HTC Butterfly vs Sony Xperia Z

The HTC Butterfly was launched just a month before Sony Xperia was launched in January 2013. Both the phones are the current flagship products for the two successful mobile manufacturers. None of them spared any effort in bringing out a winner, and it is evident from the specs. Both sported one of the largest displays (5 inches), the fastest processor (1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon) and the latest OS (Jelly Bean). There is no doubt that they stand neck to neck, however before we sit down and compare them we need to consider the fact that the manufacturers seems to imbibe the essence of their corporate vision into their flagship products. HTC mobiles has strived to produce a crisp state of art product where as Sony created a masterpiece in design and technical excellence with emphasis on multimedia experience wherein lies the manufacturer’s strengths.

Build

Sony introduces the phone as a precision engineered full HD smart phone. True to its words the glass fiber polyamide Xperia Z body is super sleek. The excellence does not stop there. The IP57 rating means that the phone can survive in a dishwasher.  The Butterfly is housed in the typical plastic Samsung case. The face has a Gorilla glass though which is plus over the shatter proof, toughened glass on the Xperia. The Xperia is slimmer at 7.9 mm but the curved back of the Butterfly gives it a slimmer look and a better grip. They weigh close to each other while the Butterfly is 140g the Xperia is 6 grams heavier.

Camera

This is one area where we have a major difference in both the products. The Xperia provides a 13mp camera with HDR functionality and dynamic exposure control. The Butterfly sports an 8 mp camera with HD capabilities too. Further it has the functionality to click still photographs while you are shooting a video.

Audio

Sony being an industry leader in music and video products has provided support to a very large number of audio and video formats compared to the HTC phone. Surprisingly Sony could not match up to the HTC Beat amplifier on the audio front.

Battery

Both the phones have non-replaceable batteries around same capacity (2000 mAh) but the Sony has better performance. The higher Sony mobile price outweighs the Butterfly in this regard.

Display

Both the phones have almost matching displays at 441 ppi. Sony uses TFT display against the Super LCD on the Butterfly.  However the Samsung phone is an overall winner with better viewing angles and great colors and contrast though it is not as good as the Xperia in bright sunlit conditions. The Xperia Z with its Bravia engine which works so well on the TV products does not score extra points here.

Add Ons

Sony has not been able to match HTC’s Sense UI, but the skin on the Jelly Bean front end on the Sony Xperia is typical Sony design, sleek and stylish, though it does not have the ability to be customized to the user’s requirement it adds to the aspirational value of the phone.