Many of the world’s great thinkers are often quoted for saying something to the tune of: “I would have written a shorter letter to you, but I didn’t have enough time.” In other words, focusing is hard. Anyone can write a 5,000 word review of a smartphone, and these days I’m seeing that happen more and more often, but it takes a serious set of skills to make something that gets the point across in a reasonable span of time.

This is where Steve Litchfield comes in. He produces a weekly video program called “The Phones Show“. Not the most original name, but again, focus. The latest episode is a review of Sony’s newest flagship device, the Xperia Z.

Announced at Mobile World Congress, the Z is essentially Sony’s version of Samsung’s Galaxy S4, 5 inch 1080p screen and all. The processor inside is a bit older (Snapdragon S4 Pro), but come on, would you really call a six month old chip “dated”? The Z, like the GS4, also has a 13 megapixel camera, it supports damn near every wireless network under the sun, and it has everything needed to compete with the big boys, but can it really?

Steve says yes. I’m going to say no. I’ve played with the Z in several phone shops in South East Asia, and they all ran a bit hot. Not painfully hot, of course, but you could definitly tell you were holding something that was warm. That and there’s the whole flaps issue. There are plastic flaps covering the Z’s headphone jack and microUSB port, two holes that I fiddle with multiple times per day.

Luckily, Sony made a variant of the Z called the ZL. It’s not waterproof, because it lacks flaps, but to me that makes it the more attractive device. The ZL should be out in a few weeks, and I’m sure Steve is going to review that phone as well.

But let’s be honest, at this point you’re buying the GS4, right?