The key highlight of the Z1 is the 20.7 megapixel camera, paired with Sony's in-house G lens and its image processing algorithm called BIONZ.

The phone also comes with Sony's new camera user interface, dedicated shutter button and has an aluminium and glass unibody design.

Xperia Z1 has subtly rounded edges and smooth, reflective surfaces on all sides, which are held together by a skeleton frame made from aluminium.

A dedicated hardware shutter key for easy access to camera is provided on the lower right side.

[6] The Xperia Z1 was initially shipped with Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Sony's custom launcher on top.

Some notable additions to the software include Sony's Media applications – Walkman, Album and Videos.

Sony also radically changed its camera user-interface; it added new features, such as TimeShift and Augmented reality (AR) effects such as a walking dinosaur.

On 7 November 2013, Sony Mobile announced via their blog that the Xperia Z1 would receive the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) update in December.

[14] On 15 April 2015, Sony Mobile officially released the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update for the Xperia Z1 starting with build number 14.5.A.0.242.

[15] In September 2015, Sony Mobile officially released the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update for the Xperia Z1 starting with build number 14.6.A.0.368.

[16][17] On 4 December 2015, Sony Mobile released another small bug-fixing update for the Xperia Z1 models with build number 14.6.A.1.236.