Sony have released a teaser video about a smartphone that they will release on September 4th 2013. The smartphone is currently unnamed and the video makes no attempt to divulge details around the phones specification. Accept that is for one key piece of the phones specification.
That key piece of spec is that the smartphone appears to be fully waterproof. The video, posted above, is titled “The best of Sony is about to get even better”, and hints at a new high-spec smartphone which will work underwater.
Sony have been here before when it comes to a waterproof phone. Their Xperia Z Ultra boasts of a 6.4 inch screen and features an 8 MP camera. The rumours are that the new smartphone featured in the video will boast of a 21 MP camera which will shoot video in 4K resolution. Its rumoured that the new device will be called the Sony Xperia Z1 and alongside the impressive camera will be an equally impressive 5 megapixel screen. A snapdragon processor is the most likely candidate to bind this all together, in what should be an interesting new device in the new category of camera-smartphones.
Nokia have recently launched their super-spec camera smartphone, the 42mp Lumia, in what is fast becoming a hot new niche within smartphones. The Nokia offering takes the concept of a camera in a smartphone to a whole new level, but in truth there is more to a sharp shooter then merely the amount of pixels present in the camera.
Either way, these new smartphones are offering a level of picture quality that was alien to a phone camera as recently as six months ago. With the growing popularity of Instagram and Vine, sitting alongside the enduring popularity of other photo and video-centric social media, like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, there’s an increasing demand for a phone with a good camera.
It will be interesting to see exactly what Sony’s idea is for the waterproof Xperia Z1. Are they for example looking to encourage its use amongst extreme sports fans, who may choose to use the 4K camera to shoot high quality film in extreme environments, ranging from surfing to snowboarding? This is a segment of users who are known to value shooting POV videos. They are also known to be significant spenders on high quality photographic equipment, so the inclusion of a 4K shooter could be a significant pointer towards this market being the target market.
If this is the case, then Sony may have just unearthed a decent sized and largely untouched niche. So keep an eye on September 4th and the big Sony launch.
