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Sony wants new flagship Xperia Z to lead smartphone market

Allan Swann
January 8, 2013

Sony Mobile has unveiled its new flagship Xperia Z mobile at CES event in Las Vegas, and its president and CEO is making a bold claim to leadership in the smartphone market.

Sony Mobile Communications president and CEO Kuni Suzuki said: “With great specifications, Sony’s media applications, one-touch functions and outstanding battery life, Xperia Z is well positioned for leadership in the smartphone market.”

The Xperia Z, which will also be 4G, is powered by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor and runs off the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, with an upgrade to Android 4.2 available shortly after.

It has a five-inch full HD touchscreen that is made from toughened glass and is powered by Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 technology, which Sony Mobile claims boosts its screen brightness and clarity.

Also included is Sony’s Exmor RS for mobile, which the company said is the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones, providing clear images against strong backlight to enabling users to capture sharp pictures and videos regardless of the conditions.

It comes with a 13-megapixel autofocus camera with 16x digital zoom, burst mode and face detection. It also has a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, as well HD video recording.

So far, Phones 4U has said it will begin selling it from March 1 across a range of networks, with consumers now able to pre-register their interest in it. Vodafone will also range the smartphone, although is yet to reveal a release date. It will come in black, white and purple.

The ‘Walkman’, ‘Album’ and ‘Movies’ apps come preloaded on the Xperia Z. The Walkman app provides access to 18 million songs from Music Unlimited and Facebook social integration. The Movies app gives users access to over 100,000 films and TV series from Video Unlimited, with the Album app enabling access to Facebook friends’ photos as well as browsing photos by location. This will sit along side access to the usual Google Play Store apps available to all Android users.

Sony Mobile also claims that its new Battery Stamina technology will quadruple standby time by shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and starting them again when the screen is back on. Users can also view photos and videos on compatible Sony Bravia TVs via NFC, simply by touching the Xperia Z to the TV’s remote control.

SPEC SHEET *All services mentioned in this document may not be available in every market.
Colours Black, Purple, White
Facts Size: 139x71x7.9 mmWeight: 146 grams
1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064+MDM9215M Quad Core
Adreno 320
Google„¢ Android„¢ 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Camera 13MP, 16x digital zoom, HDR for both picture and videoFront-facing camera 2.1MP (1080p video)
HD video recording (1080p)
Image stabiliser
Sony Exmor RS„¢ for mobile image sensor
Sweep Panorama
Storage Up to 16 GB (microSD expandable to 32GB)
Connectivity 3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)
aGPS
Bluetooth„¢ 4.0 wireless technology
GLONASS
HDMI via MHL support
Micro USB support
NFC
Xperia„¢ Link
Display 16,777,216 colour TFT HD Reality Display with Sony Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 21920×1080 pixels, 5.0 inches
Memory 2 GB RAM
Networks 4G LTE, 3G UMTS HSPA+, 2G GSM GPRS/EDGE
Battery life Talk time GSM: Up to 11 hrs**Standby time GSM: Up to 550 hrs
Music listening time: Up to 40 hrs
Video playback time: Up to 5.5 hrs
Battery: 2330 mAh minimum

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