The anticipated Sony Xperia Z3+ is finally available in the market, several months late from its major rivals including Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4. We compared the dual SIM 4G LTE variant with the Galaxy S6 in camera, speaker, benchmark, display and design department. Find out which phone emerged on top.
Table of Contents
Design
Sony stayed with the omnibalance design on Z3+. The metal accent on frame is still present along with the scratch-resistant glass at front and back. The IP68 certification is up from IP58 with 1.5m water and dust proof for 30 minutes.
The Xperia Z3+ doesn’t wow in design as there is very little change from previous generation. Only a hardcore Sony fan would distinguish these changes.
But what surprised us is the new Copper variant which looks very premium than the white and black. We haven’t tried the Aqua Green but we are betting it is much better than the plain white or black for typical users.
Galaxy S6 and Xperia Z3+ have things in common, perhaps it is in the design language that both parties have: metal frame and all glass faces. Both remain premium, solid and sleek–advantages and perks for buying such expensive smartphones.
Winner: Tie
Display
Sony didn’t improve the display in the Xperia Z3+ as the device is still using a 1080p or FHD resolution as opposed to 1440ps of Galaxy S6 and LG G4.
The color and picture quality of the Z3+ display is top notch for an IPS LCD type. But there is a big difference when putting it side-by-side with the Galaxy S6. The Super AMOLED of the S6 is more saturated and vibrant, colors are richer despite being warmer. Under bright light, the AMOLED remain slightly better in clarity.
In terms of sharpness, it is really hard to notice the difference. But of course, the more pixels the device has, the more benefit it will offer for the user.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S6
Camera
Sony failed to impress us with its 20.7MP camera. The details are not sharp enough or close to the offered sharpness and colors from the Samsung Galaxy S6.
Both Sony Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia Z3+ are plagued with this reddish tint overcasting on the images.
The Z3+ takes better video though. Yet its audio is not crisp and loud compare to video sound from Galaxy S6.
Somehow, Z3+ has few images worth putting on top of the chart including the night shot.
There are still lot of things Sony should work on the camera of Z3+ in order to beat or par the Galaxy S6 and LG G4. These include having a smarter Auto mode feature, auto HDR and more manual controls in Users Interface.
Winner: Still – Samsung Galaxy S6, Video – Sony Xperia Z3+
Benchmark and performance
Galaxy S6 is blazingly better in benchmark scores and slight faster in overall speed test. The Galaxy S6 managed to out run the Xperia Z3+ in opening games.
As fas as the benchmark numbers are concerned, you could check in the video that the Exynos 7420 beats the Snapdragon 810 SoC by few thousand points in BaseMark OS and AnTuTu.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S6
Speaker
Sony is not heavily promoting the stereo speakers of the Xperia Z3+ perhaps it is not the best feature of it in the multimedia.
In our test, both Xperia and Galaxy S6 have loud and clear speaker, only that the S6’s sound is more concentrated as it came from from speaker grill. In contrast with Z3+, the sound came from two channels: top and bottom speaker grill located at the front of the device.
We prefer the concentrated sound from the Galaxy S6, however, Xperia Z3+ remains to have a decent audio output.
Winner: Tie
Verdict
Samsung managed to lead by several points over the Xperia Z3+ in our comparison. And we think that the Galaxy S6 is indeed better than the Z3+ in some areas. The Xperia Z3+ is considerably a device hard to match, only that there are very few devices that could beat the Z3+ and one is the Galaxy S6.
Sony should focus on their Xperia Z4 as the the improvements on the Xperia Z3+ from Xperia Z3 is not impressive. They should also consider avoiding steep price tag if they were to offer lower specs than the competition.
Samsung Galaxy S6 specs |
Sony Xperia Z3+ specs |
| 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED, 577 ppi | 5.2-inch 1080p IPS Triluminos, 424ppi |
| 6.8mm thick, 138g | 6.9mm thick, 144g |
| Gorilla Glass 4 front and back | Scratch resistant, oleophobic coating, metal frame |
| Exynos 7420 octacore | Snapdragon 810 octacore chipset |
| 3GB RAM | 3GB RAM |
| 32/64/128GB internal, no microSD | 32GB internal, microSD card up to 128GB |
| 16MP autofocus, laser assisst focus, 2160p video, auto HDR, OIS | 20.7MP f/2.0 camera, single LED flash, 2160p video, HDR |
| 5MP selfie camera, 1440p video | 5MP selfie camera, 1080p video |
| 4G LTE cat.6 , Wifi ac, Bt 4.1, NFC, Wireless charging, heart rate sensor, fingerprint sensor | Dual SIM, 4G LTE cat 4, WiFi ac, Bt 4.1, FM Radio, GPS |
| Android 5.0 Lollipop | Android 5.0 Lollipop |
| 2550mAh | 2930mAh battery |
| White pearl, Black sapphire, Blue topaz, Gold platinum | Aqua green, Copper, Black, White |
| P25,000 dual SIM as of July 6 | P27,990 dual SIM price as of July 6 |
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