Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. Sony Xperia Z: Can Sony Smartphone’s Exmor RS Image Sensor Beat Samsung’s Smart Camera Features?

The much-hyped Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to hit the stores in India in May but it's not going to be a cakewalk for the South Korean electronics giant in this price-sensitive market. Moreover, its rival Sony has already unveiled its flagship smartphone Xperia Z in India.

Samsung on Thursday launched the most awaited smartphone of the year Galaxy S4 at New York City's historic landmark Radio City Music Hall.

The Galaxy S4 comes packed with a slew of creative features such as 'Air View' gesture control, facial movement tracker 'Smart Scroll' and 'Smart Pause' which aptly exemplifies the word smartphone. The new Galaxy S4 has its rival Apple iPhone 5 and other competitors a dwarf in terms of innovative smart technology features.

Xperia Z is no less of a competitor either. It too has a few tricks in its bag to give a stiff fight to Galaxy S4, as it boasts of an exclusive technology of its own to show-off such as Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 display technology and Exmor RS image sensor.  

With Galaxy S4 expected to hit Indian market in early May, will the high-end smartphone buyers go for Xperia Z which recently hit retail stores in India or wait a couple of more months for the arrival of Samsung's latest smartphone? It remains to be seen.

Galaxy S4 Vs. Xperia, brief comparison In terms of main specfications:

Display:

It term of display, both smartphones come with high resolution display. Xperia Z sports an impressive 5.0-inch Full HD Reality Display with 441 pixels per inch resolution thanks to Sony's in-house technology Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2.

Samsung Galaxy S4 too sports an equally impressive 5.0-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with same 441 ppi screen resolution, but the rival Japanese company scores an additional point here for the water-and-dust proof screen in Xperia Z.

Processor:

With Samsung expected to bring Octa-core processor variant Galaxy S4 in India, Samsung's smartphone beats Xperia Z's quad-core processor hands down. Galaxy S4 comes with Samsung's factory made Exynos 5 Octa-core processor where as Xperia Z packs a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor.

(Galaxy S4's 1.9GHz quad-core processor variant is expected to be sold in select markets)   

Camera:

Samsung's Galaxy S4 sports a 13.0-megapixel main camera and a 2.0-megapixel front camera, and the user's viewing experience is further enhanced with smart camera softwares such as Smart Pause, Smart Scroll.

With the help of Samsung's exclusive camera software, users need not even flick the screen up and down to view a text; Galaxy S4's 2.0-megapixel front camera will track your facial movements to scroll through an email text or browse internet and if the user look away while watching a video, the smartphone automatically pauses the video and starts again when user turns back.

Sony's Xperia Z is no less of a competitor, it boasts of 13-megapixel camera with company's flagship digital camera technology Exmor RS image sensor for HDR (High Dynamic Range) video capture, but Galaxy S4's smart camera features still trumps the Xperia Z for sheer technological advancement.

Mobile Operating System:

Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z smartphone stand even in this department since they both run on the same mobile OS platform Android.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to come with updated Android Jelly Bean OS v4.2.2 while Xperia Z runs on the Android Jelly Bean OS v4.1; the Sony smartphone will gets its OS update in one of the coming days.

The smartphones pretty much match spec-to-spec such as RAM, Battery and other minor aspects.

Here is breakdown of comparison between Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z [Spec-Wise]:

Model	Samsung Galaxy S4	Sony Xperia Z
Display	5.0-inch Full HD Super AMOLED Display with 441 pixels per inch (1920 x 1080p) resolutions	5.0-inch Full HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 (Pixel density: 441 pixels per inch)
OS	Android v4.2.2 OS (Jelly Bean)	Android v4.1 OS (Jelly Bean)
Processor	Samsung Exynos 5410 Octa-core processor with 1.6GHz clock speed and other variant expected to feature quad-core processor with 1.9GHz clock speed)	Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad-core processor with 1.5 GHz CPU speed
RAM	2GB	2GB
Storage	16GB, 32GB & 64GB, expandable to an additional 64GB	16GB ,expandable up to 32GB
Camera	Main: 13.0-megapixel Auto-focus, Flash & Shutter Lag with BIS sensor Front:2.0-megapixel pixel camera, full HD video recording	Main: 13.1-megapixel Back side illuminated Exmor RS Image Sensor with LED flash Front: 2.2-megapixel
Network	3G & 4G /LTE	3G & 4G/LTE in  select markets
Battery	2600 mAh	2400 mAh
Dimensions	136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm	139.0 x 71.0 x 7.9 mm
Weight	130 g	146 g
Price	Not Announced	Rs. 38,990/-