Earlier this week, Sony unveiled its newest premium smartphone, and it’s one the company is offering for photography enthusiasts. What makes the Xperia PRO-I so unique? It has the same Exmor RS sensor as the popular Sony RX100 VII compact camera.
Yes, it has the same 1-inch sensor as that point-and-shoot. And it has a 2.4µm pixel pitch, which would allow the smartphone’s camera to take in more light and give you photos with less noise even when in a dimly lit environment.
But the Xperia Pro-I uses a crop instead of the full readout of the sensor, which means it can’t output images at 20.1-megapixel as the RX 100 VII because it needs a larger lens for that, and that wouldn’t fit into this smartphone’s body.
It also has other impressive features like shooting 12-bit RAW files, native 4K at 120 frames per second with eye-detection auto-focus, and 315 phase-detection AF points covering 90% of the frame.
In front of this 1-inch sensor is a Zeiss-coated, stabilized 24mm lens with a variable aperture that goes from f/2.0 to f/4.0, allowing you to switch easily between a shallow depth of field or a sharper image.
That 12-megapixel camera is flanked by a pair of 12-megapixel cameras, including a 16mm ultrawide sensor and a 50mm 2x telephoto shooter. It doesn’t have the 70mm-105mm variable-zoom periscope of the Xperia 1 III and 5 III, but it gets the same Bionz X image signal processor on those two phones.
Photo enthusiasts aren’t the only users Sony wants to attract with this phone. They also wish content creators would use it. That’s why Sony is offering a vlog monitor accessory you can attach to the back of the phone, so you can use those rear cameras to film. This accessory has a 3.5-inch 1,280 x 720 monitor so you can see what you’re recording.
And while we’re talking about all the camera capabilities, the Xperia Pro-I is still a phone. And it’s a souped-up version of the Xperia 1 III.
It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of expandable storage. This handset has a 6.5-inch 4K OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 4,500mAh battery with a 30W fast-charging support from the power adapter included in the box. This phone also still has a 3.5mm headphone jack supporting Sony’s LDA and DSEE technologies.
As with many of Sony’s premium smartphones, the Sony Xperia Pro-I costs a hefty EUR 1,799 (roughly PHP 105,050 or USD 2,079 converted). If you want the vlog monitor, that’s an extra EUR 199 (PHP 11,620 or USD 230) plus EUR 89.99 (PHP 5,255 or USD 104) for the back cover attachment. In December, it is coming to France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordics, and the United Kingdom.
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