Both Apple and Samsung use in-house chipsets (though the Galaxy Alpha also comes in a Snapdragon 801 version), while Sony uses Qualcomm offerings for most of its lineup.

Apple bought a CPU design company and has been using custom cores ever since. The latest is called Cyclone, which debuted with the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 6 uses a slightly tweaked version. Apple's CPUs are only dual-cores and run at a low frequency but they are closer to an Intel core than the usual ARM cores.

The company claims a 20% speed improvement over the last generation, which was competitive with the quad-core Kraits of the time. The other half of the Apple A8 chipset comes from Imagination, the PowerVR GX6450. It's as much as 50% faster than the GPU in the A7 chipset but the increased resolution of the new, bigger screen offsets most of that.

Samsung's custom chipsets are based on standard ARM Cortex cores, four of A15 and four of A7 in the case of the Samsung Galaxy alpha. The chipset is SMP-enabled, meaning it can run all eight cores at once, subject to thermal restraints. The GPU in the Exynos 5430 chipset also comes from ARM's labs, A Mali-T628 MP6.

Snapdragon 801 is at the heart of the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and the alternative Galaxy Alpha version. They have four Krait 400 cores paired with Adreno 330, both coming from Qualcomm. It's a tried and tested chipset, offering great performance to the many high-end Androids out there.

Geekbench 3 finds a good use for the many cores of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha chipset and puts it on top with a small margin but having fewer cores certainly didn't hurt the iPhone 6. In fact, it tops the Basemark OS II chart. This benchmark doesn't appreciate Exynos 5430 nearly as much as Geekbench and places the Galaxy Alpha last.

Meanwhile the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact shows a middle of the road performance - you won't be short on CPU power, but you can't brag about benchmark scores to your friends either.

Higher is better

Higher is better

Apple has stuck with PowerVR GPUs through the years and they haven't let Cupertino down. The latest generation is very impressive and manages to top the charts even in the 1080p off-screen tests, even though none of the three phones ahs the screen to show a 1080p image.

Higher is better

Higher is better

More importantly, the iPhone 6 hits a solid 30fps on the heavy GFX 3.0 Manhattan benchmark, while the two Adenoids don't quite make it to the 30fps mark. Benchmarks are typically more demanding than games (it's a form of future-proofing the benchmark) but even so iOS devs can squeeze out a bit more out of the hardware.

They already start off with an advantage over their Android counterparts since Apple has only a few GPU and screen resolution targets, while Android games need to serve a much wider and diverse audience.

In the battle between Mali-T628 MP6 and Adreno 330, the Mali-powered Galaxy Alpha beats the Adreno-running Xperia Z3 Compact by a small but not insignificant margin.

Higher is better

Higher is better

Lower is better

Note that different game engines behave differently on various GPU architectures and the Basemark X test prefers running on Adreno rather than Mali. The PowerVR-based iPhone stays on top though, with a healthy margin to boot.

Higher is better

There's a battle going on between mobile apps and web sites but regardless of the shifts in power there a fast browser is a must for a modern flagship. Apple has its own browser, Safari, with its own HTML and JavaScript engines. Finely tuned to the hardware they run on, the iPhone 6 edges out the Galaxy Alpha in JavaScript performance and leaves the two Androids in the dust in HTML speed as measured by BrowserMark 2.1.

Samsung tunes the stock Android browser to perform as well, which shows in the speed advantage over the Chrome-running Xperia Z3 Compact. Chrome is no slouch though and pays off with slightly faster page rendering, but the gap to the iPhone is truly impressive.

Higher is better

Higher is better

Winner: Apple iPhone 6. The iPhone is no underdog - casual users may be misled by CPU core count but the Apple handset won almost all of the challenges here. Apps, games and websites have processing power to spare and can deliver a flawless experience.

Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. The Exynos 5430 chipset beat out Snapdragon 801 in certain benchmarks and you can try and get an S801 Galaxy Alpha too. Not that you'll see much difference in performance. Neither is as fast as the Apple A8 though.

Third place: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Snapdragon 801 is certainly fast enough for daily use - apps, gaming and browsing - but the iPhone will be noticeably faster in some scenarios.

With cameras a major point of pride for each of our three phones, their gallery apps play a very important role. Each maker put their own spin with proprietary features.

The Apple iPhone 6 has a sort of mini social network built-in, thanks to the Shared photos feature. Photos are shared between you and your friends, you can invite friends and family to join in. Finding a photo is easy, they are organized by time and location into what Apple calls Moments. A cool option is the Recently deleted folder, which easily recovers accidental deletions.

   
Photos app organizes photos into moments

Sony, the longtime camera maker, came out with Album. It syncs online albums (Sony's own PlayMemories as well as Facebook, Picasa and Flickr) and has handy options to share a photo on those networks too. Album also sorts photos by location and even by the faces in those photos. Automatic slideshows based on SensMe algorithms can easily turn an album into a fun video to show off.

   
Album features online sync and automatic slideshows

Samsung's Gallery app also comes with online album integration (Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa) and can natively connect to DLNA devices. It can sort photos by faces like the Sony app too. As a reminder, Private mode unlocks a folder where you can keep sensitive photos safely.

   
DLNA-enabled TouchWiz gallery with online sync

The Samsung music player is one of the most feature-rich we've seen. Highlights include the clever SoundAlive feature that shows an intuitive chart instead of a potentially confusing equalizer. A 7-band equalizer with additional options is there for the more experienced users or you can let the Adapt Sound feature test your headphones and your hearing and find the best settings automatically.

Easy playlist creation based on mod or music period is supported and Smart volume will make sure there are no jarring jumps in volume between tracks.

The Exynos 5430-based Samsung Galaxy Alpha features a dedicated Cortex-A5 processor core exclusively to decode and process audio.

   
The most feature-rich player

Sony brings the legendary Walkman name to the table. It supports noise-cancelling headphones (including the ones that come in the Xperia Z3 Compact box) and has a manual equalizer too, plus a number of proprietary sound-enhancing features.

Dynamic normalizer is the equivalent to Smart volume. High-Res audio and the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine claim to improve the audio quality of low-bitrate songs, but we think that's just a gimmick - you can't upscale photos to improve their quality and you can't do the same with audio.

The Infinite button makes song-related searches easy - you can look for artist info on Wikipedia, song video on YouTube, song lyrics on Google and more.

   
A beautiful music player with Infinite button for easy searching

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact has an FM radio receiver with RDS support. If that doesn't give you the name of the song, you can always tap the TrackID button to identify it.

  
Noise-cancelling headphone support • FM radio with integrated track recognition

Whatever the source of the music, you can always use the front-facing stereo speakers on the Z3 Compact, which make for a better experience than the single speakers on the Galaxy Alpha and the iPhone 6. They don't sound as good as HTC BoomSound speakers but we suppose that is due to soundproofing in no small extent.

Of course, Sony is pushing its Music Unlimited service, which is a music store that can help you discover new tracks and artists with the Charts, New releases and Channels feeds but can be disabled if you prefer.

Apple is doing much the same with iTunes Radio - it's an ad-supported service (ads go away if you pay for iTunes Match) that helps you discover new music. If you hear something you like you can hit the Buy button. There's no equalizer here though.

   
Apple's music player with iTunes Radio

The Samsung video player natively supports next-generation h.265 video (though our samples failed to play) and most current formats (not DivX or multi-channel audio though). There's excellent subtitle support too, the only thing missing is wired TV out, you have to use Wi-Fi based screen mirroring, which suffers from compatibility issues.

 
Samsung's music player

Sony's multimedia package is rounded off by the Movies app. It has HDTV-like functionality in that it automatically finds information on movie files stored on your device. Unfortunately that doesn't work with TV show episodes and subtitle options are more limited. There is MHL 2.0 support for HDMI-out with an adapter though. And if you watch on the phone, the front-facing speakers do a good job at directing the movie's audio towards your ears.

 
Sony takes the home theater route

Apple solves the format compatibility headaches by having you transcode all videos via iTunes. Or you can just buy a video from the iTunes store. TV out is there but the Lightning-to-HDMI adapters are pricier than MHL adapters and there's no subtitle support.

 
Basic video player from Apple

Winner: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Stereo speakers, noise-cancellation support, a cheap wired TV-out option, FM radio, excellent preloaded multimedia apps all add up to a victory for the Sony mini-flagship.

Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Samsung loaded each app with tons of features but somehow forgot about MHL. AdaptSound feature does wonders in making the most put of your headphones.

Third place: Apple iPhone 6. The new Photos app is great but we can still see the property limits of Apple's walled garden. The audio and video players are a bit light on features too.

All three phones scored an Average on our loudspeaker test but they are not equals, not exactly anyway. The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact has two speakers on its front so they project sound outwards when you lay it on a table. Both the Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy Alpha have a single speaker on their bottom, which makes the sound more directional.

Winner: Three-way tie. We already gave the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact props for a good sound experience in the music and video player in the previous chapter but as far as notification duties go, none of the phones deserves a win with Average results.

Before we start with this one, we need to get something out of the way. All three contestants are excellent performers as far as their audio output is concerned and unless you are a proper audiophile and have a library full of high-bitrate audio tracks, you won't find much difference.

In the first part of our we hook up each smartphone to an active external amplifier and let them show their best possible output. The Galaxy Alpha posted the best scores here with no leak points to its performance whatsoever.

The iPhone 6 was doing great up until it came to the stereo crosstalk test where it produced only an average score. That left it behind the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which has slightly lower (but still excellent results) elsewhere, but no gaps to its performance. In terms of loudness the Galaxy Alpha and the iPhone 6 were inseparable, while the Xperia Z3 Compact was a notch behind.

Next we repeated the test with our standard pair of headphones. This time the Apple iPhone 6 and the Galaxy Alpha were almost identical in their performance, while the Xperia Z3 Compact had higher stereo crosstalk than either of them. And volume levels told the very same story, adding up to the following overall results.

Apple iPhone 6 frequency response

Samsung Galaxy Alpha frequency response

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Cleanest output and joint highest volume levels clinch this one for the Samsung handset.

Runner-up: Apple iPhone 6. While no longer the best around, the iPhone 6 is still an excellent audio performer and good enough for the second place here. It was as loud as the Galaxy Alpha, but its stereo quality let it down slightly.

Third place: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. An excellent performer on its own, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact came just short of its competitors here - its scores were a tad lower and so was its volume level, meaning it has to settle for the bronze medal.

Sony is the long time camera maker, Samsung has its own camera division as well. Apple's foray into digital cameras was long ago, enough to be forgotten, but the iPhone become the most popular camera model years ago.

The company has been using the same resolution - 8MP - for four years, but increased the sensor size last generation. For the 6 generation Apple included phase-detection autofocus for fast, accurate focus lock. The dual-LED flash has been reshaped (it's now round) but it still has two LED colors to mix and match in order to provide a more natural looking flash light.

Sony has stretched its camera tech too, the first 20.7MP sensor was introduced with the Xperia Z1. That's two generations ago but with Sony's fast release cycle this means only a year ago.

Samsung is using a 12MP sensor with 16:9 aspect ratio but it is yet to officially confirm that it's a homebrewed ISOCELL like the 16MP sensor of the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Along with the slightly improved image sensor, Apple also slightly improved the software. The company promises better digital image stabilization and higher resolution panoramas. It gives you slightly more control during shooting too, if you tap to focus you get a slider to adjust the exposure. This is in addition to the old option to lock focus and exposure.

Apple declined the invitation to the 2160p party, instead adding 1080p@60fps and 720@240fps modes. In slow-motion mode you can choose between 120fps and 240fps (both at 720p) but you need to go into settings to enable 1080p@60fps. UHD TVs are plummeting in price but Apple doesn't care. Stereo has been the standard for a century and Apple still doesn't care - we do though, mono sound is a major downside on such an expensive device.

Samsung took practically all camera modes from the Galaxy S5 and ported them to the Galaxy Alpha. The most useful modes include Dual Camera (picture-in-picture mode with front and back camera), Selective Focus (the trendy shallow depth of field effect) and Shot & more (which combines several effects in one shot).

The video department boasts 2160p@30fps as well as 1080p@60fps. High framerate modes are available at 720p resolution - 4x slow down at 120fps. An 8x mode is available too but that just halves the playback rate to 15fps instead of 30fps.

Sony is addicted to camera modes, more than even Samsung. You get Normal mode and Superior Auto, but also all sorts of other single use case options. The more interesting ones help you livestream video to Facebook or YouTube, the less useful ones (unless you give the Z3 Compact to a kid to play with) create 3D rendered dinosaurs or throw imaginary bombs into the scene, but can also add floating words in the image.

For low-light photography Sony has bravely come up with a special High ISO mode in the Z3 pair, so under special circumstances (8MP Normal mode) the ISO can go as high as 12,800 (you can't select it manually, it's only available in AutoISO mode when it's almost pitch dark).

Apple and Sony are at the two extremes - barely any camera modes on the iPhone 6 and a ton of modes and sub-modes for the Xperia Z3 Compact.

The two major ones are Superior Auto (which downsamples the output of the sensor to 8MP and crops to 16:9 aspect ratio) and Normal mode (which does image processing at native 20.7MP resolution). We know from experience both modes can produce quite different results so we'll be including both. This also makes comparing the Sony with the 12MP Galaxy Alpha more fair.

Apple didn't change image processing much, the red colors still tend towards orange. White balance is good, but with a slight warm tinge. The iPhone 6 tends to expose for to the shadows so sunlit areas sometimes end up too bright or even overexposed.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha doesn't have issues with the red channel but colors overall are oversaturated. White balance is the most accurate of the three. When viewing the image from up close, the signs of postprocessing are easy to spot. The camera underexposes shadows but still doesn't completely protect highlights from blowing out.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact ends up with a cool white balance and colors are fairly accurate but actually a bit undersaturated. The camera overexposes images slightly but less than the iPhone does.

In terms of image quality the Samsung Galaxy Alpha comes out on top. Yes, Samsung turned up the sharpening dial quite high but the result is crisp text and good-looking foliage.

The Apple iPhone 6 image looks softer (but also less processed). Still, the lower resolution sensor misses out on detail captured by its competitors. Also in areas of lower contrast, the fine detail starts to blend together.

The 8MP Superior Auto photos from the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact have an edge over the iPhone in high-contrast areas but complicated detail like foliage doesn't look as good. The full resolution 20.7MP shots from Normal mode have more detail than the iPhone but it doesn't pop as much as on the Galaxy Alpha. And it's not for lack of sharpening either, you can clearly see oversharpening halos around darker areas of the Z3 Compact's image (they are more visible than in Samsung's photos).

  
Apple iPhone 6 camera samples

  
Samsung Galaxy Alpha camera samples

  
  
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact: Superior Auto and Normal mode samples

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. It brought the most detail out of our test scenes and offered an accurate white balance. Colors are on the saturated side and pixel peepers will spot processing artifacts but in general Galaxy Alpha photos are very good.

Runner-up: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. The resolution advantage of Normal mode was not used to the fullest but it's a nice option to have. The 8MP Superior Auto shots will probably be used more often and despite some color issues they look slightly better than iPhone 6 photos.

Third place: Apple iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 camera is showing its age - detail is good for an 8MP shooter but the 8MP sensor is overstretching to match what the higher resolution sensors offer. Also the color rendering could use some work.

We've already seen that the dynamic range of these phones doesn't always cut it, so it's important to put the HDR mode through its paces. A note about the Xperia Z3 Compact and its many modes - we took a photo in Superior Auto (8MP), one with HDR on (only available at Normal mode 8MP or less) and one in Normal mode at full resolution.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha did a great job at capturing correctly the bright sky but in doing so darkened the other areas of the image. That means it doesn't pull out any more detail in the shadows, but the good news is that the processing is good (so there's no ghosting or artifacts) and the contrast of the photo is kept high. HDR naturally lowers contrast and can look quite bad when taken to extremes.

The Apple iPhone 6 HDR mode is very quick (you can barely feel it's on) but it doesn't do much either. It lowers contrast a bit (easy to see in the gradient of the sky) and it mainly preserves the highlights, while barely doing anything about the shadows.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is a good example where HDR goes too far. The photo starts looking flat due to its low contrast, which makes colors very undersaturated and kills a good deal of the fine detail as well. Superior Auto and Normal mode do a pretty decent job on their own but the supposedly intelligent Superior Auto doesn't achieve more than regular Normal mode.

 
Apple iPhone 6 HDR samples: off and on

 
Samsung Galaxy Alpha HDR samples: off and on

  
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact HDR samples: off, Superior Auto and HDR on

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. The HDR shots have more detail in bright areas and maintain a pleasant contrast.

Runner-up: Apple iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 HDR mode didn't do much than preserving the highlights but sometimes that's better than doing the wrong thing.

Third place: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. We'd recommend staying off the HDR mode as it mostly kills contrast and colors and adds nothing of value. Both Superior Auto and Normal modes produce better results.

Apple reworked the panorama mode on the iPhone 6 so it achieves higher resolution. The end results are impressive - large, sharp photos with accurate stitching. The camera also does a good job of handling both shadows and highlights (which do get overexposed), which is a common problem with panoramas.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha panoramas match the iPhone in resolution (but you have to shoot in portrait orientation). Disappointingly, stitching isn't very accurate, especially visible in the white markings on the road. Shadows were a bit underexposed and highlights go over.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is quite a bit behind on resolution, sticking to a 1080p vertical. The software is also very finicky about sweeping speed (it will abort if you move too fast or too slow) and if you don't complete the full 360° circle it's a 50/50 whether it will save the image or not. When it does save it, it fills in the rest of the frame with grey area (which we've cropped out of the sample below).

Apple iPhone 6 panorama

Samsung Galaxy Alpha panorama

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact panorama

Winner: Apple iPhone 6. Stunning resolution, trouble-free stitching and good dynamic range make this an easy victory.

Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. It may match the iPhone in resolution but the processing isn't nearly as good, with plenty of stitching issues. The dynamic range isn't as good either.

Third place: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Low resolution and finicky software and the end result is a soft image with not quite perfect stitching.

For the low-light test we took samples with the flash off and on. The reasoning behind this is that smartphone flashes (apart from the rare xenon flashes) have a short reach and the flash is no help in many scenes. We've selected the best and worst photos out of several to show the consistency - handshake or missed focus can ruin your shot so it's often a good idea to take several shots unless you know the camera is dependable.

We start off with the no flash test as a baseline. Note that for the Xperia Z3 Compact we used only the Superior Auto mode since resolution doesn't help in the dark.

The Apple iPhone 6 used an ambitiously low ISO 250 and 1/15s shutter speed. Thanks to the phase detection autofocus all shots were in focus and the results are quite good - expectedly some detail was lost but noise is kept low and there's plenty of detail left. The iPhone 6 camera proved consistent and dependable.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha used a similar shutter speed, 1/17s, but a higher ISO 400. Signs of postprocessing become very evident and the level of detail isn't as good as on the iPhone. Neither was consistency, the Galaxy Alpha suffered the most from handshake.

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact also shot at ISO 400 but at the fastest shutter speed of the three, 1/32s. This eliminates handshake issues but it slightly missed the focus in the "worst" photo. When everything goes okay photos look better than those from the Samsung (thanks to more restrained processing) but without a noticeable lead in fine detail.

With the flash on, the Apple iPhone 6 turned ISO down to 100 and it can produce some impressively detailed shots. The relatively slow shutter can lead to off shots too.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha both dropped the ISO to 250 and sped up the shutter speed to 1/30s. That didn't help much though, the good case scenario doesn't bring much detail and there's still the possibility of blurry shots.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact kept the 1/32s shutter speed and slightly decreased ISO to 320. The camera proved very consistent (better than the iPhone) and the photos have nearly as much detail as the iPhone 6 shots.

Note that the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact has a High ISO mode that goes up to 12,800. It's only available in Normal mode at 8MP and you can't select it manually, but it's the only option to make a photo in extreme darkness (much darker than our test shots) where you can't use the flash. The results are not great, but the great thing is that it's even possible to do.

   
Apple iPhone 6 low-light samples: flash on and off (best and worst shots)

 
 
Samsung Galaxy Alpha low-light samples: flash on and off (best and worst shots)

 
 
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact low-light samples: flash on and off (best and worst shots)

Winner: Apple iPhone 6. The phase detection autofocus made a big deal in consistency and the camera produces good quality shots both with and without flash. The slow shutter speed was a minor issue.

Runner-up: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Very consistent with its fast shutter speed, the Xperia Z3 Compact offered good levels of detail in both test cases.

Third place: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Heavy processing is mostly unable to resurrect lost detail and the consistency of the camera was not very good.

Apple has yet to join 2160p revolution, but Androids consider it a rite of passage. These videos take up a lot of storage (and are consequently difficult to send over the Internet), require an UHD TV and a capable video player but pay off with much more detail - they have four time the number of pixels compared to 1080p, each frame is 8MP big.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact pushes the framerate to 55-60Mbps, so each minute of footage can easily be 400MB. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha stays a little lower at 50Mbps but that's still huge compared to 17Mbps for 1080p videos shot with the Apple iPhone 6.

2160p videos have their issues but Apple's refusal to record stereo audio is more baffling - the iPhone has no less than four microphones on its body, we're sure Apple engineers could have come up with something. And it's 64Kbps, 44.1kHz audio too, nothing special by any measure.

Meanwhile both the Samsung and Sony record stereo audio, sampling at 48kHz. The Xperia uses 156Kbps bitrate while the Galaxy goes up to 256Kbps (Nokia uses this bitrate for its lauded PureView cameras).

Sony's super-high bitrate doesn't completely pay off, but mostly due to image processing. Some detail gets smudged out, while contrast and color rendering aren't as good as they could have been.

Samsung's heavier processing does pay off, making for a better looking picture even if it doesn't technically have more detail.

The Apple iPhone 6 video has good amounts of detail for 1080p, but the resolution difference keeps it from achieving parity here.

We move to native 1080p - easier to share and easier to compare. The Samsung and Sony have a wider field of view (in part because we disabled their image stabilizations, more on that later) so they are at a bit of a resolution disadvantage.

Here the Apple iPhone 6 comes up on top even if our remarks on colors from the still camera still ring true. The Sony Xperia Z3 edges out the Galaxy Alpha even though video framerates drop to equal the iPhone. The Xperia Z3 Compact could use a boost in contrast but its image is slightly sharper than that of the Galaxy Alpha.

Here's a playlist of the videos we used for the test:

We tried a digital stabilization test between the three phones. The Apple iPhone 6 keeps things very smooth, but the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact fares no worse. Both hunt for focus on occasion. Of the three, the Galaxy Alpha's digital stabilization is the weakest as evident from the video comparisons.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. We're looking for the best possible video camera of the three, which means 2160p weighs more than 1080p. And the Galaxy Alpha took that round, though it lost by a bit to the Xperia in 1080p shooting.

Runner-up: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Again, 2160p has precedence as it offers a lot more detail than even excellent 1080p. In 1080p mode the Sony has a wider FoV than the iPhone and comparable sharpness.

Third place: Apple iPhone 6. If you're never going to shoot 2160p videos, the iPhone is actually a very good camera. The always-on stabilization eats into its FoV though it's better than the Sony.

While Apple didn't go up in resolution, the company did at least increase framerates. All three phones can record 1080p@60fps video, which is excellent for fast-paced scenes like sporting events. They all noticeably step down the image quality though so you can't simply always substitute 30fps for 60fps modes.

The Apple iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Alpha still manage a passable quality. The Galaxy Alpha resolves marginally more detail than the iPhone. It's the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact that falls here, the boosted contrast and oversharpening is noticeable and it hampers the image quality.

Apple went a step further - it enabled 240fps video recording though at 720p resolution. Still, Androids top out at 120fps, even those that can capture 2160p video. And the results aren't always pretty. Here's how 720p@240fps footage from the iPhone compares to 720p@120 from the Galaxy Alpha.

The Galaxy Alpha is just nowhere near actual 720p resolution, it's quite clear the video was upscaled from something much lower than that. The image processing also goes out the window. Meanwhile the iPhone 6 video looks soft for 720p but is actually still very usable.

A note about formats - the iPhone records and saves 720p videos with 240fps framerate so you'll need to either edit them on the phone to create the slowdown effect or use a video editor on your computer, just copying them would only get you an extra smooth normal speed video. The Galaxy Alpha videos are slowed down to 30fps so the slow motion is easy to share. There's an option to slow the videos down to 15fps, which matches the iPhones 8x slowdown but the result isn't as smooth.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact also has a 720p@120fps mode, but that one requires you edit the video right after shooting it - it plays at real time except for areas you mark off as slow motion. This means, however, that taking multiple consecutive videos are hard to pull off.

Here's a playlist of the 1080p@60fps videos we took:

Winner: Apple iPhone 6. It maintained good quality in 1080p@60fps mode and is the only one of the three that can go up to 240fps.

Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. It recorded slightly better 1080p@60fps video than the iPhone, but the 120fps mode is near useless.

Third place: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Video quality at 1080p@60fps leaves plenty to be desired, while 120fps mode requires you edit the image right after you take it.

In the same dark room we took the lowlight camera samples we also shot a few short videos handheld, with the flash both off and on. For this test we used only 1080p, as once again the extra resolution would not have captured any additional detail.

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact didn't see much difference whether the flash was off or on, but the videos have very little noise and good amounts of detail. Noise reduction did take out some of the finer detail, though keep in mind that the wider field of view makes it harder to resolve the same level of detail.

The Apple iPhone 6 videos have a noticeable yellow cast on them (and those two-color LEDs were of no help) but the amount of detail is quite good, while noise is kept relatively low.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha shows signs of color noise and digital artifacts, which reduce the overall detail.

Winner: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Videos were fairly sharp and with low noise.

Runner-up. Apple iPhone 6. Yellow tint in the photos and noise cost it a few points, but it does keep a good level of detail.

Third place: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Some color noise and digital artifacts have crept into the footage, which spoils the final result enough to land the Alpha in third place.

It's impossible to tally up a final score for this but that was never the point - as usual, the point is to help different users pick out the phone that's right for them. The super mini playground is not as empty as it once was and these three phones are excellent picks at three different price points.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is the most affordable of the bunch so it celebrates each of its victories a little louder than the other two. The Apple iPhone 6 meanwhile is easily the most expensive one and has the most to prove, yet its fans are rarely swayed by such mundane details such as pricing.

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact lives up to its name by being the smallest of the three, but it also has the smallest screen for apps (on-screen buttons don't help). Sunlight legibility and viewing angles are not a strong suit either. A waterproof body and a stunning battery life are practically super powers for the Sony and it offered the best connectivity package overall.

In terms of interface, it offered little over stock Android but the multimedia package is excellent. The front-facing stereo speakers are another trump card over the other two contenders.

The still camera is very good - though not in first place as its 20.7MP resolution would suggest - and video recording is on par as well. The Xperia Z3 Compact performs especially well in the dark, though Sony really needs to work on the HDR and panorama software.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a U-turn for a company where features are king, design left well in the background. No, it's not the prettiest device on Earth but it feels more premium than most Galaxy's (costs more, too) and has a very good screen, with excellent contrast and sunlight legibility.

Connectivity and battery life are not as good as they could have been, but the software is loaded with the most features, including a very rich multimedia package. Despite of its size and small battery, the Galaxy Alpha is one of the best performing Androids out there thanks to Samsung's bespoke Exynos 5430 chipset (though some regions will only get the Snapdragon 801 version).

The camera is Galaxy Alpha's chance to shine and it takes it, for the most part. The still and video camera are excellent in good light and additional features like HDR and panorama perform great too. Shooting in the dark causes headaches for the Alpha though and that 120fps mode was just embarrassing.

Apple iPhone 6

Apple sure knows how to build a gorgeous device and it has perfected the LCD - excellent image and high sunlight legibility. Connectivity is top notch too, if you're okay with buying pricy accessories that only work with Apple products. Battery life is better than the Galaxy Alpha but still nowhere near the Xperia Z3 Compact.

The software has improved by leaps and bounds in the last two versions of the OS. Android is still more open but iOS 8 will handle every need casual users and moderate tech-heads have with third-party keyboards, widgets and system menus that make non-Apple apps feel welcome.

The camera is getting long in the tooth, an 8MP sensor and 1080p video with mono sound are a hard pill to swallow yet another year. But what Apple touched from the last generation turned to gold - panoramas look amazing, the phase detection autofocus really improves focusing speed and high framerate videos are great, especially at 240fps.

Still photos and 1080p@30fps videos shot in broad daylight are no better than ones taken with the iPhone 5s, which isn't what you want to hear when considering a pricy upgrade with a possible two-year commitment.

Summing it up

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is a marvelous little handset for its price tag. It's worth considering over flagships if you have large screen fatigue and it requires the least amount of micromanagement, regarding remembering to keep it charged and making sure it doesn't get wet. The camera is good in general, better than average in the dark, and the Snapdragon 801 offers a familiar zippy performance.

Samsung is charging a premium on its premium device, the Galaxy Alpha is more expensive than the better-equipped Galaxy S5 flagship. And it delivers on the performance and camera fronts, though we would have loved an IP rating and a microSD card slot, which the S5 has.

The Apple iPhone 6 gradually improves on its predecessor to remain one of the best devices out there. The price tag stings - it's €150 more expensive than the Galaxy Alpha and that's for the compromise 16GB version (keep in mind that even a mere OTA OS update can require up to 5GB free).

There will always be people who specifically want an iPhone so we reckon this comparison would be worthless to them except for the chapters where the iPhone wins. Android on the other hand doesn't exactly promote brand loyalty. We've come to think of the two platforms as polar opposites but this is probably the first time they're showing so much respect for each other. OK, perhaps a little too strong a statement. But they've done each other a favor and they know it. Compact droids wouldn't have come this far without the iPhone. And Apple - well, they had to step out of their comfort zone sooner or later.

contnt courtesy:gsmarena