The debug bar in symfony is a big help to understanding what your application is doing and which bits of it are running slowly.
The symfony model layer is also much nicer. Cake's models are thin, making it difficult to place much logic in the model and to reuse and extend model methods. Symfony uses propel which has an excellent way of passing criteria for a db request around, making extension easier and reducing code repetition.
The symfony askeet/jobeet tutorials are well worth working through, they do a great job of showing you how to build an app.
Since first trying symfony I've found myself replicating its features and style in other php frameworks. For example I'm currently looking at if I can insert the Propel ORM used in symfony into cake to replace its model layer.
The symfony model layer is also much nicer. Cake's models are thin, making it difficult to place much logic in the model and to reuse and extend model methods. Symfony uses propel which has an excellent way of passing criteria for a db request around, making extension easier and reducing code repetition.
The symfony askeet/jobeet tutorials are well worth working through, they do a great job of showing you how to build an app.
Since first trying symfony I've found myself replicating its features and style in other php frameworks. For example I'm currently looking at if I can insert the Propel ORM used in symfony into cake to replace its model layer.