Building on the success of last year’s Xperia XA and XA Ultra, Sony had just announced the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra as successors to the popular mid-range smartphones. While the XA1 is a 5-inch device, the XA1 Ultra is a 6-inch selfie-centric device.
Xperia XA1
The XA1 features a borderless design. Its 5-inch HD (720p) display is full-width, leaving the frame barely visible, while still fitting comfortably in hand. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio P20 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
The biggest update to the Xperia XA1, has got to be its main camera. It is now a 23MP Exmor RS sensor with 1/2.3” sensor size and a 24mm (equivalent) f/2.0 aperture lens! The selfie camera seems to be the same as its predecessor though, retaining the 8MP shooter with 23mm wide-angle len and autofocus.
It seems however, that Sony had forgotten to give the XA1 a battery upgrade as it remains the same 2300mAh capacity as the previous generation of the device. It did however, now comes equipped a new USB Type-C port with Qnovo Adaptive Charging.
Xperia XA1 Ultra
The XA1 Ultra, the bigger brother of the XA1, comes with similar specs in terms of processing power. It is also powered by the MediaTek Helio P20 chipset, but it gets 4GB of RAM and a choice of either 32GB or 64GB of expandable storage.
Up front, it gets a larger 6-inch Full HD (1080p) display, which is also of the borderless design. It gets the same 23MP camera upgrade as the XA1, as well as retaining the impressive optically stabilised 16MP Exmor R sensor that has a 1/2.6” sensor size, dedicated front facing LED flash, and 23mm (equivalent) f/2.0 aperture lens from its predecessor.
As with the XA1, it seems that Sony felt that keeping the battery at 2700mAh is a good idea, which is, quite baffling as it was one of the shortcomings on the original XA Ultra. Charging is done over the new USB Type-C port, with support for Mediatek’s Pump Express Plus 2.0 quick charging technology.
Availability and Pricing
Both the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra will come with a choice of White, Black, and Gold. There will also be a regional Pink Version which will only be made available in certain countries. They will both also run on Android Nougat at launch.
The Xperia XA1 will be available in Malaysia sometime in April, although pricing details had not be released. However, availability of the Xperia XA1 Ultra in Malaysia will only be confirmed at a later date. Stay tuned with us on TechNave.com for hands-on and pricing details when they launch.
COMMENTS