HTC One v Sony Xperia Z - Battle Of The Android Heavyweights

The HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z are both next-gen Android smartphones which are now available to buy in the UK. Both have a cutting-edge specification and come in at similar price-points, so we thought we'd compared the two devices to find out which is the better Android smartphone !

We've previously compared the Xperia Z against the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 where it came out victorious in both battles. Does the HTC One have what it takes to beat Sony's Xperia Z ?

HTC One v Sony Xperia Z - Which Has The Better Display ?

HTC's One has a 4.7 inch LCD display running at a resolution of 1920 * 1080 pixels, which gives the smartphone a PPI (pixels-per-inch) rating of 468. While, Sony's Xperia Z comes with a mammoth 5 inch display that also runs at 1920*1080 pixels , although that gives it a slightly lower 441 PPI.

Both smartphones have amazing displays that are far above the previous generation including the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. Strictly speaking the HTC One has the higher PPI display , but in reality it just comes down to personal preference on whether you want a 4.7 inch or 5 inch smartphone.

Power Packed Smartphones, But Which Has More Grunt ?

Sony's Xperia Z has a quad-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro chip and an Adreno 320 GPU which offers truly staggering performance. However, HTC's One comes with even faster 1.7 GHz quad-core processor and the same Adreno 320 GPU.

Both smartphones come with 2GB of RAM which is more than enough for amazing multi-tasking on Android Jelly Bean. When it comes to power it's a victory for the HTC One, but both smartphones are truly monstrous beasts !

Design and Durability

HTC One (137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm 143g) v Sony Xperia Z (139 x 71 x 7.9mm 146g)

Both smartphones have simple , but stylish designs but personally we prefer the glossy angular finish of the Xperia Z. Sony's smartphone is a little bit larger and weighs a little more so those worried about size might favour HTC's One.

When it comes to durability the Sony Xperia Z is the clear winner because it comes with a display made from Dragontail glass which is 6 times stronger than the Gorilla Glass featured on HTC's One. Additionally, Sony Xperia Z is both water-proof and dust-resistance thanks to its IP57 specification.

Overall, we'd have to give the victory to Sony's Xperia Z due to our preference for its design and its improved durability. However, the HTC One is more compact and is perfect those un-concerned about water-proofing.

Camera Technology

Comparing the two cameras is pretty difficult because Sony's Xperia Z has a stunning 13 mega-pixel Exmor snapper. While, HTC's One has a new "Ultrapixel" camera which is supported to deliver better performance than standard mega-pixel cameras.

We're yet to get our hands on HTC's smartphone and we're very interested to see how its snapper performs. However, we're very confident both devices cameras will perform brilliantly.

Both also have very similar front-facing cameras with the HTC One coming with a 2.1 mega-pixel snapper and the Xperia Z a 2.2 mega-pixel camera. Both are perfect for video calling and can even record 1080p video.

We're going to have call it a draw when it comes to cameras , because we've yet to get on our hands on HTC's smartphone.

On-board Memory and Connectivity

The HTC One has 32GB of on-board memory which is double the amount that comes pre-loaded on Sony's Xperia Z (16GB). However, things arn't that straight forward because Sony's smartphone supports microSD cards , while HTC doesn't which potentially gives Sony smartphones a larger capacity (96GB).

When it comes to connectivity both smartphones come fully loaded with support for 4G, WiFi, NFC and Bluetooth. Therefore, it has to be a draw in this category.

HTC One v Sony Xperia Z : The Conclusion

Both the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z are stunning Android smartphones and are probably the best two on the market right now. The Sony Xperia Z has waterproofing, while HTC's smartphone has a slightly higher PPI and a little more power.

At 3G we prefer the Sony Xperia Z due to it's stunning finish and the amazing 5 inch HD display which is perfect for watching multimedia content. However, the 5 inch display might be too big for some people but we love it !