Design and form factor
Samsung Galaxy S5 - 8.1mm thick, Plastic body
Sony Xperia Z2 - 8.2mm thick, one-piece aluminium 'Omnibalance' body
With S5, Samsung has decided to retain the plastic body gives it a very similar look and feel to the S4. The back now has a perforated effect design to aid grip and additionally, there's a plastic cover to conceal the charging port to give the S5 its IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. In addition, the S5's home button now functions as a finger-print reader. On the rear, you'll find a heart-rate monitor, just below the camera module.
On the other hand, the aluminium framed Z2 comes with square-edges, metallic effect sides and toughened glass plates that sit on both the front and back. It weighs 163g and is just 8.2mm thick. The Z2 is IP58 certified waterproof, which means you can dip the device up to 1.5m and take pictures with the dedicated camera button.
Winner: The Z2 has a slight edge over here
Screen
Samsung Galaxy S5 - 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Full HD screen
Sony Xperia Z2 - 5.2-inch Full HD Trilluminous IPS display
The S5 comes with a 5-inch Super AMOLED 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution display. The phone comes with new adaptive display technology that will adjust the brightness depending on your environment.
The Z2 offers a Full HD Trilluminous IPS display. The device now introduces Live Color LED tech to generate brighter and more colourful images.
Overall, both the devices are good for video viewing and multimedia consumption. However, AMOLED screens tend to be oversaturated compared to more 'faithful' IPS LCD screens, but AMOLED gives superior contrast.
Winner: The Z2 has a slight edge over here
