Sony Xperia Z2 can sure give HTC One M8 tough time in Africa

HTC and Sony are two high-end smartphone makers that have time and again asserted their dominance through their products. Needless to say, it would be interesting to put their smartphone models up against each other for a spec-to-spec match to make sense of their product strategies as well as inform potential customers to help make a considered choice. Therefore, we have picked up Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One M8 for this comparative review.

The basic dimensions of both the devices are very close match. With 146.8x73.3x8.2mm, Sony Xperia Z2 weighs around 163gm, where as HTC One M8 with 146.36x70.6x9.35mm dimensions weighs around 160gm. The overall physical feel of holding the two devices in hand is about the same. Moreover, multiple colour variants in both the devices allow customers a greater choice in picking the right colour to make their style statement. Sony’s Xperia Z2 is available in black, purple and white colours, where as HTC’s One M8 is available in gunmetal grey, glacial silver and amber gold.

There is also not much difference in the display screen size as Sony Xperia Z2 has 5.2inch display where as HTC One M8 comes with 5inch display, meaning viewing space is about the same too. However, Xperia Z2 has a relatively more advanced Full HD Triluminos capacitative touchscreen where as One M8 has a Full HD 1080p capacitative touchscreen, which gives Xperia Z2 an edge for offering a superior quality of display.

There are slight variations on the front of performance indicators. Sony Xperia Z2 is powered by 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop, where as HTC One M8 is powered by 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat. In spite of slightly loosing out on processor, Sony’s Z2 acquires an edge over HTC’s M8 due to more advanced operating system. Nevertheless, it is possible to manually upgrade M8 to Android 5.0 Lollipop, if one is prepared to make an effort. Another critical difference is in RAM, where Sony’s Z2 comes with 3GB RAM while HTC’s M8 has 2GB RAM. Both the devices are available with a 16GB internal memory and an external memory expandable up to 128GB through microSD. As such, Sony Xperia Z2 has an edge over HTC One M8 due to more advanced processor and higher RAM, which influence the performance of the device.

This brings us to the additional features. Sony Xperia Z2 has an astonishing 20.7 mega-pixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization but a rather diminished 2.2 mega-pixel front camera. On the other hand, HTC One M8’s rear camera has a 2.0 ultra-pixel with 1/3-inch BSI CMOS sensor and a 5 mega-pixel front camera. The ultra-pixels are capable of capturing around 200 percent more light. In case of rear camera, Z2 stands out due to its superior mega-pixels but One M8’s ultra-pixel capability should put up an ideal fight in the battle for better primary camera. However, in case of front camera, HTC’s M8 has an edge over Sony’s Z2 giving users a better result in selfie quality.

Another critical differentiator is the battery capacity. While HTC’s One M8 has a battery capacity of decent 2300mAh, Sony’s Xperia Z2 comes with enormous 3200mAh capacity. Other than that both Z2 and M8 have Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi Direct and only 1 SIM slot. If Sony Xperia Z2 users can use only Micro-SIM, HTC One M8 users too can use only Nano-SIM. At the connectivity front, HTC One M8 is available in 2G/2.5G - GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 3G - WCDMA and 4G - LTE, where as Sony Xperia Z2 is available on 2G‎ - GSM, 3G‎ -‎ HSDPA and 4G - LTE.

Finally, we also looked at the price tag in the African market. In Kenya, Sony Xperia Z2 is priced around KSh38,000 where as HTC One M8 stands at around KSh46,000. Considering that Sony Xperia Z2 comes with more advanced operating system, larger RAM and higher battery capacity, it does make HTC One M8 look over priced.