LAS VEGAS–Sony's newest smartphone for the U.S. is refined and elegant, packing a wicked 20.7-megapixel camera and a waterproof coating. I spent some time with the Xperia Z1s before it was unveiled here at CES, and I found it more than competitive with any other Android phone out there.

The Z1s is the U.S. version of the Z1, which debuted in Europe at the IFA trade show last fall. It's an upgrade to T-Mobile's existing Xperia Z, which we gave four out of five stars last year. The Xperia Z had three down sides, though, and the Z1s addresses at least two of them. It has a much larger, 3000mAh battery, the same as in the gigantic Xperia Z Ultra, and it's been bumped up to a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor from the much older APQ8064. As for our complaints about the Xperia Z's call quality, we'll just have to see.

At 5.74 by 2.79 by .31" (HWD) and 5.71 ounces, the Z1s is slightly wider and heavier than the Xperia Z - that's because of the battery, as the two devices share the same 5-inch, 1080p screen. Holding both phones in my hand, it was a little hard to tell them apart. They have the same black-monolith design language, bright screens, and slim bodies, although the Z1s has a larger bezel all around.

Turn the phone around and you see the 20.7-megapixel main camera in the upper left corner. The Z1s has a larger sensor than the Z1 did, and it can collect more light, down to f/2.0. The new processor means faster autofocus, a Sony rep told me; the camera can also do lossless digital zoom up to 3x on 5-megapixel images.

Other specs include a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 2GB of RAM, a MicroSD memory card slot, NFC, and even the fitness-tracker networking protocol ANT+. The LTE modem is Category 4, so it can handle the maximum speeds of T-Mobile's upcoming 20+20 LTE network. It runs Android 4.3, with a KitKat upgrade coming eventually.

It's About The Software

So much about this phone is in the software, though. Take the camera app. Sony's camera app is full of sub-apps with extensive special modes. "AR effect" puts animations like elves or dinosaurs in your pictures. "Info-Eye" scans objects like books or wine bottles and searches the Web for them. "Background defocus" lets you play with depth of field. It's a lot like Windows Phone 8's concept of "lenses" connected to the main camera app, and a big step ahead of the iOS metaphor where you have to use a different third-party app for every filter or mode.

I took some shots with the camera, and the experience went smoothly; all of the effects popped up easily. I wasn't able to download the images to check their quality, though.

Sony's proprietary music player is here, too, with custom radio channels and the fun "SensMe" mode which tries to suss out the emotions of your music to create playlists. The video player can upscale lower resolution videos to make them look smoother on the 1080p screen - it really worked with a 360p YouTube video when I checked it out.

And what of Playstation integration? The Playstation 4 is selling like gangbusters, so you'd think Sony's phone division would want to jump on the bandwagon. Sony promised a range of "second screen" PlayStation apps, a remote control function, and the ability to monitor your PSN friends remotely. I keep wondering when Sony or Microsoft will go all in and offer an Xbox or Playstation experience on their phones that really sets them apart; they don't seem to be quite there.

How It Feels In The Hand

Sony's high-end phones always feel sleek and well-tuned. That was the case with the Xperia Ion, with the Xperia Z, and it's certainly the case with the Z1. The company has carved out a great niche with its waterproof coatings - this beats the clunky Samsung Galaxy S4 Active by a landslide. And after some disastrous experiments with heavy-handed Android skins, Sony has figured out how to focus its energies on its camera and media apps rather than cluttering up the launcher.

Since AT&T has a lock on Nokia's Lumia 1020, this may be the best camera phone you'll be able to get on T-Mobile. Still, though, I'm a little concerned about the image quality, as the Z's 13-megapixel camera didn't rule over good 8-megapixel shooters. We'll have a full review of the Xperia Z1s very soon which will answer all the questions.

The Xperia Z1s is going on sale on Jan. 22, with presales starting Jan. 13; Sony didn't announce a price. Check it out in the video below.

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