By 
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:
- 5-inch 1080p display
- 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 20.7MP camera
- 32GB of internal storage
- 3,000mAh battery
- NFC
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:
- 4.3-inch 720p display
- 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 20.7MP camera
- 16GB of internal storage
- 2,300mAh battery
- NFC
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]
Finally! Sony realised that people want high-end small factors. iPhone was the only choise till now and I’m really considering Z1 Compact as my future daily driver. Does anyone know if it has an SD card slot? Or 32GB+ variant? Because 16GB really isn’t enough space for me.
They have SD cards too an didn’t the droid mini have the same specs as its siblings
My wife will love a high-end small factor phone to replace her iPhone, but I just find it a bit humorous that a 4.3 inch screen is considered small factor now. That’s the same size that was on my huge Galaxy S2! Amazing what 2-3 years will do.
From what I’ve read it comes in 32GB and can be expanded up to 64GB with a micro sd. With the awesome camera lens they stuffed in the Z1 you’ll have plenty of space for pictures and music and whatever else you want. It’s nice to see Sony doing big things in the mobile market again.
I didn’t realize that T-Mobile has a partnership with “Soy” much less a fruitful one.
I don’t want to be seen as “that guy” (because I don’t seriously comment on spelling or grammar in articles or otherwise that often at all). That being said it just looks a lot better when spelling and grammar are in order in any piece of text. I realise the guys who write for Phandroid may only have a bit of time to write these articles and my comment isn’t meant as a criticism as they have a talent for informative, well-written articles.
I just thought it was funny. T-Mobile having a partnership with “Soy” makes it sound like they are in the organic food industry. It was even funnier to me because he used the word fruitful before partnership. Perhaps Legere is lactose intolerant.
I am sure they use spell check, but that does not help when the misspelled word is a word.
or a subconscious racist joke because they are japanese…
What!? That’s the “cheaper” version!? That’s not a cheaper version. That’s the 720p version. LoL!!
That’s amazing. I hope manufactures keep that idea. I hate recommending horrible low budget phones to people. LoL!!
This will really help Android. My gosh!! Those budget Android phones are just… trash.