Sony had a big CES showing this year, with the company unveiling a couple of new smartphones in the Xperia Z1 family, as well as a new set of wearables for fitness buffs.
Sony Xperia Z1s
For starters, we have the Sony Xperia Z1s, which is a pretty hardcore smartphone for those who are looking for a lot of muscle. Its spec sheet reads out quite nicely:
The Xperia Z1s also comes to town with an IP58 rating, making it waterproof in up to 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. T-Mobile and Sony’s fruitful partnership will continue with this release, as the American carrier will be the exclusive provider of this phone. They’ll have it for around $530 starting January 13th online (January 22nd in stores), though we’re not sure what the down payment will be for it just yet.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
This little guy is a ‘mini’ phone, but it doesn’t come with the same lackluster specs that you’d expect to find in compact smartphones these days. The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact outdoes every phone in its category in every way. How? Just take a gander:
This little guy is quite impressive. It’s a breath of fresh air in a time when most people automatically write off smaller phones because of the negative stigma that comes with them. We always assume they are weaker than their full-sized counterparts, and that’s because they often are. But it sounds like Sony is one of the first OEMs to be sick of gimping smaller phones, as well.
To Sony’s credit, they’ve always been a proponent of big things in small packages. We saw it very early on in their Android life, with the Sony Ericsson Mini and Mini Pro being the kings of their classes back in the day. It’s sad that we have to applaud Sony for it, but we’ll do it anyway. The Xperia Z1 Compact comes to us mid-February in select markets.
The Sony SmartBand and SBH80 Wireless Headset
Sony also had a couple new items to introduce in the wearables category. The Sony SmartWatch 2 is well-documented already, but the SmartBand is the company’s new activity tracker for those who long for something that can track their fitness information.
Not only does it sync your data to your Lifelog app for tracking your workout information, it can also be used to control music playback using an on-board button. Pair it up with Sony’s SBH80 Bluetooth stereo headset that can be paired to your smartphone using NFC, and you’ve got yourself one capable set of tools for getting your P90X on. We’re not sure when, exactly, to expect any of these items, but Sony should be forking those details over sometime soon.
Be sure to stay on the lookout for our hands-on time with all these great looking devices from CES 2014! Head to the source link if you want the presser.
[via Sony]