Sony refuses to play safe in the smartphone market. The Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, and the new Xperia Z Ultra boosted Sony's position in the market emphasizing that the company is a formidable competition for leading phone manufacturers. With already three devices out, Sony is not stopping. The company wants to release another smartphone called the Sony i1.

Reports suggest Sony will unveil their latest offering this September. The company has a long history and experience with camera phones starting from the Sony Ericsson K800i. If the reports and speculations are correct Sony i1 has a high potential of being one of the most sought after on the market.

Starting in April, there were already reports saying that the new phone will be called Honami or Sony i1 Honami. No other reports confirm whether Sony will drop the term "Xperia" for this device. Earlier, analysts say based on the technology of Sony, Honami can compete with Xperia Z, iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Here are the top reasons why Honami can change the smartphone competition:

  • Top of the range processor - The spin off series will feature the top notch mobile chip processor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800. The quad-core processor clocks at 2.3GHz. Sony will equip Honami with 2GB of Ram plus expandable memory.
  • 20 megapixel camera - most analysts say the features of Sony i1 caters more to the high end market. There are reports hinting that Sony may include a 20 megapixel camera though some sources say it can be more because of the a "Super Resolution" software process than the actual account of the pixels. It may also allow users to shoot 4k videos.
  • Additional camera features - rumor has it that Sony will also include their backside illuminated Exmor R sensor technology. This will come alongside an image stabilization feature and ISO range (50-12,800), manual control and F2.0 aperture. Other reported features include 2.2 megapixel front camera , Xenon flash and separate shutter release button.

There is no official word yet but one thing is for sure: Sony will have an event on September 4. People waiting for an announcement should mark the date.