'Honami'-snapped photos leak amid rumors of September launch

Honami beach photo leak
That beach looks good enough to eat

It's been a long and leaky road for the Sony "Honami," rumored to be the Xperia i1, but it could finally arrive in the coming weeks.

Mark your calendars - according to Bloomberg, Sony's next Xperia flagship will launch at an event on Sept. 4, just before IFA 2013 kicks off in Berlin.

The site says the Xperia Honami will feature tech borrowed from both Sony televisions and Sony cameras, including Bravia TV picture enhancement chips and sensors from Cyber-shots.

That falls right in line with rumors that the Xperia i1 will sport advanced features like 4K video and a powerful 20-megapixel camera.

Say 'cheese'

Meanwhile, some photos allegedly taken with the Honami appeared online over the weekend at RBMen (via Xperia blog), providing a hint of what that camera can do.

A beach shot at sunset shows off some impressively deep blacks and vibrant hues, while photos of some friends apparently at dinner look more like your standard camera phone shots.

Honami leak photo

A new phone to say 'cheese' at? (credit: RBMen)

The photos reportedly appeared on Picasa, the Google photo app that revealed they were taken with the Sony C6903, Honami's rumored model number.

But they weren't even shot with the device's full 20 megapixels - these were apparently taken with the Honami's camera set at just 8 megapixels.

With all the leaks, it may feel like there's nothing left to learn about the next Sony Xperia phone, but we'll keep an eye out for announcements in the coming weeks anyway. That's our job, after all.

Here's everything we've heard about the Xperia i1 so far:

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.


Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.