Sony Mobile plans to launch the Xperia R1 and Xperia R1 Plus at the end of this week. These entry-level handsets will be exclusive to the Indian market, at least initially. Both models will sport a 5.2-inch 720p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset and 2620mAh battery. Camera duties will be served by a 13MP rear snapper and 8MP selfie camera.
What is interesting however, is that Sony might be using a new camera user interface on these phones. One of the only hands-on videos of the Xperia R1 Plus, gives us a good tour of the device, including a look at the camera app. The new camera UI appears to be a much simpler fare, with bigger icons, perhaps befitting the handset’s entry-level status.
You can now select scenes (HDR, Portrait, Landscape) with a swipe from the left, and the camera settings menu has also changed. There is also a new type of focus circle. In addition, there are now a number of different filters that you can apply to your pictures (Mono, Sepia, Negative etc).
The device in the video is clearly a prototype model, so there’s no assurances that what we see here will appear in the final retail models. Could Sony be splitting its camera UI for entry level phones compared to its premium offering? Well, up until now Sony has used the same camera software across all of the Xperia range (including the other entry model, the Xperia L1), so it’s unlikely.
Would you like to see new camera UI? Do you like what you see in the video? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks Subham!
