The Sony Xperia Z1 smartphone has just been officially unveiled today, and it looks like it will be one of the best devices this fall, and probably one of Android users’ best picks, at least until the next Nexus arrives with Android KitKat (4.4). But if you can’t wait until that happens, you’ll be able to buy a Sony Xperia Z1 at the end of this month. These specs might convince you to pull the trigger now, rather than wait:
- 5-inch 1080p Triluminos Display
- Water/dust/scratch/shatter resistant rated IP55/IP58
- One-piece aluminum frame
- 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor
- Adreno 330 graphics processor
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB internal storage with microSD card slot
- 3,000mAh battery with Sony’s STAMINA mode
- 20.7 megapixel 1/2.3-inch Exmor RSCMOS image sensor
- Sony G-Lens at 27mm with F2.0 aperture
- BIONZ image processing
- 144mm high x 74mm wide x 8.5mm thick
- 170 grams
The thing I like most about it myself it the camera, which seems like it will be the best Android smartphone camera, and I also like the design, although there’s one pretty major thing I don’t like about it – the bezels.
Sony has mastered how to make thin devices, and also very polished ones, but they hasn’t mastered how to make them with as little bezel as possible, something that Motorola, LG, and even Samsung, to a certain point, have succeeded in doing that (HTC is still using large bezels, even if you disregard the front speakers on the HTC One). I think Sony should’ve been able to make phones with small bezels by now, too, but for whatever reasons they didn’t.
An executive was saying it’s because of the larger sensor, but I don’t really buy that reason. I do believe that was the reason why the phone isn’t extremely thin, though, because a larger 1/2.3″ would have that effect on a phone, and in fact I’m surprised they managed to make it as thin as it is, without any extra bump on the back for the camera. But I’m still quite bummed about the large bezels.
It’s still a great device, though, and if you can live with a device that is slightly larger than it should be, while getting a nicely designed phone with one of the best cameras on the market, and you’re also not that interested in having stock Android on your phone (hopefully there will be a Play Edition soon, though), then there’s no other reason why you shouldn’t get one.