Sony has officially announced its long-rumored Xperia Z1 Compact. The smartphone keeps the high-end specs of the Z1 but is smaller with a 4.3-inch display.
Over the last few months Sony has been rumored to be entering the 'mini' smartphone market. Unlike Samsung and HTC, who have shipped their mini devices with non-flagship smartphone specs, Sony was believed to take an approach more similar to the Apple iPad mini scenario and ship its smaller smartphone with the same specs of its current flagship. Sony has officially announced its Xperia Z1 Compact at CES.
Sony describes the Xperia Z1 Compact as "the best of Sony in a compact waterproof smartphone" and judging from its specs and features, the company has delivered. The Xperia Z1 Compact retains all of the high-end features found in the Xperia Z1, including the 20.7-megapixel camera with Sony Exmor RS sensor and the powerful 2.2GHz quad-core processor, all wrapped up inside a compact smartphone that fits perfectly in the hand.
The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact features a bright 4.3-inch TRILUMINOS display with X-Reality picture engine with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 342 pixels per inch (ppi). It's powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, Adreno 330 GPU, and 2GB of RAM to provide a fast and fluid user interface. The Z1 Compact ships with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with an Android 4.4 KitKat upgrade scheduled shortly after its launch.
Its camera capabilities include a 20.7-megapixel rear camera with Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, G Lens and intelligent BIONZ for mobile processing engine, allowing you to capture images with superior sharpness, clarity, and brightness. It also comes packed with features such as optical image stabilization (OIS), autofocus, and LED flash. Its front facing 2-megapixel camera can be used for video chat, selfies, and can also record 1080p video @ 30fps. Its wireless connectivity options consist of Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, and NFC. Users will find 16GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 64GB microSD cards. The Xperia Z1 Compact will ship with a non-removable 2,300 mAh battery. Its dimensions are 127 x 64.9 x 9.55mm and weighs 137g.
Sony has not announced pricing but says it plans on shipping the Xperia Z1 Compact in February and will offer it in choice of black, white, pink, lime, and yellow.
