Sony Xperia XZ1 hands-on with XZ1 Compact

In a fast-changing smartphone market, Sony might be chided for repeatedly putting new wine into old wineskins.

The SONY Xperia XZ1 would be shipping in early September while the XZ1 Compact is expected to ship out at a later date in the month. Noticeably absent is any sort of fingerprint scanner on the U.S. version, although there is one in the United Kingdom version. The XZ1 also comes with stereo front-facing speakers with S-Force Front Surround sound with high-resolution audio LDAC speakers.

Featuring a 5.2-inch Full HD LCD display like the previous Xperia Z series, the Xperia XZ1 introduces Mobile HDR to the party, along with a new unibody design made from a single metal panel for a more seamless finish on the rear compared to the XZs and XZ models. The device is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa-core SoC, paired with 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 64 GB onboard storage with a dedicated SD card slot (up to 256 GB). The time mentioned in renders is 10:35. Like a number of other 2017 flagship phones, the XZ1 pair has IP68 certification for dust and water resistance. The phone houses a 2700mAh battery.

The highlight of the phone is its 23MP rear camera with hybrid autofocus and 24mm wide-angle f/2.0 aperture lens.

The main feature of the device developers call a 19-megapixel camera Motion Eye that has learned to shoot video at a speed of 960 fps.

Both of the devices come in black, pink, blue white-silver and black, though the company has given most of the colours a special name.

Both Xperia XZ1 smartphones use the latest MotionEye camera, which is built from the knowledge of Sony’s alpha and Cyber-shot cameras.

This time on Unboxing for Business, we take a first look at the Sony Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact. Then again, not really many cared for the Xperia XZ Premium’s 4K screen anyway. “The Compact’s selfie camera is a little different though; an 8MP Exmor RS sensor with a 1/4” sensor size and an extra-wide-angle lens with adjustable FOV from 80-degrees up to 120-degrees for those panoramic “grelfies”. Bringing a vibrant choice of three colors to express your individual style – Gold, Blue, Pink and Black – Xperia XA1 Plus features a rounded, sleek design with narrow borders and intuitive fingerprint sensor on the power button to give you personalized security.

The Xperia XZ Premium is a 5.2-inch display model (1080×1920, 4GB/64GB) also features the Snapdragon 835 and the same 19MP camera.

Sony (NYSE:SNE) has a spate of new products ahead of IFA 2017.

Unfortunately, the XZ1 Compact isn’t listed for release by Sony Mobile South Africa. It’s not that they’re not solid phones, it’s just the company doesn’t seem particularly concerned with selling a lot of them, or doing much innovating outside of the imaging side of things. The XZ1 Compact on the other hand identifies strongly as a top-tier device on the inside, and is likely to come at a corresponding price. This makes the XZ1 the very first handset to arrive with the software.