Rumours are starting to converge and escalate regarding a Mini version of Sony’s latest Xperia Z1 flagship which, for now, is rather understandably dubbed the Sony Xperia Z1 Mini.
Here, we’re going to gather together all the rumours, specs, leaks and any information we can about prices, release dates and other juicy info.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Build and design
According to all the rumours and leaks so far the Sony Xperia Z1 Mini will quite simply be a smaller version of the existing Xperia Z1 flagship, sharing the same visual design, materials and build. That means it’ll feature an aluminium surround machined from a single piece of metal and with Dragontrail reinforced glass on both front and back.
It should also have a number of Sony’s signature stylistic touches, including panelled detailing on the edges and a round silver power key.
A leaked Japanese product catalogue would appear to confirm these design details along with the handsets measurements: 127mmx64.9mmx9.4mm. There’s no indication about its weight, but we can expect it to be lighter than the Xperia Z1’s 170g.
The catalogue also indicates there will be some special colour variants too. The Xperia Z1 comes in black, white and purple, but the Xperia Z1 Mini will be available in black, white, pink and lime. It’s important to bear in mind that these colour variants may only be for the Japanese market, however.
As with the full-size Xperia Z1, the Xperia Z1 Mini black variant appears to have a gunmetal grey surround and the white version has a silver surround. The pink and lime versions seem to have their surrounds coloured the same as the main bodywork.
The Xperia Z1 Mini is also thought to have the same IP58 water and dust resistance certification as the Xperia Z1 and again the catalogue appears to confirm this with its accompanying specs.
This will mean that as well as being splashproof the phone can be submerged in up to 1.5 metres of water safely. Pictures would appear to show that as with the Xperia Z1, the Xperia Z1 Mini does not have a port cover on the 3.5mm headphone jack but does feature port covers on other connectors.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Display
The Sony Xperia Z1 Mini’s display is, naturally, smaller than that of its full-size brother. It’s a 4.3-inch panel instead of the Xperia Z1’s 5-inch setup, but uses the same Triluminos screen tech for more natural colour. No mention has been made regarding Sony’s X-Reality Engine seen on the Xperia Z1, which enhances colour, contrast and overall picture quality, however, the tech has turned up on the last few premium models so it’s quite likely to make a return in our view.
The resolution is reportedly a bit lower. The Xperia Z1 featured a full HD 1920x1080 pixel resolution at 441 pixels-per-inch (ppi). This time round we have a 1280x720 pixel HD resolution which should give something like 341ppi.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Camera
Consistently, word from the rumour mill says the Sony Xperia Z1 Mini will have exactly the same camera hardware as the regular Xperia Z.
That means a full-size digital compact camera sensor pulled across from Sony’s imaging department. If it is indeed the same as the Xperia Z1’s then it’s a 1/2.3”, 20.7-megapixel back-illuminated (BSI) Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a dedicated BIONZ image processing unit, LED flash and Sony’s aspheric G Lens tech.
This should feature full HD 1080p video capture, HDR, panoramic capture and image and video stabilisation.
Again if the setup is identical throughout we should also see a 2-megapixel snapper on the front for video calls.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Hardware
Multiple reports and the Japanese catalogue allege the Sony Xperia Z1 Mini’s processor will be exactly the same as the Xperia Z1, which means Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip with four 2.2GHz Krait cores, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit (GPU) and 2GB of RAM.
Storage is a bit more difficult to ascertain. The Xperia Z1 had 16GB onboard and microSD support for cards up to 64GB, but the only info we have comes from the catalogue again and it has a rather cryptic “storage capacity of 32GB (microSD support)” listing, which could be referring to either storage type and sounds off in either case if the internal hardware is supposed to be the same as the Xperia Z1 across the board.
Certainly the Xperia Z1 Mini following the Xperia Z1 with the same 16GB onboard and 64GB microSD makes the most sense to us, but whether this will turn out to be the case is anybody’s guess at this point.
We also don’t have much information about the rest of the connectivity options, but we can make some guesses about what’s likely.
Full 4G LTE and 3G (including HSPA+) as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB and GPS are all pretty much a certainty as they’re standard for a smartphone in this class and consistent with Sony’s previous offerings.
To that mix we expect you can add MHL/Micro HDMI TV output and NFC.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Software
Being a Sony Xperia phone the handset will, of course, run Google’s Android platform and allegedly it’ll start off on version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but you can expect to see Sony’s UI as it was on the Xperia Z1 making an appearance again, along with a bundle of Sony apps and services.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Name
The phone keeps being rumoured as the Xperia Z1 Mini, but it’s worth noting that in the Japanese catalogue it’s listed as the Xperia Z1 f.
Most phones launched in Japan do get a different name for the region, so it’s not too likely we’ll see the Xperia Z1 f name elsewhere, though it is still a possibility.
Another alternative is that there’s rumours going round for the Xperia Z2, although it’s largely attributed to a fully-fledged successor to the Xperia Z1 rather than a mini version.
Sony Xperia Z1 Mini: Release date and price
There’s absolutely no clue on pricing at the moment, but the Xperia Z1 Mini’s launch could be imminent with the Japanese carrier DoCoMo’s catalogue listing an announcement for October 10 – it’ll be interesting to see whether that sticks.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
Posts
No comments: