14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Mobile has been long rumored to plan the release of a new flagship Android-based smartphone before the end of this year, one that sports the codename of Honami, and that has already made an appearance over at the FCC.
TechKiddy, which discovered the handset on the feds’ website, notes that the FCC filing was submitted on July 23, and that it has a confidentiality request effective through September 30, 2013, attached to it. The phone might be put on shelves before that date, it seems.
However, the listing does confirm that the upcoming mobile phone will arrive on shelves with support for GSM, UMTS, and LTE networks, as well as with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth EDR and Bluetooth 4.0, and Wi-Fi Hotspot Function with Auto RF Power back-Off and RFID mode capabilities.
Rumor has it that Sony is readying the Xperia Honami as the successor of Xperia Z, and that it will pack it with some appealing improvements over the already available device.
Thus, the phone should arrive on the market with a 5.0-inch full HD touchscreen display, a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor inside, and with 2GB of RAM.
Furthermore, Sony’s Xperia Honami is also said to feature 16GB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot for expansion purposes, and a 3000mAh battery inside, with stamina mode.
The specs list of the upcoming flagship device also includes a 20.7-megapixel photo snapper with Sony G Lens and BIONZ image processing engine, paired with a front camera for making video calls.
The handset is said to measure 144 x 73.9 x 8.3mm and to arrive on the market in three color flavors, namely Black, White, and Purple.
The same as Xperia Z, Honami should be both dust- and waterproof. At the moment, it is rumored to run under Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system, yet Sony might upgrade it to the newer Android 4.3 OS flavor before its official release.