At its press conference at IFA in Berlin, Sony has announced its brand new Xperia Z1 smartphone, the successor to the Xperia Z. With a 5-inch Triluminos display, a quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and a massive 20.1-megapixel lens, Sony says that the Xperia Z1 is the embodiment of its “One Sony” initiative.
Other hardware specs include up to 16GB of storage that is expandable with a microSD card slot, 2GB of RAM, NFC and 4G LTE support, and a large 2200mAh battery. The phone’s body is a one-piece aluminum frame with tempered glass to ensure durability and a consistent viewing angle; and is waterproof and dust resistant.
The Xperia Z1’s camera is no doubt a response to the Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel lens, and Sony promises that it will take brilliant images in low-light conditions (Sony didn’t actually show a demo, however), and that it also has a high shutter speed and 3x image zoom to reduce blurry images. It has also added four applications to its camera: Social Live, which lets you livestream from your phone to Facebook; Info-eye, which lets you take an image and get related information based on it; Timeshift burst, which takes 61 images in two seconds so you can scroll and find the best one; and augmented reality support.
Given it is the embodiment of the One Sony idea inside the company, the Z1 will support its “one-touch” functions – which uses NFC to pair the phone with TVs, headphones, audio speakers, accessories, etc. For instance, you can send a movie from your phone to your TV by tapping the phone to your television. It will also integrate its PlayMemories Online cloud-based storage service, and will support its Video and Music Unlimited services.
It will be available in black, white and purple; and will launch globally from this month. No word on Australian availability.