Handsets

Sony Xperia i1 Honami appears in the wild, shows off xenon and LED flash

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Sony-Honami-1

With all the hoopla surrounding the 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra, you may have forgotten that Sony is rumored to be planning a refreshed version of their Sony Xperia Z flagship, dubbed the Sony Xperia i1 (Honami).

This device has shown up in a handful of “leaks” and has been rumored to come equipped with a 5-inch 1080p display, top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, ~3,000mAh battery, water/dust resistance, and improved imaging capabilities thanks to a 20MP camera and xenon flash.

Sony-Honami-3

Today, some images of an alleged Sony Xperia i1 Honami have popped up online showing the device in the wild and, and looks largely the same as its Sony Xperia Z cousin. The biggest difference is that this device comes equipped with that xenon flash we’ve been hearing so much about, along with and LED flash (more than likely for low light video). Other than that, it’s business as usual.

Sony-Honami-2

Sony currently has a press event scheduled for July 4th in Paris, and where we originally thought we’d see the now unveiled Sony Xperia Z Ultra, it turns out the star of the show might by the Sony Xperia i1 Honami. The device is rumored to launch sometime in September (overseas), with global availability coming later down the road.

What do you guys think? If this alleged Sony i1 is legit — Snapdragon 800, 20MP camera — could this be your Android dreamphone?

[via UnwiredView]

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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47 Comments

  1. I’ve never been this excited for Independence day.

  2. SONY: I love what you’re doing man, but you gotta bring some CDMA!! Please?

    1. I dont think Sony ever went for CDMA in the USA…

      1. Thus my plea

        1. maybe you should switch to get the phones you like to see and want the only reason I can see you staying cdma is if you are in a rural area on verizion

          1. I am in a rural area. On Verizon and Sprint. (and grandfathered unlimited on Verizon)

            And AT&T can eat me.

            Oh, and TMobile has never had a real nationwide network.

          2. see I can understand that reason completely

          3. Even if you don’t live there, you’d want CDMA so that Sony could enjoy total domination, if this is really a good phone.

    2. CDMA is slowly getting neglected by phone because almost the whole world works on GSM. Canada converted their network a couple years ago, all off Europe is on GSM, so is Korea not too sure about China and Australia. But Verizon and Sprint might have to re think their network technology eventually. I think they are hoping that with the next couple G increments the technologies will eventually merge.

      1. Verizon isn’t going to rethink CDMA for 3G, they’re just going to phase it out in favor of 4G LTE. That’s going to take years though because it still carries all of their voice (even on 4G devices). Voice over LTE will come in 2014 so it will probably be 2016 or later before they ditch CDMA.

  3. Nice. Still can’t believe no flash on the ultra. Announcement July 4th for this, t-mobile announcement July 10th, my birthday is July 12th man I’m gonna get myself a present. I’ve been weighing all my options I don’t know what to think, what carrier, what phone, what plan blah blah blah. Okay I’m done

    1. If you look on Sony’s website and the pictures of the Ultra there is something below the camera, maybe it’s just somewhat hidden.

      1. No, that’s the NFC marker iirc. No flash.

    2. I don’t get why they missed this on the XZU, now they’re going 20MP +Xenon flash, are you trying to be a camera phone maker or not?

  4. That tiny sensor with 20 MP camera module? I hope Sony knows what they are doing…

  5. Honami..I like the name hope it sticks a lot better than numbers and or single letters or numbers with a letter

  6. Absolutely stunning. Once Sony comes on the market Samsung will fall to a comfortable 2nd spot closely followed by HTC. I am so happy Sony!!!! Please please whatever you do come to Sprint as well.

    1. If only they had some CDMA phones…

      1. Ugh! I know right?

    2. It’d be nice to see Sony step up and offer CDMA offerings. I think that is one thing that hurts their mobile profits. Thing is, I also think that they don’t care about it that much. All their gaming and home entertainment stuff has enough popularity, that they don’t really need mobile.

      1. SONY only makes GSM phones. but would help their sales if they market like Samsung putting their phones on every carrier

    3. I wouldn’t be so sure just yet.

  7. Im waiting for the companies to throw in a nice, big, proper sensor. 8mp-12mp. Then throw in a 5-Watt Cree SMD-LED. It puts out about 300-400 Lumens and is great for a phone!

  8. is that a physical button I see?

    1. I think that’s where the earpiece is? Maybe some kind of speakers?(doubt it) Looks like that is the top of the phone based on the button layout.

  9. Wow

  10. Shut up and take my bank account!!!!

  11. This is why I only fu@k with att or tmo. Gsm rules and as an employee of Sony pictures I will he using my discount to buy the unlocked lte version and dropping my at&t SIM in. Cdma sucks

    1. You fu@k your carrier? That’s some scary stuff.

  12. can’t be no more than $650.

  13. I guess I am the only person who isn’t impressed by the actual design of the phone. It looks rather blah compared to what we have out now a days.

  14. Hope they improve the screen…. Sony was my favorite handset maker back in the Sony Ericsson days. They had great cameras, sound, and were one of the few feature phones with a good and usable file explorer

  15. aww man this might be The One ring to rule them All!

  16. Coming to North America in 2015 …

  17. technodroidusers.blogspot.com

  18. I’m hoping for a 5.5″ Snapdragon 800 1080p Nexus 5.5

  19. I would prefer > 5.0″ but that meets my minimum screen size and at 1080P should be great. The battery sounds amazing. How is Sony with Android updates though?

  20. Like to see the viewing angles on this baby. Hope they improved it from the Z.

  21. I’ve read somewhere on the Internet that Sony managed to create a small camera module which could capture great 12-20MP… maybe that’s the lens they equipped, i don’t know…

  22. Unlocked mutherf@%#ing bootloader, and ftf google edition or sony rom option and i would kill for it!

  23. Sony electonic products has a very excellent audio and video except mobile phones. Sony is always inferior, but sony always claiming that their phones are beautiful fast, etc. Is it? Bulky coz bezels too prominent. The capacitive botton always have a special place in the screen plus the bezel made their products bulky…… Poor sound, no amplifier, etc. I would suggest that sony has to put amplifier and subwoofer on their phones. Poor photo capture, rectangular slab form factor (too simple craftmanship), poor color saturation, etc….. Odd and annoying…

  24. Lets see if they put in a somewhat decent screen this time.

  25. Sprint will not get it. Though I’d love to have this device based on the rumored specs, and the size, I see it doubtful.

    Get it together Sprint, bring us some Sony devices!!!

  26. Can’t wait till Thursday. if its also water proof n here in the U.S. I’ll buy this over the ZU.

  27. Jai ho

  28. why does everyone keep asking for cdma instead of lte networks that run voince and data so thier batteries dont die so fast

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