Sony seems to have made a big technology leap with the new Sony Honami, which boasts the best camera and sound features.  Smartphone imaging technology is fast evolving, as evident from the number of camera-centered Android phones, but the Honami has something more to it.

The Sony Honami or Xperia i1 is the most anticipated iteration after Sony Xperia Z. It is expected to feature a 16 MP camera with 20 MP CMOS sensor plus a Carl Zeiss lens. With the 1/1.6 sensor, Honami will beat HTC One, Galaxy S4 and Xperia, and come close to the camera-capability of Nokia Pureview 800.

The camera software will also be renewed with new image processing algorithms from Sony’s Cyber-shot camera range. You can expect a built-in xenon flash or dual LED flash, Sony’s BIONZ imaging processor, and possibly the Cybershot G lens. Honami will come with a new camera app called “Superior Auto Scene Recognition.”

The display will likely be a 5-inch full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Sony could be using the Triluminos X-Reality picture processing feature used in its television products. Coming to sound features, Honami is expected to be equipped with liquid magnetic stereo speakers plus a WALKMAN chip.

The chassis, a combination of metal, glass and carbon fiber, will be water and dust resistant. The device will be powered by a 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2 GB RAM. It will be LTE-capable and feature a battery range of 2,700 to 3,000 mAh.

The Xperia i1 Honami is likely to debut the Chinese market before making a global entry in August or September. There are chances of it being launched at the IFA 2013 event in Berlin.