Sony Xperia Z1 f, a variant of the Z1 or a Mini version?

There’s something new from Sony: the Xperia Z1 f. The device has specs similar to those of the Xperia Z1, Sony’s latest flagship device but some have been stepped down a bit.

Since the Xperia Z1 has a 5 inch full HD display that is stepped down to a 4.3 inch LCD display. The battery capacity is also lowered with the Xperia Z1 f having a 2300 mAh battery compared to the Z1’s 3000 mAh. Those are the most notable compromises. With a smaller display, the Z1 f is generally smaller in looks to the Z1 and that could mean some few things. Though it is exclusive to Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo for now and there is no word whether it will get to the international market, this is likely Sony’s unofficial mini version of the Z1 and if the specs on paper and the looks are anything to go by then this is very impressive.

We are yet to see a mini version of a flagship announced with almost the same specs. What we have seen so far from the mini versions of two of the most talked about Android smartphones this year has been nothing but disappointment. The Galaxy S4’s mini version, Galaxy S4 Mini, and the HTC One’s HTC One Mini are nothing like their beastly elder brothers. They’ve been thoroughly stepped down but still attract premium pricing. The same was the case with the Galaxy S III Mini last year. A mini version ought to just offer the same internals but on a smaller body frame the way the Xperia Z1 f does. Instead we’ve been having trade-offs of everything. Instead of 2 GB RAM you get 1 GB, instead of the best in line processor and GPU, you get one meant for mid-range devices and so on and so on.

While the Xperia Z1 f earns top marks for all the specs, it compromises on the UI (see above photo). Instead of Sony’s minimalist Timescape UI found on all its devices we have a heavily skinned interface. I guess this is carrier-imposed since the exact UI we are seeing on images of the device is the same one we saw in the press images of Samsung’s Galaxy J, a beefed up Galaxy S4 (as far as the looks and display size go) with internals that match the Note 3’s.

Here are the specs of the Xperia Z1 f

• 4.3 inch 1280 x 720 LCD panel
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with 2.2GHz quad-core CPU and an Adreno 330 GPU
• 16GB internal memory with microSD card slot
• 2 GB RAM
• 20.7 megapixel EXMOR main camera sensor
• 2300 mAh battery
• Waterproof (as usual)

As you may notice, these are very high end specs and save for the display (obviously) and the battery capacity, this is very much the Xperia Z1. On a smaller frame.

If this is indeed a mini version of the Z1 then I hope every other manufacturer will borrow a leaf. Those who hate huge devices could as well do with a Galaxy S4 Mini or HTC One Mini packing the same specs as the Galaxy S4 or the HTC One itself but with a smaller display. Not midrange specs.

Photos: GSMArena