Sony today confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in recent months – a smaller, “mini” version of its flagship Xperia Z1 (which we rather liked) is coming. It’s called the Xperia Z1 Compact, and it brings the headline features from its big brother into a 4.3 inch device.
The big draw card for the Z1 Compact is that it doesn’t compromise on specs for its smaller form factor, a trend many of us at Ausdroid have been lamenting for the past couple of years. The main changes for the form factor are a 720p display in place of the Z1’s 1080p, and a 2300 mAh battery in place of the Z1’s 3000 mAh. Everything else about the Z1 remains intact, including its 20 MP camera and waterproof housing.
Making one final point of differentiation from the original, the Z1 Compact will be offered in 4 colours – white, black, green and pink. We don’t know if all of those colours will make it to Australian shelves though, and unfortunately it seems that the sexy purple colour that defined the Z, Z1 and Z Ultra is a thing of the past.
It also seems likely that the Z1 Compact will maintain compatibility with Sony’s accessory range, both NFC-based and those using the left edge connector seen on the Z1 and Z Ultra in 2013.
The device hasn’t been listed on Sony’s Australian site yet, but the company has advised that the Z1 Compact will be exclusive to Telstra for 60 days after launch, which it anticipates will be April – a few months later than its US launch, and it’s worth remembering that the Z1 f has been on sale in Japan for a while.
You can sign up on Telstra’s “Keep Informed” page to receive news about the device closer to launch. A specific launch date and price are yet to be provided.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Z1 Compact does in 4 months’ time, given that we’re expecting to see new devices launched by Samsung and HTC in the intervening months. Perhaps Sony’s hoping to see the Z1 Compact compete in a different class, away from the 5-inch flagships. It’s definitely got the technical pedigree to hold its own in a distinct “compact” class.
If you’re not a fan of Sony’s Android skin, remember that the Z Ultra saw a recent release as a Google Play Edition device, leading to stock Android ports for both it and the Z1. It’s also possible that we’ll see a CyanogenMod port for the Z1 Compact at some point in the future, given the CM team’s history of supporting Sony hardware.
Specifications
- 4.3″ 720p LCD “Triluminous” display
- 2.2 Ghz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974)
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB storage (12GB usable), microSD up to 64 GB
- 20.7 MP rear camera, 2 MP front
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
- UMTS HSPA+ 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz (Bands V, VIII, IV, II, I)
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
- LTE Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20
- Android 4.3
- 2300 mAh battery
- 127 x 64.9 x 9.5 mm, 137 grams
