure to give the best a Android smartphone has to offer. Here's a brief comparison: Design and form factorSamsung Galaxy S5 - 8.1mm thick, Plastic bodySony Xperia Z2 - 8.2mm thick, one-piece aluminium 'Omnibalance' bodyWith S5, Samsung has decided to retain the plastic body gives it a very similar look and feel to the S4. The back now has a perforated effect design to aid grip and additionally, there's a plastic cover to conceal the charging port to give the S5 its IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. In addition, the S5's home button now functions as a finger-print reader. On the rear, you'll find a heart-rate monitor, just below the camera module.On the other hand, the aluminium framed Z2 comes with square-edges, metallic effect sides and toughened glass plates that sit on both the front and back. It weighs 163g and is just 8.2mm thick. The Z2 is IP58 certified waterproof, which means you can dip the device up to 1.5m and take pictures with the dedicated camera button.Winner: The Z2 has a slight edge over hereScreenSamsung Galaxy S5 - 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Full HD screenSony Xperia Z2 - 5.2-inch Full HD Trilluminous IPS displayThe S5 comes with a 5-inch Super AMOLED 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution display. The phone comes with new adaptive display technology that will adjust the brightness depending on your environment. The Z2 offers a Full HD Trilluminous IPS display. The device now introduces Live Color LED tech to generate brighter and more colourful images. Overall, both the devices are good for video viewing and multimedia consumption. However, AMOLED screens tend to be oversaturated compared to more 'faithful' IPS LCD screens, but AMOLED gives superior contrast.Winner: The Z2 has a slight edge over hereCameraSamsung Galaxy S5 - 16-megapixel main camera and 2.0-megapixel front-facing cameraSony Xperia Z2 - 20.7-megapixel main camera and 2.2-megapixel front-facing cameraThe S5 now comes with a 16-megapixel main camera as compared to 13 MP in its predecessor. Samsung says the main camera now offers auto focusing at a blistering-fast 0.3 seconds besides a new Selective Focus mode, so you can shoot photos then change the focal point later. It is a similar technology that used by the Nokia Lumia 1020. Other features include a new HDR Live mode to balance the light and dark portions of photographs.On the other hand, the Z2 retains the same cameras as that of the Z1. It has 20.7-megapixel main Exmor RS camera with Sony G Lens and Sony Bionz for mobile image processing engine on board. There's an improved 2.2 megapixel front-facing camera and new custom camera modes like TimeShift video to take slow motion footage. Both of these devices can record 4K video.Winner: The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a slight edgeCPU and RAMSamsung Galaxy S5 - 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAMSony Xperia Z2 - 2.2GHz Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, 3GB RAMThe S5 is powered by an updated 2.5GHz processor, a Snapdragon 801 as also featured in the Z2, with 2GB RAM of take care of multitasking. Users were expecting the company to launch the new Exynos processor with 3GB RAM.The Sony Xperia Z2 also has 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and Adreno 330 GPU, with an extra 1GB of RAM more than the Z1. Regarding total space, the S5 offers 16 GB and 32 GB versions, but the Xperia Z2 only has a 16 GB version. Z2 and S5 have a microSD card slot space with up to 64 GB as the limit.Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5Operating SystemBoth Sony and Samsung launch with Android 4.4 KitKat, so you get the latest from Google's OS.These phones offer deeply customized skin with Samsung offer more additions as compared to the Z2. These include fitness features, supporting the sensor on the rear that will return your heart rate. In addition, the S5 comes with Both are also deeply skinned, with Samsung adding more into the phone. Of particular interest are fitness features, supporting the sensor on the rear that will return your heart rate. It also features Wi-Fi MIMO (802.11ac) and a "download booster" that supposedly combines data signals to pump up download speeds. Samsung claims the Galaxy S5 can download a gigabyte of data in 30 seconds.On the other hand, Sony offers access to What's New app which helps you discover new and recommended movies, music, games and apps, accessible from a widget on the home screen.Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5BatteryThe S5 comes with a 2800mAh battery with a talk time of 21 hrs. It also offers a new feature called the Ultra Power Saving mode, claims to give you a 24-hour battery even when the battery charge drops to 10 per cent.The Z2 has a 3000 mAh battery which the company promises to offer talktime upto up to 830 hours.Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5Connectivity The S5 offers fifth generation 802.11ac WiFi and it uses LTE Category 4 standard. As mentioned earlier, it also comes with Download Booster feature that allows you to bond the WiFi and LTE connections simultaneously to improve download speeds.The Z2 is a LTE enabled smartphone with WiFi capabilities but not fifth generation WiFi.Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5Other features Samsung has joined the ranks of Apple by including a fingerprint sensor embedded into its home button. . It has a finger-print sensor and can recognise three separate finger prints and it takes eight swipes to register, instead of holding down on the home/fingerprint scanner button. Unlike the Touch ID, which has no third-party app support yet, the S5 equivalent can be used to authorise payments via PayPal. Samsung has also introduced a heart-rate monitor under the camera module. The new S Health 3.0 in the Galaxy S5 provides a personal fitness tracker with tools such as pedometer, diet and exercise records and a new built-in heart rate monitor. Other notable features include a new Download Booster.Besides camera upgrade, the Z2 doesn't offer too much. It still includes NFC for one-touch sharing, screen mirroring and 4G LTE support.Winner: Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5ConclusionThe Xperia Z2 is only a minor upgrade of the Z1. The new smartphone has the same screen, camera, and despite the minor bump up in the processor department there's very little that's different. Overall, it is a good phone but lacks the merit to upgrade from a recent phone.The S5, on the other hand, promises a whole gamut of new features. As the above comparison shows that the device wins in most of the departments, so it is clearly the winner here.