Sony Xperia Z1 launched in India at Rs 44,990

Electronics major Sony on Wednesday launched waterproof premium smartphone Xperia Z1 for Rs 44,990 with an aim to double its share in the high-end mobile phone market to 20 percent.

Sony also unveiled next version of Smartwatch for Rs 14,990 which will be available in India from October.

"We want to be No 1 in premium smartphone segment which are phones priced above Rs 30,000 and double our market share from about 10 percent at present to 20 percent by end of financial year 2014. Therefore we have to double our speed of innovation and here we are with Xperia Z1," Sony India Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi said here.

Xperia Z1 is available across stores from today with an instalment option spread over 12 months at no cash down payment, nil processing fee and interest, he said.

The company unveiled next version of smartwatch for Rs 14,990 which will be available in India from October.

The launches of smart devices from Japanese major comes a day after Korean technology giant Samsung unveiled its high-end and highest priced smartphone Galaxy Note 3 for Rs 49,900 and its first smartwatch Galaxy Gear for Rs 22,990 in India.

Xperia Z1 is also the costliest smartphone offering from Sony's stable in India. Sony has introduced 20.7 mega pixel camera in this phone which is next to Nokia's Pureview 808 that was launched in the country last year.

"I like the 20 megapixel plus camera in the phone which does away need to carry a separate camera. Also you can store many songs in the phone," Brand Ambassador and bollywood actress Katrina Kaif said.

The company has incorporated 2.2 Quad core processor in phone which is close to speed of processor available for laptops and desktop PCs.

Xperia Z1 has 2GB RAM and internal storage of 16 GB which can be expanded to additional 64 GB through memory card.

"We plan to increase exclusive Xperia stores from 30 at present to 200 by end of financial year 2013. Sony will also double its sales counter reach to 8,000 by end of this fiscal ending March," Hibi said.

As part of promotional offer Xperia Z1 buyer will get free portable USB charger worth Rs 2,790, 8GB internet usage from Vodafone for 2 months and accidental insurance cover for six months from date of purchase.

Sony has tied up with movie retailers BigFlix to offer three months free subscription to Xperia Z1 buyers.

The company on the occasion also launched two lens style Cybershot camera, DSC-QX-100 for Rs 24,990 and DSC-QX10 for Rs 12,990, and a wireless bluetooth speaker for Rs 16,990 among others. 

Sony Xperia Z1 Android Phone Officially Launched

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Behind the 5-inch Full HD Screen lies Sony's latest advances in mobile camera technology, claiming "World's leading camera in a smartphone."

In the recent flood of new Sony Products, the Xperia Z1 has been revealed at the company's IFA Conference in Berlin. Apart from being a followup to the Xperia Z, this new flagship phone is to be Sony's representative of its new focus on camera capabilities in mobile phones. Released with grand claims of being the "world's leading camera in a smartphone" and offering "best in class imaging," Sony appears to be very confident about their new technology. 

The 5-inch phone has a 1080p Triluminos display, which according to Sony, allows for the viewing of a greater range of natural colors, and comes with the company's X-Reality technology to improve the viewing of low-res media. Along with the screen comes the latest development in touch screens that can also be found in the Xperia Z Ultra, as well as 4G support in both devices.

Behind the attractive display sits the quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC clocked at 2.2 GHz, along with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage space, which can be expanded through a microSD slot by another 64 GB. Measuring 144 x 74 x 8.5 mm and weighing only 170 grams, we are impressed that the phone holds a 3000 mAh battery. Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 initially comes with the phone, but we are hopeful for a later update to Android 4.4 KitKat.

While the phone itself is rather standard, the defining difference between this and previous Sony phones is the camera capabilities. A 20.7MP Camera is located on the back of the phone, which uses a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS CMOS image sensor, while the lens itself is Sony's G Lens which is a wide angle 27 mm lens with an aperture of f2.0, and can apparently deliver 3x optical zoom without any distortion at all. The actual hardware processor of the image comes courtesy of a Bionz unit that Sony uses in many of its Alpha DSLRs. 

However, to uphold the bold claims of the phone's photographic excellence, the standard Android Software just won't do. Consequently, many apps have been preloaded onto the phone to extend the camera's capabilities, such as Social Life (camera streaming to social media), Timeshift (a burst capture mode to select the best of the images), Info-Eye (uses photos to search online for relevant info), and AR Effect (augmented reality to overlay custom animations onto images). Not withholding, the company has designed the hardware with an open SDK, so that developers can also take full advantage of the hardware available.

While the collection of camera hardware in the phone is impressive, we have noticed a distinct lack of Optical Image Stabilization being mentioned in the press release. While this might not even be a problem for the camera's photo capabilities, we reserve judgement until we can objectively verify the company's claims ourselves. With Nokia's PureView line-up and its Lumia 1020, the Xperia Z1 has its work cut out for it. The phone has IP55 certification (limited dust ingression protection) and a surprising IP58 label (as opposed to IP57), which means that the phone is water resistant up to a certain pressure for long periods of time, as opposed to limited time between depths of 15 cm to 1 m (between half a foot and 3 feet). If you plan to go diving with your Black, White, or Purple Xperia Z1, you will unfortunately have to wait until it hits the shelves "later this month."