After a long break, Sony India launches two new entry-level Android smartphones in India. The Sony Xperia R1 & Sony Xperia R1 Plus will be available in India from November 10th via offline and online retail stores priced at INR 12,990 and INR 14,990 respectively.
In terms of design and build quality, the device offers all plastic unibody design, which resembles the Sony’s premium flagship smartphones like the Sony Xperia XZ and XZ Premium with a tone-downed craftmanship to cut the price of production. These devices are the part of Make in India programme, giving them a touch of patriotism when you hold them in your hand.
Here are the complete details on these devices, and a basic analysis of the competition in the market. The Sony Xperia R1 offers a 5.2-inch 720p IPS LCD screen, protected by a sheet of tempered glass with 2.5 D curved glass finish on the top. Underneath the display, the device houses an entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-core SoC, paired with 2 GB of LPDDDR3 RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage in Xperia R1 and 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard storage in Xperia R1 Plus (which is the only difference between these two models).
Coming to the camera capability, the device offers a 13 MP rear-facing camera with a single tone LED flash and a front-facing selfie camera with an 8 MP wide angle shooter. The main sensor is capable of recording video footages up to 1080p and the selfie camera maxes out at the 720p footage. As Sony’s handsets are known to offer better camera performances, one can also expect the same from these devices.
These devices will run on Android Nougat 7.1 with custom Sony UI on the top and the company has also promised an update to Android Oreo in the near future. In terms of connectivity, the device offers dual SIM card slots with 4G LTE and VoLte capability on both the slots with support for single band 2.4 GHz WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC for the wireless payments. Both models house a non-user replaceable 2620 mAh Li-ion battery with normal charging capability via USB type C port with USB OTG support.
For those, who are looking for an entry-level smartphone, then these devices can make into their bucket list. However, the way these are priced is something very absurd. Ex: The Redmi 4 offers better specifications, premium build quality and costs at most INR 11,000. Lenovo K8 Note priced at INR 14,000 offers a dual camera, so is the Moto G5 S. Sony should really think twice when they are targeting the entry-level audience, as the market for the same very difficult to tackle due to the competition.