Image rendering (not the real camera) via Photoarena

Welcome to a very busy week here on SAR! As you know on June 27 (Thursday) Sony will announce the new RX100MII and the RX1R. We already know everything about these cameras except the price. But there may be one more surprise coming:

We never talked about smartphones on SAR. But now we have two good reasons to talk about the upcoming Sony i1:

1) It will be the first Sony hybrid smartphone-camera with 1:2,3 inch sensor and Sony G lens. And maybe an interchangeable mount too!

2) It could feature the new JPEG engine coming soon via firmware update on the A- and E-mount cameras

What is also interesting is that this kind of smartphones will slowly replace the compact camera business. Classic Cybershot camera development will be dramatically reduced. The future are these hybrid smartphone-cameras.

By the way, I don’t know yet how a camera like this can use interchangeable lenses. It may be that it has a sort of hybrid solution. A on camera fixed G lens and a mount ring around it. I don’t know if that patent (pdf here) has something to do with it…

Image rendering (not the real camera) via Photoarena

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There may be a big surprise coming along the RX announcement on June 27. According to Svartling.net the new Sony i1 Honami phone will have an interchangeable lens mount! Photoarena posted a rendering of how this could look (Image on top). And a blurred picture of the real camera has been posted by Svartling:

The S1 will feature a 1/2.3 inch Exmor sensor which is exactly the same size of Cybershot compact cameras. What’s also interesting for us A or E-mount camera owners is that Sony will introduce a new JPEG engine that could find his way in these cameras with the next firmware update coming in July-August.

Now back to the Sony hybrid smartphone-Cybershot cameras. These could be the full specs of the camera:

5.0-inch 1920×1080 Triluminos, OptiContrast, X-Reality Engine, 2000:1 + Contrast Ratio
Snapdragon MSM8974 2.3 ghz, Adreno 330
2 GB RAM
32 GB Internal, microSD expansion
2/3″ 20/13 MP Exmor RS camera with Sony G lens, Cybershot Camera UI, Camera shutter key, Interchangeable lenses
Xenon + Dual LED Flash, Mobile BIONZ Image processing
NFC, One Touch Sharing, WIFI Miracast
BlueTooth 4.0
S-Master MX Mobile Audio Amplifier
1080p Exmor R front camera 2.2 Megapixel
Dual Stereo speakers
Android 4.2.2, new Xperia UI
4G LTE
Tough Shatter proof Glass on front ( Tougher than Xperia Z Dragontrail glass)
3000mAh battery, new improved STAMINA mode
Glass + Metal/Carbon Fiber body
IP 55/58 dust, water resistance, shock resistance. No flap on audio jack
IR Remote

via Cnet, Photoarena, Thenewcamera,