Sony launches waterproof Xperia Z1 Compact for Rs 36,990 in India, gets pricing wrong again!

Unveiled at the Consumers Electronic Show (CES) 2014, Sony has now launched the compact version of its flagship Z1 smartphone in the Indian market. Christened Xperia Z1 Compact, the device sports a slightly smaller display- 4.3 inch in comparison to big brother Z1′s 5 inch screen- and runs on the Android operating system. It is available for purchase for a price of Rs 36,990. Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

The smartphone features a 4.3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display (1280×720 pixels resolution) and runs on the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) operating system. It is powered by a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8974 quad-core processor with Adreno 330 GPU and has 2 GB RAM. The device offers 16GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 64GB with a microSD card.

Similar to the original Z1, this one also has a 20.7MP autofocus rear camera that comes with a pulsed LED flash and 8x digital zoom, and can record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second. In addition, there is a 2MP front facing camera for video calling that can also record full HD videos. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, & 4G LTE, and it also has a microUSB port & a microSD card slot.

Z1 Compact measures 127mm x 64.9mm x 9.5mm and weighs 137 gm. Sony has added a 2,300 mAh battery in the device, which it claims will provide up to 10 hours of talk time, 12 hours of video playback time and up to 670 hours of standby time. The smartphone comes with Near Field Communication (NFC) and will be available in black, white, pink and lime colours.

The device is both waterproof and dust resistant, and with it, you can take pictures while swimming in fresh water for up to 30 minutes (at least that is what the company claims). Just remember for doing the same, you will have to firmly close the covers for the micro USB port, the micro SIM slot and the memory card slot.

In terms of pricing, it will face competition from the likes of HTC One Mini (Rs 29,255), LG Optimus G E975 (Rs 28,490), Samsung Galaxy S4 mini (Rs 20,399) and Galaxy S4 Zoom (Rs 26,600), and Nokia Lumia 925 (Rs 28,999), among others. One look at the prices of its competitors and you can figure out that the smartphone has been over-priced by Sony, a mistake the company has become very fond of making (or so it seems) off late. While the device offers more than decent specifications, we feel that a price between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 would have been apt for it.