Yesterday we reported on a story that Sony may be taking a different approach to the branding on their forthcoming flagship the Xperia Z. Now today we have news of a possible release date, in Japan at least, on February 9th.
It seems as though Japanese retailer Yodobashi Camera has received some demo units and are claiming that the February 9th date is legit. Although Sony has yet to confirm this date, it would fall in line with their own timetable of a Q1 2013 release.
Of course this isn’t the first rumor we’ve heard regarding the highly anticipated Sony handset. A Polish retailer is currently taking pre orders with an asking price of 2,799 zÅ‚, roughly $897 US. That pricetag is a tad bit higher than what other online European retailers are rumored to be offering with Handtec being the cheapest at £520 ($700 US) and Mobicity on the high end at £598 ($805 US). The European release date is rumored to be February 18th.
To be sure a February release would certainly give Sony a jump on other competitors’ flagship devices which is shaping up to be a packed field with the likes of Samsung and their Galaxy S IV, Motorola’s Rumored X Phone, and whatever Apple decides to bring out later this year.
The Xperia Z was a hot topic at this years CES, and not just because the most of the other big guns basically sat it out in favor of Mobile World Congress (February 25-28 in Barcelona, Spain), or their own solo events. It was their innovative design features that had people talking. Not only will the Xperia Z be able to mirror content to Sony televisions and headphones via NFC but this phone is also water and dust resistant. The first full HD smartphone to see that feature.
The full Sony Xperia Z stat sheet is as follows:
- Dimensions – 139 x 71 x 7.9mm
- Weight- 146g
- Colors – Black, White, Purple
- Operating system – Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (Upgradable to 4.2 after launch)
- Processor – 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core
- GPU – Adreno 320
- RAM – 2GB
- Storage – 16GB, microSD (up to 32GB)
- Screen – 5in Full HD (1920 x 1080) Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine 2
- Rear camera – 13Mp auto-focus, LED flash, Full HD video
- Front camera – 2.2Mp, Full HD video
- Battery – Non-removable Li-ion 2330mAh
Nothing has been confirmed by Sony as of yet so take that for what you will. However it does fit in with their own announced plans for its launch so there could be something to this rumor.
Anyone planning on getting this device? Let us know in the comments.