We’re looking forward to Q3 2013 a whole lot more after reading the latest rumours surrounding four potential Sony Xperia devices: a Sony Phablet, an Xperia Cyber-shot phone, Walkman phone and iPhone competitor expected to land then.
Since parting ways with Ericsson, Sony has come leaps and bounds on the mobile front. With the waterproof, quad-core full HD Xperia Z, it’s turned around its behind-the-curb reputation and with the Xperia Tablet Z has truly innovated beyond question in terms of industrial design. This Q3 line-up sounds like it could position Sony phones as the status symbols they aspire to be, appeasing tech-heads all at the same time.
The rumours come from a phoneArena tipster, and suggest the project falls under Sony’s ‘One Sony’ umbrella, embracing all the expertise of the super-brand.
The tipster also suggests six devices in total. Two are code names, Xperia A and Xperia UL, so don’t warrant too much comment. One is referred to as the Xperia phablet, expected to land somewhere between 6-inches and 7-inches. The next three mentions however are significantly jucier.
Sony Xperia Cyber-shot
Expected to come in at 5-inches, the Xperia Cyber-shot camera is suggested to pack a sensor size almost as large as the Nokia 808 PureView. For anyone not familiar with the phone, check out our 808 PureView coverage – the camera is incredible.
Coupled with Carl Zeiss optics and a relatively slender ‘waistline’, the phone should help Sony compete on the mobile front with the likes of Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC One.
Quote from phoneArena:
“This one is 5 inch xperia cybershot. It will be equipped with best camera so far in smartphones. With sensor size almost equal to pureview 808 and carl zeiss optics it will stand out from the rest of the crowd. Other specs will be top of the line. Also, the waistline of the phone is well within limits.”
Sony Xperia Walkman
While not as strong as it was in the 90s, the Walkman brand still packs some serious clout. Sony Ericsson Walkman branded phones have been pushed out before, but they always felt like half-hearted efforts since the days of the K880i.
The report suggests Q3 will see another push for the Walkman phone, this time coming in at 5-inches. If this is coupled with a full HD display and Xperia Z matching style, then perhaps coupling the Walkman brand with a relatively premium device will do the trick, avoiding the disappointments of the Sony Mix Walkman and the Sony Live with Walkman.
Quote from phoneArena:
This one is 5 inch xperia walkman. It will come with integrated amplifier chip and all other goodies of sony walkman series and same top specs.
Sony Xperia ‘iPhone competitor’
The final phone expanded upon in the speculation comes in the form of an iPhone competitor with a smaller screen. No specifics were mentioned regarding its size, but we can guess it will come in at between 4-inches to 5-inches.
Going head-on with the iPhone we’d hope for Sony to pull out all the stops in terms of design and display quality, and with the camera stated to be the same as the Xperia Cyber-shot mentioned earlier, it’ll be getting a larger sensor too.
Quote from phoneArena:
This one is a direct iPhone competitor in a small form factor and small screen size with camera and other specs same as xperia cybershot.
Whetting your appetites? It’s all certainly whetting ours. Being the imaging buffs we are, we’d certainly hope for a phone with PureView levels of pixel-power running a current smartphone OS to arrive very, very soon. Still, these are undeniably rumours and speculation at this stage.
The move does however make perfect sense from a marketing stand-point, so all that’s left to do is watch this space and hope Sony delivers a stonking line-up in Q3 2013.
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