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Image: Sony

At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Sony had introduced us to the Xperia Z, its flagship phone until the Xperia Z1 came on the scene. A year down the line, a compact version of this popular smartphone was unveiled at the Las Vegas event.

With Xperia Z1 Compact, Sony has packed in all the premium features and performance of the original Xperia Z1 into a smaller size to give users “the ultimate compact smartphone”.

The Z1 Compact comes loaded with Google Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8974 Quad Core processor. It has 16GB of onboard memory (there’s a microSD card slot, too).

Here are some other key features of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, expected to launch globally next month –

Display: The screen size has reduced from 5 inches to 4.3 inches, along with a drop in display resolution from 1080p to 720p. Much like the Xperia Z1, this compact version uses Triluminos display for a wider palette of rich, natural colours and an X-Reality engine.

Memory: The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has 16GB of onboard memory (there’s a microSD card slot, too).

Battery: The Z1 Compact comes with a 2,300mAh cell, down from the 3,000mAh battery in the larger version. But given the lower power requirements of a smaller screen size, Sony is confident of delivering a similar amount of battery life overall with up to 18 hours of talk time and standby time of upto 670 hours.

Camera & camera apps: The Xperia Z1 Compact’s camera has the same specifications as that on the original Xperia Z1 – a 20.7 megapixel camera with Sony’s proven camera technologies, including the “G Lens”, 20.7 MP “Exmor RS for mobile” CMOS image sensor and a “BIONZ for mobile” image processing engine. High shutter speeds, image zoom and intelligent scene recognition technology with no complicated settings all ensure that you can capture good quality images even in low light conditions.

The Xperia Z1 Compact also comes pre-loaded with a suite of innovative Xperia social camera apps like the Timeshift burst which captures an impressive 61 frames in two seconds to get the perfect shot the first time. The Info-eye™ is a visual search using your camera to provide information on landmarks.

Transfers from existing iOS and Android smartphones: To enable easy transitions for existing iPhone and Android smartphones, the Z1 Compact comes with an in-the-box cable to connect the two phones and seamlessly transfer contacts, content and apps.

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact comes in colours of white, black, pink and lime.

Product: Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Price: To be announced