Sony announced today their newest flagship phone in the US market, the Xperia Z1S. It’s a powerhouse of a phone that borrows from some of Sony’s finest technologies. This is the most appealing phone we’ve seen so far from CES, and it’s heading straight to T-Mobile in just a couple short weeks.
If you’ve seen the Xperia Z1, then you are already familiar with this phone. The only differences between the Xperia Z1 and the Xperia Z1S is the now centered headphone jack, the doubled 32GB of storage, and the inevitable addition of T-Mobile bloatware. Radio bands should include everything you need to connect to both T-Mobile and AT&T networks up through their respective LTE networks with no trouble. However, this bit has not yet been confirmed.
For those who haven’t had a taste of the Sony Xperia Z1 before, you’re in for a treat. As far as US offerings go, the Z1S is an upgrade from last year’s Xperia Z. The Z1S packs a larger and higher resolution 5″ 1080 x 1920 display. The screen is sharpened by the inclusion of Sony’s X-Reality Engine, which helps fill in lost pixels in still images and videos. The Trilumenous Display technology is borrowed from Sony’s television tech, but it’s pretty much just another way to backlight the screen. It does a great job of spreading out the light, but the name, Trilumenous, makes it sound way cooler than it is.
Peeking under the bonnet, we can see the internal specs got a huge bump from the Xperia Z last year. The Xperia Z1S is now packing a powerful Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU clocked at 2.2GHz thanks to Qualcomm. 2GB RAM should keep your apps alive and well for serious multitasking, while the built-in 32GB of storage will ensure you have plenty of room to download huge files. You’ve also got a microSD slot to expand your storage by adding another 64GB. The 3,000mAh battery will have you going strong all day long and then some.
The Xperia Z1S received a significant upgrade in terms of its body as well. The corners are less rounded and more defined, but it leads to a more striking, refined look. The waterproofing has been upgraded from IP57 to IP58, so you can now fully submerge it in water up to 1.5 meters (4.5 feet) for about 30 minutes without having to worry about it drowning. In a cool design twist, the Z1S now has an open headphone jack that requires no cover. It is waterproof and fully open all the time. Thankfully, Sony decided the camera was a major focus on this device, so a two stage physical camera button resides on the side of the device. This is especially useful for taking nice, underwater shots.
The camera itself is a marvel. Sony is using its new aspherical GLens on the Z1S, which, Sony claims, lets lots more light through the sensor, resulting in crisper low light shots. The aperture is a wide f/2.0. A custom 1/2.3 inch sensor, similar to those found in typical point and shoot cameras, rests behind the lens giving it a dazzling 20.7MP size. The BIONZ picture engine achieves faster image processing through the use of the Snapdragon 800 chip. Optical zoom, like the Z1, is 3x magnification.
The PlayStation app comes pre-installed for some nifty second screen features. We’re sure to see a fair bit of T-Mobile bloatware on this device as well. Fortunately, the Z1S is going to be shipped with Android 4.3 pre-installed. The good news here is that the Xperia Z1 is already scheduled to receive an update to Android 4.4 KitKat in the coming month. If its big brother is getting it soon, it should be a short order before KitKat lands on this new arrival as well.
The Sony Xperia Z1S is slated to arrive exclusively in T-Mobile stores on January 22, 2014. It is said to cost a total of $528 outright or $22 a month for 24 months with $0 down. This is an astonishing price for such amazing hardware. Pre-Orders begin on January 13, 2014; you can sign up to pre-register to order one at T-Mobile’s page here. This will ensure you are first in line to snag one when they arrive. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
About Kenny Guilfou
Kenny is a tech enthusiast and self-proclaimed grammar-Nazi. He enjoys constantly changing the look of his mobile device as well as berating others for their misuse of participles. His current favorite phone is the Xperia Z1, because he's a bit of a Sony fanboy.