Sony took the lion’s share of attention at the CES 2013 where it displayed the torch bearers of the company in the top end smartphone segment and showcased the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. And after the devices were showcased, the next big question was that when would the devices reach the common man.Sony has already started the global roll out of the devices and has just teased the smartphones on their Indian website.
India is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of the smartphones bought and it was only a matter of time when Sony decided on launching the smartphones in India in the first wave of global launches.Sony Xperia Z is headed for an Indian launch before the fiscal year ends and shall hit the retail stores in March 2013. The Sony India website has the device listed with a coming soon status and the smartphone would lock horns with the recently announced HTC Butterfly and the iPhone 5.
The price tag would be north of Rs.40,000 but if Sony intends on denting the sales of its competitors big time, they better price it in the range of Rs.30,000-35,000.People don’t really buy a smartphone in this part of the world for the specs on offer, but also for the brand name and if you are going to sell a device with a price tag of around Rs.40,000, you better be Apple. Sony Xperia Z has a 5 inch full HD capacitive touchscreen display upfront with a resolution which stands at 1920 x 1080 pixels. It gets a quad-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
At the back will be 13 MP snapper and the front will ses a 2.2 MP camera unit for video calling and vanity checks. Taking care of your multitasking needs will be a 2 GB RAM and it will come Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and 4G LTE but we think Sony might just skip the 4G LTE connectivity for India to keep the costs low. And yes, it is scratch and dust proof as well so it will be your go anywhere kind of a smartphone.
The Xperia ZL is bog similar to the Xperia Z but instead comes without water and dust resistance. Also, it is a bit thicker in terms of side profile and will be cheaper than the Xperia Z. The Xperia ZL will come with a memory expansion option of 64 GB and the battery will be rated at 2,370 Mah. Except these differences, the products are similar in almost every aspect. The devices have started to go on pre-order all over the world and they’ll hit the Indian stores soon enough as well.
