Sony has launched its latest flagship phone called the Xperia Pro-I, and this one is quite special as it comes armed with a custom-tuned 1-inch Exmor RS CMOS sensor borrowed from the RX100 VII point-and-shoot camera. Even though the imaging hardware is impressive, Sony is not the first one to cram a huge 1-inch sensor inside a phone. Earlier this year, Japanese electronics brand Sharp launched its Aquos R6 smartphone, rocking a 1-inch sensor of 20-megapixel resolution. In addition, Panasonic’s CM1 that arrived in 2014 was also fitted with a 1-inch imaging sensor of 20-megapixel resolution and paired with a Leica lens.
None of the aforementioned phones were widely available, and thus, failed to make a splash. However, the trend of camera-centric smartphones has survived and continues to flourish. Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra offers some crazy zoom performance, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max relies more on computational tricks to ace both photo and video capture. Sony’s heavy-hitting Xperia Pro hit the shelves earlier this year with some neat camera tricks, but it was far from successful with its hefty $2,500 price tag.
The company is again taking a stab at the camera-centric smartphone trend with its latest offering, the Xperia Pro-I. As mentioned above, it features a 12-megapixel 1-inch Exmor RS sensor with variable aperture (f/2.0 and f/4.0 courtesy of a ZEISS aspherical lens) for better control over depth of field effects. The pixel size is also huge at 2.4μm, which is something that can't be ignored. But it’s not just the huge camera that is impressive here, but also some of the software tricks that are borrowed from Sony’s Alpha line of professional cameras. The phone supports real-time tracking and Eye AF (photos and videos) for human and animal subjects. It supports burst shooting at up to 20fps, 12-bit RAW capture, and 4K HDR video capture at an impressive 120FPS frame rate.
The primary 12MP camera backed by a 1-inch sensor sits alongside a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto snapper. Sony says the Creator mode powered by CineAlta will give users more control over color reproduction in both stills and videos. Selfies are taken care of by a relatively modest 8-megapixel snapper, unlike the 40-megapixel monster on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
However, the Sony Xperia Pro-I is a lot more than just its camera. The 6.5-inch OLED display offers a crisp 4K resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate and a tall 21:9 aspect ratio that Sony claims is ideal for watching content. The build is IP68-certified, while the screen is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. Inside, Qualcomm’s snapdragon 888 runs the show paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. Interestingly, there’s also a MicroSD slot that supports storage expansion by another 1TB, and the 3.5mm headphone jack has been retained as well.
There’s a dedicated shutter button, while users can customize the circular shortcut button to start video recording with one click. A 4,500mAh battery keeps the lights on and supports 30W fast charging. Going by the specs sheet, the Sony Xperia Pro-I looks ready to challenge Samsung and Apple’s best, and even the newly-launched Google Pixel 6 Pro. But as they say, nothing good comes cheap in this industry. For all its envy-inducing camera hardware and pixel-dense OLED panel, the Xperia Pro-I will set buyers back by a handsome $1,800 and will be going on pre-orders from October 28 onwards.
Source: Sony
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