Sony Xperia 1 with hands-free Alexa support launches on Amazon at a nice discount
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Sony's mobile division is doing worse than ever, with overall quarterly smartphone sales declining to as little as 900,000 units recently, and you don't need to look any further than the company's latest flagship to understand why things have gotten so bad.
While the Xperia 1 is a pretty impressive (and unusually tall) piece of hardware, its $950 recommended price point has made it essentially impossible to compete in today's super-crowded and incredibly challenging high-end arena. Worse still, we can't remember seeing a single discount offered by an authorized retailer after the handset made its official US debut last month, apart from a paltry $50 off for Best Buy customers willing to activate the 6.5-incher on Verizon or AT&T right off the bat.
Interestingly, Amazon is now selling a special variant of the Sony Xperia 1 at a special $100 discount for Prime members, which doesn't exactly make this an irresistible bargain but it does slightly sweeten the deal for the first time. If you're wondering what's so special about this unlocked model available exclusively in black, the answer is simple - Alexa integration.
Even more specifically, this particular Xperia 1 supports hands-free Alexa assistance right out of the box, while also coming pre-installed with a "selection" of Amazon apps, including Shopping, Music, Audible, and of course, Alexa. In other words, the extra-tall phone joins the likes of the (substantially discounted) LG G8 ThinQ, Moto Z3 Play, LG V35 ThinQ, Moto Z4, and Moto G7 in the Prime Exclusive program.
Naturally, all the Xperia 1's "regular" specifications are unchanged, from its unique OLED screen with 3840 x 1644 pixel resolution to a state-of-the-art Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, 3,330mAh battery, and 12MP triple rear-facing camera system.
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