Kuala Lumpur, 6 March 2013 – Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) has officially launched their new flagship Android superphone, the Xperia Z, in Malaysia. The Xperia Z made its debut at this year’s CES in January and has since garnered a huge following and list of industry accolades.
The Sony Xperia Z was unveiled and taken out of a pool of water by Ola Lilja Molen, Sony Mobile Communications, Head of South East Asia Markets, showing off one of its main features as a superphone. “With Xperia Z, we are bringing Malaysians over half a century of Sony’s innovation in TV, imaging, music, film and gaming to create a superphone experience that truly stands out,” he said during the launch.
The Xperia Z, being a Sony product, is also naturally a PlayStation Certified smartphone, so you’ll have direct access to PlayStation Store for PlayStation Mobile, say bye-bye to boredom. The caveat, PlayStation Mobile is currently only available in the US, Canada, Japan, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia only. Boo.
Available beginning March 15 nationwide, the Xperia Z sports a 5″ Full HD 1080p Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2Gb of RAM, 13 MP camera and is 4G LTE capable. It’s also water and dust resistant, (IP55 & IP57), up to 1 meter in water for 30 minutes. The new Xperia Z also features a whole new design language called OmniBalance design, a departure from the previous generation Xperia range.
The Xperia ZL will also be available during the same launch date.
The Xperia ZL maximizes the display, is slightly smaller, has an IR port and also sports a camera button, unlike the Xperia Z. The Xperia Z and Xperia ZL are priced at RM2,199 and RM1,899 respectively.
Besides these, Sony showcased an array of NFC enabled accessories and also the Xperia Z Tab. The Tablet is 10.1″ inches, 6.9mm thick and weights only 495g. Similar to the Xperia Z smart phone, the tab is also dust and water resistant, 4G LTE ready, NFC ready and is equipped with an 8MP “Exmor R for Mobile” rear camera and a Superior Auto plus 2MP front camera.
All Xperia Z, ZL and tab models are upgradable to Android 4.2 shortly after launch.
Thoughts and impressions
The Xperia Z is a beautiful phone and is clearly a competitive model in the market of smartphones. Sony brings its experience in other fields of technology into a single device, without leaving out the rest of their devices with NFC technology. While I still find NFC to be a gimmick (why touch when you have bluetooth, wifi and other wireless technologies), the Xperia Z brings forth an array features that uses it seamlessly.
It’s also a plus that its 4G ready, and that the phone’s hardware are extremely high-specced. It’s also a really nice touch that they used the same technology for their Tab, which I thought stole the show. No more missing football matches when you need a bath, that’s for sure.
http://youtu.be/gWysHOjl95E
[spoiler title=”Xperia Z Specs”]
Xperia™ Z specifications
| Colours | Black, White and Purple |
| Facts | Size: 139x71x7.9 mmWeight: 146 grams1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064+MDM9215M Quad CoreAdreno 320Google™ Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean) |
| Camera | 13MP16x digital zoomAuto focusBurst ModeHDR for both picture and videoFace detectionFlash/Pulsed LED Flash/Photo light Front-facing camera 2MP (1080p video) Geotagging HD video recording (1080p) Image stabiliser Object tracking Picture Effect Quick Launch Red-eye reduction Scene recognition Self-timer Send to web Smile shutter Sony Exmor RS™ for mobile image sensor Superior Auto Sweep Panorama Touch capture Touch focus White balance |
| Music | 3D Surround Sound (VPT)Album artBluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)ClearAudio+Clear bassClear Phase™Clear stereo Dynamic normalizer PlayNow™ service* SensMe™ TrackID™ music recognition* “WALKMAN” application xLoud™ Experience
|
| Internet | BookmarksGoogle Chrome™Google Play™Google™ search*Google Voice™ Search*Google Maps™ for Mobile withStreet view and Latitude™* NeoReader™ barcode scanner Pan & zoom Web browser (WebKit™) |
| Communication | Call listFacebook™ application*Google Talk™ application*Noise suppressionPolyphonic ringtonesSpeakerphoneTwitter™ integration* |
| Messaging | ConversationsEmailGoogle Mail™*Handwriting recognitionInstant messagingMultimedia messaging (MMS)Predictive text input Sound recorder Text messaging (SMS) Voice input |
| Design | Auto rotationFace UnlockGesture inputIP55 and IP57 (dust and water resistant)On-screen QWERTY keyboardSensor on Lens DisplayScreenshot capturing Touch screen Wallpaper Wide color gamut |
| Entertainment | 3D gamesMedia browserMotion gamingPlayStation™ CertifiedRadio (FM radio with RDS)TV launcherVideo streaming YouTube™* |
| Organiser | Airplane modeAlarm clockCalculatorCalendarContactsDocument readerseCompass™ Infinite button Notes Setup guide Stopwatch Tasks Timer |
| Connectivity | 3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)aGPS*Bluetooth™ 4.0 wireless technologyDLNA Certified®GLONASS*HDMI via MHL supportMedia Go™ Media Transfer Protocol support Micro USB support Native USB tethering NFC PC Companion Throw Screen mirroring Synchronisation via Exchange ActiveSync® Synchronisation via Facebook™ Synchronisation via Google™ Synchronisation via SyncML™ USB charging USB High speed 2.0 support Xperia™ Link Wi-Fi™ Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality |
| Display | 16,777,216 colour TFT HD Reality Display with SonyMobile BRAVIA® Engine 21920×1080 pixels5.0 inchesShatter proof sheet on scratch-resistant glass |
| Memory | 2 GB RAMUp to 16 GBmicroSD™ card, memory card slot (supporting up to 32GB) |
| Networks | Regional variants covering:LTEUMTS HSPA+GSM GPRS/EDGE |
| Battery life | Talk time GSM: Up to 11 hrs**Standby time GSM: Up to 550 hrs**Talk time UMTS: Up to 14 hrs**Standby time UMTS: Up to 530 hrs**Standby time LTE: Up to 510 hrs** Music listening time: Up to 40 hrs Video playback time: Up to 5.5 hrs
Battery: 2330 mAh minimum
**Values are according to GSM Association Battery Life Measurement Technique. Battery performance may vary depending on network conditions and configurations, and phone usage. |
| In the kit | Xperia™ Z, embedded battery, Sony MH-EX300AP headset, charger, micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer, and user documentation. |
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”Xperia ZL Specs”]
Xperia™ ZL specifications
| Colours | Black and White |
| Facts | Size: 131.7 x 69.8 x 9.8 mmWeight: 151 grams1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 + MSM9215M Quad CoreAdreno 320Google™ Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean) |
| Camera | 13MP16x digital zoomAuto focusBurst ModeHDR for both picture and videoFace detectionFlash/Pulsed LED Flash/Photo light Front-facing camera 2MP (1080p video) Geotagging HD video recording (1080p) Image stabiliser Object tracking Picture Effect Quick Launch Red-eye reduction Scene recognition Self-timer Send to web Smile shutter Sony Exmor RS™ for mobile image sensor Superior Auto Sweep Panorama Touch capture Touch focus White balance |
| Music | 3D Surround Sound (VPT)Album artBluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)ClearAudio+Clear bassClear Phase™Clear stereo Dynamic normalizer PlayNow™ service* SensMe™ TrackID™ music recognition* “WALKMAN” application xLoud™ Experience |
| Internet | BookmarksGoogle Chrome™Google Play™Google™ search*Google Voice™ Search*Google Maps™ for Mobile withStreet view and Latitude™* NeoReader™ barcode scanner Pan & zoom Web browser (WebKit™) |
| Communication | Call listFacebook™ application*Google Talk™ application*Noise suppressionPolyphonic ringtonesSpeakerphoneTwitter™ integration* |
| Messaging | ConversationsEmailGoogle Mail™*Instant messagingMultimedia messaging (MMS)Predictive text inputSound recorder Text messaging (SMS) Voice input |
| Design | Auto rotationFace UnlockGesture inputOn-screen QWERTY keyboardScreenshot capturingTouch screenWallpaper |
| Entertainment | 3D gamesMedia browserMotion gamingPlayStation™ CertifiedRadio (FM radio with RDS)TV launcherVideo streaming YouTube™* |
| Organiser | Airplane modeAlarm clockCalculatorCalendarContactsDocument readerseCompass™ Infinite button Notes Setup guide Stopwatch Tasks Timer Timer |
| Connectivity | 3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)aGPS*Bluetooth™ 4.0 wireless technologyDLNA Certified®GLONASS*IR remote controlMedia Go™ Media Transfer Protocol support HDMI via MHL support Micro USB support Native USB tethering NFC Screen mirroring PC Companion Throw Synchronisation via Exchange ActiveSync® Synchronisation via Facebook™ Synchronisation via Google™ Synchronisation via SyncML™ USB charging USB High speed 2.0 support Xperia™ Link Wi-Fi™ Wi-Fi™Hotspot functionality |
| Display | 16,777,216 colour TFT HD Reality Display with SonyMobile BRAVIA® Engine 21920×1080 pixels5.0 inchesShatter proof sheet on scratch-resistant glass |
| Memory | 2 GB RAMUp to 16 GBmicroSD™ card, memory card slot (supporting up to 32GB) |
| Networks | Regional variants covering:UMTS HSPA+GSM GPRS/EDGE |
| Battery life | Talk time GSM: Up to 10 hours**Standby time GSM: Up to 500 hours**Talk time UMTS: Up to 13 hours**Standby time UMTS: Up to 500 hours**Standby time LTE: Up to 490 hours** Music listening time: Up to 40 hours** Video playback time: Up to 5.5 hours**
Battery: 2300 mAh minimum
**Values are according to GSM Association Battery Life Measurement Technique as performed in controlled laboratory conditions. Actual time may vary.
|
| In the kit | Xperia™ ZL, embedded battery, Sony MH-EX300AP headset, charger, micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer, and user documentation. |
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”Xperia Tablet Z”]
[/spoiler]
