Sony Xperia Z1 'Honami' shown off in fresh hands-on snaps
Sony's next flagship smart phone has been shown off in some sneaky hands on pictures, showing what looks like a metal frame.
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Rumours and leaked photos of Sony's next flagship blower are flying thick and fast in the run up to its expected launch at IFA next week. The latest crop of photos show a lucky gadgeteer handling the new phone which appears to be sporting a few physical upgrades from the existing Xperia Z.
The chief change is the addition of a silver band around the egde. In the photos, seen at Esato, and acquired by GSM Arena, the band looks a lot like metal, although it's difficult to confirm that from photos alone. Samsung's Galaxy S4 took some heat for its plasticky construction, while the HTC One's aluminium body picked up a lot of praise, so it's possible that Sony will want to jump on the metal bandwagon with this latest model.
Although no dimensions are given, the phone does look a little thicker than the existing Xperia Z. The bottom of the phone is home to a large speaker grille, while the 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top. Android Community notes the "20.7MP" writing next to the camera lens on the phone, suggesting that it'll see a significant boost from the 13-megapixel snapper on the Z.
While there's no guarantee that these images are genuine, they do closely match a new teaser video shown off by Sony's official Xperia Twitter account (shown below). Although Sony hasn't given any specs of the new phone, a shot of it plunging into water suggests that, like the Xperia Z, the new model will again be waterproof. Interestingly, the headphone port doesn't appear to have a waterproof cover, suggesting that Sony has been able to keep water out of the port without using awkward flaps.
Previous rumours suggest the phone will be sporting specs similar to the Xperia Z -- a Full HD 5-inch display, quad-core processor, but with a larger 3,000mAH battery. The phone is due to launch at this year's IFA show in Berlin on 4 September. We'll be there in force so stay tuned for all the latest news.
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