The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is Sony’s biggest phablet and the LG Optimus G Pro is LG’s first Full HD smartphone. Xperia Z Ultra was just recently announced and has been available in India for more than a month now. Optimus G Pro was announced way back in January, but has been available in Indian only since July.
Lets check out how the Xperia Z Ultra and Optimus G Pro compete against each other.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odfHnmdr8js
Design, Build Quality
The Xperia Z Ultra looks huge and has a very good build quality with solid glass on the front and back. The Optimus G Pro too has a very solid build quality with glass front and textured glass back. The Xperia Z Ultra has a rectangular slab design with rounded corners and edges while the G Pro has smooth corners and curved edges. Along the device, Z Ultra has a brushed Aluminum while the G Pro has a metal rim. The Xperia Z Ultra is dust and water resistant which expands its usability.
In terms of dimensions, the Xperia Z Ultra is way bigger than the Optimus G Pro. The Z Ultra is 3 centimeter taller and 1.5 centimeter wider than the Xperia Z, but is 3mm thinner which is amazing. In terms of weight, the Xperia Z Ultra is heavier at 212g while the G Pro weighs around 172g.
On the front of the phones, we have the display above which we have the earpiece and front cameras along with ambient and proximity sensors. We have the camera and sensors on the left side of the earpiece in the Xperia Z Ultra while they are on the right side on the G Prp. The earpiece is along the top edge on the Z Ultra.
There are no navigation keys on the Xperia Z Ultra and hence all the navigation is restricted to on-screen buttons which eats away valuable screen space. The microphone is along the bottom edge on the Xperia Z Ultra. On the G Pro, below the display, we have the physical home button which is surrounded by LED light and there are capacitive touch keys on either side.
On the right side of Z Ultra we have the volume rocker, the iconic Sony power lock button, covered microSIM, microSD card slots and the uncovered 3.5mm audio jack. On the G Pro, we have just the power lock key on the right side.
At the bottom, we have the loudspeaker on the Xperia Z Ultra while on the G Pro we have the microUSB port and microphone.
On the left side, we have a dock connector at the center and a covered microUSB port on the Xperia Z while we have the volume rocker and LG’s Q-Slide button which can be configured for various uses.
On the top of Xperia Z Ultra, we have the secondary microphone while on the G Pro we have the 3.5mm audio jack, IR blaster and secondary microphone.
The back of both the phones is quite different as the Xperia Z Ultra has a plain reflective glass while the G Pro has a textured back. Both the phones are glossy and attract fingerprints. The 8MP camera on the Z Ultra is placed at the top leftish side while on the G Pro, it is on the top center flanked by LED flash on the right side and loud speaker grill on the left side. We have the usual branding on the back. The back cover of the Xperia Z is not removable while Optimus G Pro has removable back cover. Removing the back cover, we see the hot-swappable microSD card and the microSIM card slot.
Overall, the Xperia Z is huge and feels huge. One handed usage is difficult especially with the rectangular slab design and flat edges. The G Pro on the other hand offers a much better grip because of the curved edges. The build quality of both the devices is quite good.
Display
Both the phones have a 1080p Full HD display. The Xperia Z Ultra has a 6.44inch Sony Triluminous display while the Optimus G Pro has a 5.5inch True Full HD IPS+ display. The Xperia Z Ultra has a pixel density of 344ppi while the Optimus G Pro has a pixel density of 401ppi.
In terms of brightness, both the displays were good, but we found that the display on the Xperia Z Ultra was a little more bright. In terms of color saturation, the Xperia Z Ultra was ahead of the Xperia Z with richer colors. When it came to contrast, the Xperia Z Ultra had better contrast.
Overall, we liked the display on the Xperia Z Ultra.
Hardware and Performance
The Xperia Z Ultra is one of the first devices to be powered by the Snapdragon 800 SoC and is clocked at 2.2GHz, has 2GB RAM and graphics is taken care by Adreno 330 GPU while the Optimus G Pro is powered by the 1.7 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon 600 SoC, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.
The Xperia Z Ultra comes with 16GB of internal storage while the G Pro has 16/32GB variants(we have the 16GB variant). Both the phones have microSD card slot for storage expansion. Out of the 16GB, Z Ultra has around 11.7GB user accessible memory while G Pro has around 10.11GB.
Out of the 2GB RAM, both the phones have 1.8GB usable RAM and the Xperia Z Ultra has 1GB free RAM while G Pro has 1.2GB free when the devices are idle.
The newer processor clearly gives the Xperia Z Ultra an advantage in terms of performance. The Xperia Z Ultra is faster in opening apps and switching between them.
In benchmarks, the Xperia Z Ultra easily beat the Optimus G Pro.
Camera
The Xperia Z Ultra has a 8MP camera at the back and 2MP camera at the front while the Optimus G Pro has a 13MP camera at the back and 2.1MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from the both the cameras. The Xperia Z Ultra does not have a flash while the G Pro has a single LED flash.
The camera UI is quite different on both the phones. Various shooting modes like HDR, Panorama and burst mode is available on both the devices. Xperia Z Ultra has a picture effect mode that has 9 effects with live previews. LG has a unique dual recording feature that lets you use both cameras at a time.
In terms of image clarity, the images and videos of G Pro were much better with less noise, more details and better contrast and saturation. You can check out the camera comparison video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMrh1ccWT-4
Software features
The Xperia Z Ultra runs on a more recent version of Android – 4.2.2 Jellybean while the G Pro runs on Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. Xperia Z Ultra comes with Sony’s small-apps feature which lets you choose a miniature version of the app that can be placed anywhere on the screen. LG comes with Q-apps that are similar to small apps, but can be used two at a time. There is also a note-taking app from LG which reminds us of Note 2’s S-Note app. LG has a Q-slide key on the left side of the phone which can be configured to open any Q-apps or other apps directly. There is no stylus on both the phones, however, Sony has claimed that anything like a stylus like pencil can be used to write on the screen.
In terms of software, there is nothing to differentiate the phones.
Gaming
Both the phones are quite good for gaming and the Xperia Z Ultra is excellent because of its excellent and bigger display. The Xperia Z Ultra is powered by a new generation processor and GPU which gives it a clear advantage in the gaming. All the games run very smoothly and have rich graphics on both the phones, but the big and better display on the Xperia Z Ultra gives it an advantage.
Battery and Connectivity
The Xperia Z Ultra has a 3050mAh battery while the Optimus G Pro has a 3140mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the one on the G Pro is better.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi(802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, WiFi Direct, USB OTG and microUSB(MHL) connectivity.
Conclusion
The Xperia Z Ultra and Optimus G Pro are relatively new devices in the Indian market. Both the devices are their respective company’s first phablets. The Xperia Z Ultra currently retails for Rs45,000 and only its huge display justifies the pricing while the G Pro retails for Rs39,000.
Advantages of Xperia Z Ultra over G Pro
- Better and bigger display
- Better performance
- Better for media consumption and gaming
Advantages of G Pro over Xperia Z Ultra
- Cheaper price point
- Pocketable size
- Better camera
- Better software features