A trend seems to have emerged when it comes to Sony and their Xperia smartphones here in the US; they either never come, or they’re beyond fashionably late. The original Xperia Z took months and months to find its way onto T-Mobile, and there it stayed. It’s sequel, the Xperia Z1 came to T-Mobile as well, not too long after it’s launch in Europe and the rest of the world. We reviewed the Xperia Z1s and found it to be a pretty solid smartphone, all things considered. For those of you that aren’t on T-Mobile, or just want to get our hands on one of Sony’s latest products, you can now do so.
The Xperia Z1 (no, not the latest Xperia Z2) is now available in its LTE form from Sony’s direct online store, for the princely sum of $620. However, this is for an unlocked smartphone, with no need for any contract or service plan. Purchasing unlocked phones like this is a great way to go if you’re the type of user that bounces from phone to phone, and you can get some really good deals on service bringing your own device. However, the Xperia Z1 is perhaps not the device you should be buying from Sony, especially not at this price.
Sure, the Snapdragon 800, 20-megapixel camera and more all add up to make a great phone, but the Xperia Z2 is fast on the approach. Unfortunately for Sony, being late to the party doesn’t work in their favor and a lot of people would be much better off waiting for the Z2. After all, the Z2 features an IPS display, which is far and away better than those used on previous Xperia Z models. Having LTE here is a nice touch, but this is still north of $600 for a device that is to be quickly surpassed by Sony’s third flagship in a little over a year. Let us know what you think in the comments below and over on Google+!