Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs. Sony Xperia Z Ultra: How Do They Stack-up?

Samsung Inc recently launched its much-awaited Galaxy Note 3 phablet in India, and is due to hit stores on 25 September, almost a month before the Diwali season kicks-off.

If prospective buyers are considering to purchase high-end gadgets this pre-festival season, Samsung's new phablet-Galaxy Note 3 and Sony's giant Xperia Z Ultra make a smart buy.

Both phablets feature superior specifications worthy of their price, but differ in certain internal hardware components.

Here is a brief comparison of key-specifications between Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Sony Xperia Z Ultra:

Display:

Sony phablet boasts of a mammoth 6.4-inch full HD (1920x1080p) TFT LCD Triluminos display featuring exclusive patented X-Reality for Mobile and BRAVIA Engine 2 technology. It has pixel density of 342 ppi (pixels per inch). On the other hand, Samsung's new generation phablet flaunts a smaller (hand friendly) 5.7-inch full HD (1920x1080p) super AMOLED screen with rich display quality having pixel count of 388 ppi.

Processor, RAM & Storage:

In India, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 ships with the company's in-house built Exynos Octa-core 5420 chipset (it has two quad-core processors-1.9GHz A9 and 1.3GHz A7) with 3GB RAM and 32GB inbuilt memory which can expand up to 64GB.

The Sony phablet boasts of an equally superior Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series quad-core processor which can top a staggering CPU speed close to 2.2GHz. It houses 2GB RAM and 16GB memory (expandable up to 64GB).

Even though they pack different chipsets, Galaxy Note 3 and Xperia Z Ultra users can perform processor-intensive multi-tasking operations or play heavy duty games with fewer issues.

Camera:

Samsung's new Galaxy Note 3 comes loaded with a stunning 13.0-megapixel camera with a plethora of photography enriching applications. It boasts of high CRI LED flash support to take good quality pictures under low-light conditions. It can also record 4K resolutions (3840x2160p) videos at 30 fps, making it one of the few handsets to have ultra HD video recording ability.

Even though Sony has produced high-end Xperia smartphones with excellent camera specifications, the company has failed to add some of those features in its first ever 6.0-inch plus phablet. Xperia Z Ultra comes with a less impressive 8.0-megapixel camera with no LED flash support on the rear side. On the bright side, it has full HD video recording capability and 16X zoom features.

Both phablets house 2.0-megapixel camera on the front side with full HD video recording ability.

Operating system:

In this aspect, they stand even as they run on the same Android OS platform. It is to be noted the Galaxy Note 3 ships with v4.3 out-of-the-box, whereas Xperia Z Ultra runs on v4.2 (expected to get firmware update soon in India). Since both are phablets, they come with stylus applications and functionalities.

Price:

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is due to hit stores on 25 September for ₹49,900 and is currently available for pre-orders. On the other hand, Sony phablet's price is hovering around ₹41,000 in the market.

Considering all aspects, Galaxy Note 3 pips the Xperia Z Ultra marginally. The only downside of the Samsung phablet is that its built quality is sub-par compared to Sony handset's water-proof and dust-resistant body case.

Key specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Sony Xperia Z Ultra: