SONY has taken the 'selfie' shot to new depths: you can snap them in the pool, in the ocean, and even smiling next to a friendly white pointer shark, with its new Xperia Z1 smartphone.The ability to take underwater selfies is one of the differences between the Xperia Z, which Sony released early this year, and the Z1, which is being officially launched in Australia today.
Whereas the Z was partially waterproof to up to 1 metre, the Z1 is both dust resistant and water proof to beyond 1 metre if immersed in clean water for 30 minutes, with IP55/IP58 certification.
Sony says that opens up possibilities. It means you can take the Z1 to the beach, have it next to you on your beach towel and snap away without it being sand affected. You can also take it into the ocean and snap away there too provided you then thoroughly rinse it under the tap on the way out.
Camera-wise, the original Xperia Z was restricted to taking underwater video. You set the video in action before venturing beneath the surface. The Z1 however offers more. It has a dedicated camera button that itself is waterproof, so now you can take stills underwater and selective slices of video.
That includes an ability to take 'underwater selfies'. So you can snap shots of yourself looking 'cool' at the bottom of your pool, or if you're more adventurous, smiling next to a sea snake, jelly fish, or if you're totally daredevil, a smiling white pointer -- although one wouldn't recommend it.
Another innovation on the Z1 is the ability to plug in and unplug a waterproof headset while you're underwater. You don't have to open or close a waterproof seal. However seals remain in use for protecting the SIM card, microSD card and micro USB ports as before.
Sony has upped the camera spec on the Xperia Z1. It's 20.7 rather than 13.1 megapixels for stills. It features a 27mm wide angle lens with an F2.0 aperture for sharper photos, and better snaps in low light conditions.
The phone retains the same screen as before: a 1080 x 1920 pixel 5.0 inches HD display, with possibly the finest definition display on a smartphone -- around 441 ppi pixel density.
The Z1 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with a fast 2.2 Gigahertz quad core processor. Battery capacity too has been upgraded from 2330 to 3000 milliampere hours which is around double some high-end smartphones.
The Z1 also features an up-scaler called 'X-Reality' that processes images and video and adds pixels to increase the resolution. It's similar in principle to the up-scaling feature on the new ultra-high definition TVs which interpolates extra pixels to improve image quality.
In fact Sony says X-Reality technology was derived from its BRAVIA UHD TV expertise.
Sony also has released locally its giant Xperia Z Ultra phablet, which has a 6.4-inch screen and also is waterproof. We doubt however that you could use it for scrawling notes on its screen with a styles while you snorkel -- given the physics of the water pressure on the display, but maybe it's worth a try.
The Xperia Z1 already is available for pre-order from Harvey Norman for $733 and will be available outright from Dick Smith Electronics also. Telcos apart from Vodafone are due to stock the Z1 for sale on contract. The Z1 Ultra can be pre-ordered for $733 and $797 from Harvey Norman and Dick Smith Electronics respectively.
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