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Sony announces the mid-to-high end Xperia XZs, Xperia XA1 and Xperia XA1 Ultra [Video]

In addition to its just-announced XZ Premium flagship, Sony took on Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress to introduce three new devices that (hopefully) cover just about any performance and quality point on the road between the mid and high end.

They are the Xperia XZs, the XA1 and the XA1 Ultra. Let’s check them out…

Let’s start with the XZs, which is a derivative of its bigger brother. It’s arguably the best device among the three, as it borrows a few of its key specs from the Premium model; namely, it sports the new Motion Eye 19MP shooter.

This is, the company says, the best mobile camera they’ve ever put on the market, thanks to its big 1/2.3″ Exmor RS sensor and other tech coming from Sony‘s α and CyberShot cameras. The main feature is the super-slow motion capture, which makes you record up to a staggering 960fps.

Where the XZs cuts down is in the processor, which is last year’s Snapdragon 820, and the GPU, an Adreno 530 (instead of the Premium’s 540), albeit still backed up by a sizeable 4GB of RAM. The screen, too, is scaled down to a more common 5.2″ size and 1080p resolution, and the battery is some 330mAh smaller (2900mAh).

It still retains the IP68 certification, however, as well as a fingerprint scanner, the same 13MP front-facing camera, and, most importantly, Android 7.1 out of the box. Fortunately, Nougat will also power the XA1 and XA1 Ultra, which however are different kinds of devices, which build up on the XA line first introduced in 2016.

The 5″, 720p and 6″, 1080p XA1 and XA1 Ultra both sport a MediaTek helio P20 SoC (with 3GB of RAM on the XA1, 4 on the XA1 Ultra), a selfie-first front camera (8 and and 16MP respectively, with added OIS on the Ultra) and an accompanying 23MP rear shooter; the latter is the highlight of these devices, really, in addition to the “borderless” design, which eliminates side bezels (but still comes in with massive chin and forehead).

There are no prices, but as far as availability goes, the Xperia XZs will debut in April with Ice Blue, Warm Silver and Black colors. XA1 and XA1 Ultra are labeled for a “Spring” launch, instead, with White, Black, Gold and Pink as available options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzZ4fhP9x0

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Avatar for Edoardo Maggio Edoardo Maggio

Italian. Tech geek, video games, photography and music lover, comics-based movies enthusiast, and a sucker for good design. Amateur photographer (VSCO, 500px), writer and reporter for 9to5Google.


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