Sony announces a successor to last year's super-tall Xperia 1 flagship-- the Xperia 1 II (Mark two), a device featuring a 21:9 6.5-inch OLED HDR display and, in a first for the company, 5G connectivity.
Revealed at the Sony MWC replacement livestream, the Xperia 1 II is a handset with a focus set firmly on photography. It carries a triple-lens camera incorporating "industry-leading" Sony Alpha technology and specially calibrated Zeiss optics. The three cameras feature a 12MP sensor, together with with a 24mm, f/1.7 lens with a 82-degree field of view, a 70mm f/2.4 lens with a 34-degree field of view and a 16mm f/2.2 lens with a 124-degree field of view. Also included is 3D time-of-flight sensor for enhanced zoom, while the front has an 8MP selfie camera with a f/2.0 lens with an 84-degree field of view.
The device is also not a slouch in the display department. Sony claims the 6.5-inch display offers "unprecedented colour accuracy" and a creator mode powered by the CineAlta pro-camera division. The company does not detail the refresh rate of the display, but it does have motion blur reduction "equivalent to that of a 90Hz display." As for audio, the speakers are capable of pushing 360-degree spatial audio and the smartphone even includes a 3.5mm jack, something of a rarity in current flagship devices.
Moving on to what is actually inside the handset, the Xperia 1 II includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage (expandable to 1TB via microSD card slot) and a 4000mAh battery with Qi fast wireless charging. Connectivity comes through dual-nano SIMs as well as a USB-C port. As for software, the smartphone runs on Android 10.
The Xperia 1 II is available on Q2 2020 in a choice of two colours, black and purple.