Sony's Cyber-shot smartphone to have bigger camera lens than Nokia N8

It’s no news that Sony wants to get back to building Cyber-shot smartphones. Some new information has been revealed about the next phone by the company, which is speculated to bear the Cyber-shot branding. According to VRZone, the handset, codenamed Honami, is apparently being worked on by all departments of Sony, instead of just Sony Mobile. The handset’s camera lens is said to dwarf almost all other cameras featured in smartphones, except the PureView 808.

The Honami’s camera is rumoured to be better than the N8’s camera, and this will be the first time that a handset running on Android will pack a lens this large. It even dwarfs the camera lens of Samsung’s Galaxy Camera. For the flash, Sony seems to be torn between using either Xenon or dual LED setups.

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Save for the PureView 808, the Honami seems to have the biggest sensor in smartphones (image credit: VRZone)

The phone will be using a new algorithm for processing images, and it will be similar to the algorithm found in Cyber-shot digital cameras. The camera UI will be revamped, and features from the 2013 line-up of Cyber-shot cameras will be making it to the phone. The Auto Scene Recognition is also said to be getting a comprehensive upgrade over the one we saw in the Xperia Z and ZL.

Needless to say, having such a powerful camera will probably affect the phone’s design in a large way. While it won’t have the same bulge that exists in the N8 and the PureView 808, the Honami’s thickness is estimated to measure at 10 mm, making it much thicker than Sony’s current flagship handsets, the Xperia Z and ZL.