At the Sony booth we had a chance to have a closer look at the Japanese tech giant's new 13-megapixel smartphone, the Xperia Z. The device's spec sheet looks pretty impressive and we were equally impressed when handling the Xperia Z for the first time. It makes a very solid impression and has a true premium feel to it. Despite the large 5-inch screen, it is only marginally larger than my Nexus 4 and it is even waterproof up to one meter depth -- no need to worry about answering your phone in the pouring rain or placing your device right next to a coffee cup.
We have not had a chance to examine the camera's image quality, but purely on paper the 13MP Exmor RS sensor should be a step forward from the current crop of high-end phones and the video HDR mode is at this point a unique feature among smartphones. We have managed to capture a few screengrabs to give you a first impression of the Xperia Z's camera interface.
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The standard camera screen gives you access to both virtual shutter and video buttons. The layout of the settings buttons on the left can be customized.
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Tapping the shooting mode button lets you choose from a range of modes, including the fully-automatic Superior Auto mode and the Sweep Panorama mode we know from Sony's compact cameras and DSLRs.
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Tapping the settings button reveals a larger-than-usual number of parameters to play with.
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Sony's album app is very nicely designed and lets you change thumbnail size using the pinch gesture.
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In the Album app you also have the option to display your images on a globe, based on the location data embedded in your pictures' EXIF data. You can then zoom in and out and turn the planet using the familiar swipe and pinch gestures, a very neat way of presenting pictures for world-travelers.
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GPS location data allows you to 'pin' each of your photos ...
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... to a location on the globe.
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