Sony’s Xperia Z was one of the first big Android flagships of the year, the first 1080p handset to be sold in the UK. Its internal hardware was a little dated though, and the waterproof phone was eclipsed by the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One which were released a few weeks later. Now, Sony are preparing their next salvo in the smartphone war: the Sony Xperia Z1.
Also known by its codename Honami, the Z1 is an upgraded version of the Z with much more powerful hardware inside, as well as some additional upgrades in key areas. The biggest change is probably to the CPU, which moves from a Snapdragon S4 Pro (which was the best available last year) to a Snapdragon 800 (which is the best available so far this year, eclipsing the Galaxy S4 and HTC One’s Snapdragon 600).
The battery has also increased in capacity, from 2330 mAh to a whopping 3000 mAh. That seems like more than enough to counteract the additional power consumed by the faster processor, so we may see excellent battery life here. Elsewhere internally, we’ve got the same 5-inch 1080p display, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage and the micro SD card slot for additional storage.
The camera has also seen a massive upgrade for the Z1. While the original shipped with a capable 13 megapixel sensor, the Z1’s sensor will be 20 megapixels, making it the second highest sensor in a shipping smartphone behind the Nokia 808 and Lumia 1020’s 41 megapixel PureView sensor. That should translate into crazy-good image quality.
The rest of the phone is expected to inherit the same good qualities as the Xperia Z, including full waterproofing and dustproofing. This time the headphone jack isn’t behind a flap, so you’ll be able to listen to your music without opening up a potential vector for water ingress.
All in all, the Xperia Z1 looks like a strong phone and a fitting flagship for Sony. The 20 megapixel camera should offer a new level of performance for Android, and it’ll be interesting to see how much the new megapixel count translates into improved imaging performance.
The phone is scheduled to be announced at the IFA conference next week, so you don’t have too long to wait!
Are you picking up the Z1? If so, you’ll be glad to know that we’ll be carrying a range of accessories for the Z1, including the normal Xperia Z1 cases, chargers, covers and all the rest. If you have any accessory questions or requests, feel free to make them below!
Thanks for reading the article and have a good one.