Sony Xperia Z1 preview: A closer look

Introduction

One of the hot tickets at this year's IFA, the Sony Xperia Z is about to get the attention it deserves at ours. The smartphone left us feeling extremely positive the last time we met and we are hoping for more of the same.

Sony Xperia Z1 official photos

Sony did give the Xperia Z1 all they got. The latest screen technology, the fastest chipset around, a spanking new camera module that does 20.7MP stills on a sensor that's twice as big as those of the competition and waterproofing that even puts the Xperia Z to shame. And it's all packed in one of the best bodies in business.

And that's not all the Xperia Z1 has going for it either. The full list of features follows.

Sony Xperia Z1 at a glance

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, penta-band UMTS/HSPA, 100 Mbps LTE
• Form factor: Water-resistant cameraphone
• Dimensions: 144 x 74 x 8.5 mm, 170g
• Display: 5" 16M-color 1080p (441ppi) TFT capacitive touchscreen, Triluminous display with X-Reality and OptiContrast
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330, 2GB of RAM
• OS: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• Camera: 20.7MP camera with 1/2.3" Exmor RS sensor and Sony G Lens, F/2.0 aperture; 2MP front-facing camera
• Video camera: 1080p video capture with HDR mode
• Memory: 16GB of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot, up to 64GB
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Battery: Sealed 3,000mAh battery
• Misc: IP58 certified - dust-protected and water resistant; shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass for the front and the back panel, metal frame on the sides

When you have as good a foundation to build on as the Sony Xperia Z, it's easy to make a great phone. What's harder to pull off is delivering an upgrade that's worth the users' time and money. Well, we guess Sony didn't have a hard time improving on all important aspects of the predecessor.

Sony Xperia Z1 in our studio

The Sony Xperia Z1 has one of the largest batteries in the 5" league and is probably the best looking Android phone there (the HTC One is a 4.7-incher, so even if you prefer metal to glass it doesn't really count). The smartphone also has the best-spec'd camera with the largest sensor and the highest pixel count and flagship-grade connectivity and processing power. Few smartphones match the Xperia Z1's Snapdragon 800 chipset and ample 3,000 mAh battery, so at least on paper, the Xperia Z1 is shaping up to be the smartphone to beat this season.

We'll only know for sure when the review is complete, but for now we are giving you a taste of the main menu.