Sony has officially launched its ‘Mini’ version of the Xperia Z1 smartphone in the form of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Yes, Sony is separating itself from HTC and Samsung by not going with “Mini” moniker.
The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is a new smaller version of the Xperia Z1 flagship handset from Sony that will take the fight to Samsung and HTC in the ‘mini’ smartphone market, rivalling the Galaxy S4 Mini and HTC One Mini. Sony announced the Z1 Compact as part of its keynote speech at the CES conference in Las Vegas yesterday and has shown off the new Android handset in full.
The Z1 Compact will feature smaller (although still pretty big) 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 display and will run off a snappy quad-core processor in the form of the 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, with a backing of 2GB of RAM. Like the rumoured Z1S, the Compact will also have a 20-megapixel camera that uses the company’s Exmor RS image sensor, along with a front facing 2-megapixel cam.
The Z1 Compact is also waterproof (like the Z1) and comes with 16GB internal memory and a micro SD card slot for expanding the storage options further. Internally the Z1 Compact will be launched with the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS but Sony has promised the 4.4 KitKat will be landing in the months following release.
The Compact measures 127 x 64.9 x 9.5mm which if you compare it to the 5-inch Z1 ( which is sized at 144.4 x 73.9 x 8.5mm), it’s a touch thicker. The device will launch in a range of colours, including pink, lime, white and black.
The Z1 Compact will be available in the UK in mid-February but no pricing or definitive release dates are available just yet. Yesterday serial leaker @Evleaks leaked an image and specifications a device called the Sony Xperia Z1S, however with the launch of the Compact it’s now known that the Z1S is in fact a new US-only variant of the full-size Xperia Z1 which sees some slight improvements. The Xperia Z1 Compact is in fact the ‘Z1 Mini’ that we’d heard rumoured.
The Z1S will be heading stateside as a new flagship handset with a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 3000mAh battery, and is waterproof down to 4.9 feet for 30 minutes.
See also: Sony Xperia Z1S images and specs leak before launch
US carrier T-Mobile will begin selling the Xperia Z1S online from the 13th of January, and it will be available in-store on January 22nd.