Which will it be - Galaxy Note 3 or Sony Xperia Z1

After Sony launched the Z1, I was very torn between that and the Galaxy Note 3. Before that, I really wanted to go big with the Galaxy Note 3, but the Sony was just such a sleek looking device, with a huge camera and all that, that I really was thinking of going that route instead.

Yesterday I phoned CellC to get started, but typically they don't stock the Z1 yet. Vodacom does, but I'm never going back them.

Also, my Galaxy S2 finally died yesterday. It just hangs at the boot up screen, no matter what I do. I'm now even trying to flash the firmware, but I'm struggling with that too. Factory resetting doesn't work either. Oh woe is me!

Anyway, CellC is selling the Galaxy Note 3 already, so I decided to watch some online reviews of the device, since it was my initial choice. There were two videos that sold me on the device:

and

Both are about 12 minutes long, and goes into quite detail on the phone. It being an awesome device is the main conclusion both these guys end up with.

I went into one of the local CellC stores yesterday, and played with one a bit - I needed to be sure, especially since I'm upgrading from a 4.3 inch device to a 5.7 inch one - that's 1.4 inches more.

At first the phone looked really big, but after 2 minutes I was already used to is - this says something, considering the thing was bolted to the table (unfortunately I couldn't play with the stylus, the guy at the counter said someone stole it. I had a nice LOL for that hehe). The screen is absolutely gorgeous, some people complain about the oversaturedness, but I again like it. Also, the interface, while still being Samsung's Touchwiz UI, is very very smooth, and in my 10 minutes of messing around with it, it didn't lag once. I watched some of the full HD moves on the demo model, and boy oh boy, they looked stunning and smooth as silk.

So, the decision has been made. I'm ordering one today, and even the wife is getting herself one as well. She had an iPhone 4, which got stolen a few months back. Her contract also just expired, and we're both moving over to CellC from Vodacom. Anyway, she was quite torn between the iPhone 5S and the Xperia Z1 - only problem is, the iPhone 5S is only being launched in South Africa on 13 December, and CellC isn't stocking the Z1 yet. 

But, after watching the above movies with me, she was also keen to have a look at it, but still wasn't completely sold. In the store, she also played around a bit, and after that we walked to the iStore, she wanted to check out the iPhone 5 - after using it for 10 seconds, she was like "meh", and said that was very anti climatic - it felt so dull after using the Note 3. So, we're both ordering our Note 3's today, she's going for a white one, I'm getting the black one. 

Some other factors I'm including in my decision:

• Samsung is the biggest Android device maker in the world
• They have a 2 year warranty in South Africa
• They have accidental water and fall damage cover
• For your first 12 months, you get 1gig of data to use at an AlwaysOn wifi hotspot
• Their support base seems to be a bit bigger for if something goes wrong
• You can swap out the battery (not with the Sony)
• 4k Video (like I'll ever use that, but still, nice to know it's there for when I trade in my house for a UltraHD TV someday)
• Physically almost the same size as the Z1, only slightly bigger

Will keep everyone posted, can't wait!