Sony has announced that its Xperia Z1 Compact is now available in the U.S. The unlocked smartphone includes a 4.3-inch 720p display, 20.1-megapixel camera, and 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.
Samsung has made the idea of carrying a miniaturized version of a large flagship smartphone popular with handsets like the Galaxy S3 Mini, Galaxy S4 Mini and the just announced S5 Mini. HTC and LG have followed suit by launching smaller versions of their flagship smartphones as well. The reduction in size has also typically meant these smartphones were also less powerful than their flagship counterparts.
Sony decided to buck that trend when it launched its very own 'mini' smartphone, the Xperia Z1 Compact. The handset's spec list and features read like that of a high-end smartphone and actually shares virtually the same exact specs (except screen size and resolution) as Sony's Xperia Z1s, currently available from T-Mobile. Sony has just made the unlocked Xperia Z1 Compact available in the U.S. via its online store.
The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is sold unlocked and is capable of running on AT&T or T-Mobile's 4G LTE network. The smartphone features a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 TRILUMINOS Display for Mobile; X-Reality for Mobile IPS (in-plane switching) tempered glass display. The handset is powered by a fast 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM to keep multitasking and processor intensive games running very smoothly.
Just like its full-sized Xperia Z1s counterpart, the Compact ships with a high-end 20.7-megapixel rear camera with Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, 8x optical zoom and 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat and selfies. Both cameras can also record 1080p Full HD video. The smartphone includes 16GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 64GB microSD cards. In terms of wireless connectivity, the Xperia Z1 Compact comes with a 4G LTE radio (AT&T and T-Mobile support), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC. Sony has included a large 2,300 mAh battery that will provide up to 10 hours of talk time and 670 hours of standby time. The Xperia Z1 Compact is also IP55 and IP58 certified waterproof and dust resistant.
The unlocked Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is available for $549.99 via Sony's online store in choice of black or pink.
