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Sony Xperia XZ vs Samsung S7 Edge Quick Comparison and Overview

Sony has announced its flagship, Xperia XZ, at IFA 2016. It has been a tough year for Sony so far and with Xperia XZ it wants to reverse the fortune. To do so, it has to topple current market leader Galaxy S7 Edge. In this article, we will compare both the phones to see which phone emerges as the winner.

Xperia XZ Vs S7 Edge Specifications:

Key Specs      Xperia XZ

( India Version)

       S7 Edge

(Indian Version)

Display 5.2-inch Triluminos IPS LCD, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 5.5-inch Super AMOLED, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Screen Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~424 ppi pixel density) 1440 x 2560 pixels (~534 ppi pixel density)
Dimensions 146 x 72 x 8.1 mm 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm
Weight 161 g 157 g
SIM Card type Dual SIM Dual SIM
OS Android OS, v6.0.1 (Marshmallow), planned upgrade to v7.0 (Nougat Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)
 

Processor

 

CPU

 

 

Quad-core (2×2.15 GHz Kryo & 2×1.6 GHz Kryo) Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Mongoose & 4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A53)
 

GPU

 

Adreno 530  

Mali-T880 MP12

Chipset Snapdragon 820 Exynos 8890
Memory 64GB, 3GB RAM 32GB, 4GB RAM
Memory Card Slot microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot microSD, up to 200 GB (uses SIM 2 slot
Primary Camera 23 MP, f/2.0, phase detection and laser autofocus, LED flash, 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash
Video recording
Secondary Camera 13 MP, f/2.0 5 MP, f/1.7
Fingerprint Sensor Yes Yes
NFC Yes Yes
USB Type-C 1.0 microUSB v2.0
Charging Technology Quick Charge 3.0 Quick Charge 2.0
Battery 2900 mAh battery 3600 mAh battery
Colors Mineral black, Platinum, Forest blue. Black, Silver, Gold
Price 51,999/-

Best buy: 49,999/-

50,999/-

Design & Build

The S7 edge is one of the prettiest phones available in the market. It has glass panels on front and back with ultra-thin bezels, thanks to edge screen. The rear glass panel which is fingerprint magnet makes the phone quite slippery. That said, it is comfortable to use with the single hand. The build quality is top notch, but the rear glass panel is an Achilles heel as it is prone to damage in drops.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (5)

Unlike S7 Edge, Xperia XZ is an all metal body with comparatively thick bezels. It  follows Sony’s new “Loop Surface” design, with flat ends on the top and bottom, and curved edges along the sides. This is a refreshing design that Sony apologists have been waiting since ages. It is quite robust and very comfortable to use with a single hand. It fits in your palm like a charm, thanks to the small screen.


Xperia XZ (16)Both the phones are pretty, elegant, and fingerprint magnets. It all ends up whether you prefer edge screen to traditional screen with bezels. I personally feel edge screen is a marketing gimmick, and it is also very annoying at times due to random clicks.

Display

S7 edge comes with stunning QHD AMOLED panel with a good amount of saturation, great viewing angles, and deep blacks. It is worth noting that the display is very bright and can be easily used outdoors. It also comes with a handy feature, always on display, that continuously displays notifications, time, calendar, and battery indicator.

Sony degraded the resolution from 4K on Z5 to Full HD IPS panel on Xperia XZ. Nevertheless, the display is vibrant with good viewing angles. It is not as bright as AMOLED panel that makes it difficult to use in outdoors even at full brightness.

Performance & Hardware

S7 Edge comes with an in-house processor, Exynos 8890, 4GB RAM and 32GB ROM. The performance is buttery smooth and it can handle any task you throw at it with ease.

Xperia XZ is powered by SD820, 3GB RAM, and 64GB ROM. With the flagship hardware under the hood, it performs like a charm. But it has always been difficult to comprehend Sony’s strategies. While OEMs like Oneplus, Xiaomi, and LeEco have incorporated 6GB RAM in their phones, Sony is still stuck at 3GB RAM in 2016. Though specs rarely reflect the real-time performance, Sony should have at least incorporated market standard, 4GB RAM.

Gaming

S7 edge is powered by Mali-T880 GPU; whereas, Xperia XZ is powered by Adreno 530 which is 30% faster compared to Mali-T880. This results in occasional frame drops on S7 edge while playing high-end games like Modern Combat and N.O.V.A. But you wouldn’t be noticing any difference with moderate games.

Camera

While Samsung has always done a pretty good job when it comes to camera quality in its smartphones, it has taken it to the next level with the S7 edge. The camera on the Galaxy S7 is 12MP shooter with an f/1.7 aperture lens, optical image stabilization, phase detection autofocus, LED flash, and dual pixel technology. One of the finest features of this camera is its ability to focus on the object incredibly fast; it has no match in the market. Low light photography is the best you can get on any smartphone, thanks to larger pixel size. Front facing 5MP shooter takes decent pictures but photos often look artificial.

XZ’s 23MP shooter has Sony IMX300 sensor that is exclusive to Sony phones. It is the same sensor used on Z5 and Z5 premium. Unlike S7 edge, it has no OIS but it is compensated by 5-axis image stabilization. It comes with an unique feature, predictive autofocus. The idea is that once you tap on your subject and the camera will track its movement, keeping the focus locked on it.

You can read our detailed camera review here.

Battery

S7 Edge has 3600 mAh battery; Xperia XZ has 2900 mAh. Though the battery capacity on the S7 edge is higher, it has to power up more pixel as it is QHD screen. S7 edge comes with Qualcomm Quick charge 2.0 charging technology; the credit goes to Exynos 8890 which doesn’t support Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0.

Xperia XZ supports Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0, and it also comes with a relevant charger in the box. It also comes with another nifty feature, Qnovo Adaptive Charging, that allows the phone to monitor the cell’s electrochemical processes in real time and adjust charging parameters accordingly to minimize cell damage and extend the battery unit’s lifespan. Overall, it seems Sony has done a better job in this segment atleast on paper.

Pricing & Availability

Recently, S7 edge got a decent price cut and it is now priced at 50,900/-. Xperia XZ is launched with a nearly same price tag, 51,999/- (best buy 49,999). It can be pre-ordered at all Sony outlets and Amazon.in starting from Oct 1st-Oct 10th; All pre-orders are bundled with Sony SmartBand Talk-SWR30 worth Rs. 8,900.

Conclusion:

                      Area             Winner
Display S7 Edge
Design Subjective
Performance Neutral
Gaming Xperia XZ
Battery Life Yet to be tested thoroughly
Camera S7 Edge
Multimedia Consumption S7 Edge
UI Xperia XZ
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Abhinav Singh

Abhinav Singh, a software engineer who is very much interested in social engineering. He is responsible to manage all the social media profiles of Gadgets To Use. He also has a hobby of tracking new apps and gadgets and to share them with our readers as well.