[kojisan]

Blackberry Z10 vs. Sony Xperia ZL

I thought I would share my observations comparing the stalwart Z10 to the (new for me) Xperia ZL Android experience. A little bit of background, I have been a loyal blackberry user since 2007. I have had various iterations of Blackberry devices starting with the Pearl-Curves-Torch-Bolds, sprinkle a little Playbook in there, and finally the Z10. My usage has been in both enterprise BES environments and more recently has been primarily as a personal device.
I, like many Blackberry fans, was thrilled and excited for the arrival of OS 10 and on launch day in Canada I went down to my local store and picked up a brand new Z10! The Z10 was my first foray into touch screen territory. I (also like many Blackberry fans) was a diehard physical keyboard fan which is part of what kept me with Blackberry devices. I am still a physical keyboard fan and do prefer that typing experience to a touch screen (Blackberry or otherwise) however, having the screen real estate of a full touch screen for browsing , consuming media and otherwise is a much better experience so I�ve just gotten used to not being as efficient and apologizing for horrible spelling and grammar. With the background out of the way, on to the review:
Hardware
If you�re into benchmarks and statistics and theoretical limits and so forth, on paper the Xperia ZL is superior to the Z10 in most respects. I put very little weight on these figures though since none of us live in a vacuum and real world usability, to me, is far more important than how many cores can fire simultaneously over a 24 hour period or some other inane statistic. If you are one of those people that buys a phone based on specs alone then you will likely prefer the Xperia ZL to the Z10 but the ZL is hardly top dog on the market anymore and if you wait there are bigger and better (Honami, Moto X) devices coming down the pipe.

Construction

I really like how the Z10 was put together. The material felt high quality and the device overall was well built and had a classy high end feel to it. Physically, the phone felt like it was the right size in my hand, not too big that it felt awkward and cumbersome and not too small that if was difficult to see and interact with. I like the placement of the volume rockers and liked the recessed feel of the power button however I didn�t like the placement of it at the top of the phone. This is just a personal preference thing and not an �issue� with the phone itself. I just found unlocking from the top of the device then transitioning to the bottom bezel to swipe upwards un-intuitive. I realize there are ways around this and it is not the only way to open the phone but for my use case, it is how I preferred to use it and it felt odd.
The Xperia ZL, is also a very nicely constructed phone. The glass occupies the entire front of the phone, unlike the Z10 which has the top and bottom bezel, which makes for nice continuity in appearance on the front of the phone. I wasn�t overly impressed by the back case of the phone. It sort of has a cheap plastic textured feel to it, not anywhere as bad as some other Android phones (Samsung!!) but certainly not as refined as the Z10. The placement of the volume rockers is the same as the Z10 but the power button is located on the side and protrudes out past the frame. While I do prefer the location of the power button I don�t like the fact that it sticks out the way it does. The phone also has a physical camera button on the bottom right (top right when in landscape) which I really like! This makes taking pictures so much easier for me. I had a heck of a time getting a non-blurry picture on the Z10 b/c I would tap the glass too hard and send it out of focus at the last second.

Other notable differences, Z10 has removable back and removable battery and a micro HDMI port. The Xperia ZL, simply, does not. Both have expandable memory. Sony put this anti-shatter screen protector on the screen at factory which is a scratch and dust magnet! I get that they are trying to protect the screen but this thing is terrible and not designed to be removed. Overall it�s pretty even for the construction of the two phones with a slight edge to the Z10 for the materials and overall feel so my totally subjective scoring is Z10 9/10 v. ZL 8/10.

Battery Life

This is always one of the most contentious issues and one that stirs up the most interest both in reviews and in forums. It is also one of the most difficult to quantify because everyones use case is very different and there are myriad factors that impact battery life. I am on the Rogers network in primarily an urban/suburban area with excellent overall coverage. I generally leave my off of LTE since my LTE coverage at home is quite poor and I have no need for the higher speeds at this point. Anecdotally, I would characterize my use as moderate-heavy but leaning more on the moderate side. Day-to-day activity consists of about 100-150 emails received about 20-30 sent, numerous text, BBM, and What�s App messages in ongoing conversations, Moderate web browsing, some blue tooth audio streaming while commuting to/from the office and light-moderate Twitter, FB and news app/Feedly reading. The usage is very consistent throughout the work week and is generally a little bit lighter on the weekends.

The Z10 has a smaller battery at 1800 mAh whereas the ZL has a 2370 mAh battery. The difference is noticeable as on average my Z10 would be down to between 15%-25% at the end of the night when I had to plug it in. The Xperia ZL has rarely gone below 50%. In cases when I pushed both phones during the day either through streaming Youtube or Songza my Z10 would need a top up whereas the ZL is still kicking. With LTE on, just for testing since I don�t use it generally, the Z10 battery depleted very rapidly to the point that at around 1pm I would need to top up the battery or it would not make it to the evening whereas the ZL still depleted but not nearly as fast and it would get me to the end of the day with about 30% left in the tank.

It�s worth noting something about the software here. 1) Sony has a �Stamina Mode� which essentially shuts down everything except for whitelisted programs that you select so there is nothing running when the phone is in standby. This makes a big difference in the phone endurance compared to when �Stamina Mode� is off and certainly extends the life of the batter. 2) Sony/Android allows for location based services to be turned on and off. This can be a double edged sword b/c it requires your location services to be turned on. With the Z10 I had location service shut off since all it was good for was telling the phone where I was whereas with the Sony it actually activates and de-actives my WiFi. This is very handy since WiFi can be a large battery drain when it is not connected so having the ability to set it and forget it makes a difference.

Of course the Xperia ZL battery is just over 500 mAh larger which is a fair bit of extra juice but I always found the Z10 battery performance poor. I could get through a day, barely, and that was with the phone dumbed down. Any extra drain on the phone and I needed to find a charger. Yes I know it had a replaceable battery but to me a smartphone should make it through the day with a bit of juice to spare PERIOD. I have enough stuff to think about and lug around with me the last thing I should have to be concerned with is packing my charger and spare battery. I resigned myself to the battery life of my Z10 however, the Xperia battery life I am very impressed with!

Subjective Scores Z10 7/10 v. ZL 9/10

OS Overall

OS 10 on Blackberry is a very smooth and intuitive experience. More than once I found myself trying to swipe on my Xperia ZL to no avail. The interaction on the Blackberry is just so intuitive and easy to learn. They definitely got that right when developing the OS. The icon management is similar although I find Blackberry much cleaner without an �app drawer� as is standard in the Android OS. I never quite got into the active frames on OS 10 however, as I tend to close any app that I am not directly interacting with in large part to conserve battery power (see above). Although the Z10 was not running as powerful processor as the Xperia ZL I did not notice any significant differences between the two as both were quick and fluid.

Subjective Score: ever so slight advantage to the Z10 8.5/10 v. ZL 8/10

Messaging

I was the most conflicted on this issue and ultimately I feel that neither platform has it entirely right in this area. The new Hub in OS 10 make sense on paper but I found interacting with it sometimes unintuitive and at times frustrating. Not having all messaging/social media apps in there was a little bit frustrating as was navigating it since there wasn�t a back or home button at times I felt I got a little bit lost in there. Keep in mind I am a Blackberry traditionalist so I am used to, and still prefer to s certain degree, the old style of messaging management but I get that times are changing. The thing that was probably created the most dissonance was that if you invoked a message from Hub you would return there after going back whereas if you invoked it from the app itself it would take you back to your menu. There were also some limitations of not having native mail apps for the BB OS yet namely, Gmail and all the concomitant issues surrounding retention and folders and so forth. In general, those issues were not catastrophic for me but overall I do prefer having the native app on my Xperia ZL.

The messaging experience on the Xperia ZL is a little bit all over the place as well. With Blackberry you have your messaging center in the Hub where all incoming/outgoing activity can be monitored. Android has their message center as well but it is nowhere as neat or organized as Berry. To me it�s more of a heads up display that alerts you to check into other apps/systems to deal with the alerts. So if I have an email on my gmail account, rather than deal with it directly from the Hub in Blackberry I have to invoke the Gmail app, same for Yahoo or Outlook mail. Consequently, the Blackberry experience is much cleaner. That being said, having all of the options available in a native platform specific app can not be undervalued. The ability for to within the Gmail app to star, label and otherwise interact with Gmail in a manner consistent with the desktop experience is refreshing and frustrating. Since there is no universal standard for how a native app should look sometimes the delete button is at the top right and sometimes it�s at the bottom left. For now I have traded the de-cluttered experience of Berry for the full experience of Android messaging. It�s not ideal but it works for now.
Subjective Score: Neither really gets it entirely right here: Z10 7/10 v. ZL 7/10

Instant Messaging/Social Media

Blackberry has BBM. Need I say more? Oh wait, until BBM goes cross platform. I still don�t know how I feel about the cross platform thing but I digress. The Z10 handles things well with the universal inbox which (like above) makes for a clean experience. However, we had to wait forever for a proper What�s App app to arrive as well as Skype! And we are still waiting for other native message apps to arrive (Viber). While that is not a knock against the Z10 directly it does make for a more limited user experience as a Z10 owner. The Xperia ZL has a nicer What�s App app, Skype is native and less laggy, FB is a much better experience however, the message center is still fragmented. Both devices are competent at messaging but overall, I prefer having the platform built apps for the Android over the shoe horned ones for the Berry.
Subjective Score: Android gets the edge: Z10 7/10 v. ZL 8/10

App Selection

This has been beat to death and I really don�t want to retread it but at risk of kicking a dead horse I will briefly address it as it pertains to my use. Android has significantly more apps than Blackberry. We all know that and there are multiple reasons why that is the case and it�s not worth discussing again. What I will say about it is that it has been refreshing to have native apps for specific things like banking, native apps (not ported) for other apps and in some cases having more variety to chose from for some apps. I�m not a huge app person but with the Xperia I have about a dozen more apps than I had on my Berry that I use on a day-to-day/week-to-week basis. These apps were simply not available on the Berry platform. Again, it�s not a knock against the Z10 it�s just a statement of the overall state of affairs and for my purposes I prefer having access to those apps.

Subjective Score: I really hope Berry can up the App Selection: Z10 6/10 v. 9.5/10

Screen

As I stated in my intro, I�m not a huge spec nerd, so while the ZL on paper has higher ratings for a screen in my day-to-day experience I did not notice a difference at all. The Sony screen is slightly bigger measuring at 5� and having a little bit more screen real estate is nice without having my fat thumb block the screen but it�s not a deal breaker. I do like that Sony managed to cram the 5� screen into a body only slightly larger than the Z10 which maximizes the screen without going too far into the Phablet territory.

Subjective Score: It�s a draw to here for experience: Z10 10/10 v. ZL 10/10

Final Thoughts

Having been a Blackberry fan for all of my adult smartphone life it was certainly unusual when I had that Eureka! moment with the Xperia ZL and thought to myself, �Wait a minute, this thing is actually alright!�. I found that both phones acquitted themselves very well and as indicated by my Subjective Scores they were mostly neck and neck. The two areas in which Blackberry could not keep up there were significant differences and were in areas that were important to me as a user.
First and foremost is battery. If I can�t depend on my phone to get me through a full day of hard work without having to power up then it�s not worth it for me to keep. Notwithstanding all the variables involved in battery life, the Z10 just barely limped to the end of the day for me with nothing to spare. The ZL on the other hand cruised through the day with about another half day in reserved. Whether it was the �Stamina Mode� or larger battery or combination of both the ZL is far superior to the Z10 in this area and for me as a smartphone user this is a deal breaker.

The other are of noticeable difference was the apps. Again, it�s not worth digressing into the discussion, suffice it to say that for now I really enjoy having a selection of native apps that work properly on my phone. I really do hope that Blackberry can eventually provide the same level of app support or at the very least improve the porting experience for users so that there isn�t such a noticeable quality difference between the two.

At the end of the day I believe that OS 10 is a step into the future of what an OS should be about as it is the more intuitive to interact with but plagued with some minor bugs and stripped of some of the core Berry features it is still a work in progress. Android is an established, albeit aging, platform that gives the user what they have come to expect. Although the final score may have the Xperia ZL the winner by points I as far as smart phones go both are excellent, quality devices in their own right. The Xperia has become my daily driver for the two issues outlined above.

[darkehawke]

Nice write up. And I agree with you 100%.
I think BlackBerry 10 has huge potential. But potential means nothing today, and as it stands BlackBerry 10 is on par with Android in many ways.
I hope BlackBerry realises that they have a product that can be top class if they put the work in.

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[Kris Simundson]

Excellent write up OP very well thought out and constructed

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