blog You might have noticed this little thing called the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. While many of the major manufacturers (Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon, for example) have abandoned the festivities and others have announced products (hello Nvidia) which won’t be available for quite a while yet, there’s still some major product announcements coming out of the Nevada desert this week which will have an impact on Australia. Probably the most interesting so far is a new hero smartphone from Sony, the Xperia Z, which Fairfax-owned blog Gizmodo Australia reports will land in Australia in March. The publication quotes Sony’s local mobiles chief John Featherstone (we recommend you click here for the full article):

“Featherstone also told us that the Xperia Z will likely be released on all three major carriers in March.”

Telstra has added its own verification to the launch, using its Twitter feed yesterday to invite customers to register for early interest in the Xperia Z. With a “Full HD 1080p Reality Display” at a size of 5″, a 13 megapixel camera, 4G LTE support, a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, Jelly Bean on board (and an update planned for Android 4.2) Sony has certainly packed the Xperia Z full of features, and there’s also a smaller ZL version on the way in “selected markets”.

However, we have to say that we’re not sure how attractive the Xperia Z will be. To be honest, the 2012 crop of smartphones was already pretty amazing. Between the iPhone 5, the HTC One XL, the Samsung Galaxy S III and even the Nokia Lumia 920, we’re wondering right now whether improved specifications will actually make a better smartphone, or whether, with the specifications of various models broadly converging almost to the identical, it will be relatively more intangible factors such as design features which will make us drool over certain smartphone models in 2013.

Sony’s existing crop of Xperia smartphones hasn’t exactly lit Australia on fire over the past year or so. Will the Z be the model which catapults the Japanese manufacturer up alongside HTC and Samsung? Only time will tell. And by time, we mean a scant few months until it’s released.

Image credit: Sony

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1. Richard
   Posted 09/01/2013 at 6:55 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Is the ZL screen smaller. One tech blog basically said it was exactly the same phone but without the glass back of the Z , made with plastic instead and not as thin but the same screen size, camera and processor but not waterproof like the Z. If so I’d have to agree with many of the commenters on that site and say I’d prefer the ZL if only for the no glass back.

   • James
     Posted 10/01/2013 at 9:36 am | Permalink | Reply

     The screen is the same – 5″ 1080×1920
     The ZL is slightly smaller around the screen (i.e. smaller bezels), but a little thicker and without the glass backing.

     http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3847944/sony-xperia-z-zl-hands-on

2. seven_tech
   Posted 10/01/2013 at 7:56 am | Permalink | Reply

   ZL for me. Better features, personally speaking, than waterproof (I don’t spend alot of time around water and wouldn’t have my phone out if I did and I’ve never dropped one anywhere in water)

   Also, 5 Inches is a bit big for me I think….I struggle to use the One XL with one hand.

3. Stephen H
   Posted 10/01/2013 at 11:37 am | Permalink | Reply

   With Sony as the manufacturer I’ll be staying away. Any company that puts rootkits on music CDs is evil, in my view.

   Never forgive, never forget.

   • seven_tech
     Posted 10/01/2013 at 11:54 am | Permalink | Reply

     @Stephen H

     Really? That’s a LONG time ago in tech terms.

     Do you not use Windows cause it uses a “stolen” GUI too?…

     • Stephen H
       Posted 10/01/2013 at 4:35 pm | Permalink | Reply

       Deliberately creating security holes on your customers’ computers is somewhat worse than allegedly stealing a gui. Allegations that were eventually thrown out in their entirety.

       Yes, I do have a few beefs with Microsoft. But they haven’t done anything quite so evil as Sony.

   • Stephen
     Posted 10/01/2013 at 11:57 am | Permalink | Reply

     That was 8 years ago and 3 management structures and done by a US/European joint subsidiary, Sony BMG Records, also half owned by Bertlesman Group AG.

     As an alternative example have you forgiven Microsoft for many far worse failures to their customers? (Including releasing a ridiculously insecure major OS that made creating said root-kit stupidly easy).

     Perhaps you should let it go – especially seeing no Australian was ever effected by this incident from any reading I’ve ever been able to discover.

     I know this was a cause de jour for many on the internet but in an age of far worse corporate and government behaviour I just get amazed that people still dredge it up.

     On topic, I wonder of the Z will continue Sony’s recent minimal changes to Android? The more like stock Android it is the happier I and other users seems to be nowadays.

     • Zwan
       Posted 10/01/2013 at 1:38 pm | Permalink | Reply

       They bait switched the PS3 as well.

       Sued Geohot over hacking linux back on the thing (notice how apple did sue him over the jailbreaks)

       Still lobby America into stupid Bills.

       They’re still evil buddy…. And I’ll still not buy their products.

     • Stephen H
       Posted 10/01/2013 at 4:36 pm | Permalink | Reply

       Sins of commission > sins of omission.

4. Daniel
   Posted 10/01/2013 at 11:51 am | Permalink | Reply

   Am I the only one who is finding current “consumer” tech announcements boring? The fact that you name another run-of-the-mill smartphone as “interesting” tells me that this year won’t be a wow year for consumer tech. OLED TV’s, mini iphone’s, new PS3 and Xbox, etc etc… all just minor iterations on current technology.

   The most exciting thing i’ve got for this year is the new SimCity (it’s been over 10 years) and Google Glass with Ingress (if that happens this year)!

   Anyone else have online-marketing-tech fatigue? Way too many announcements, feeds, messages, releases for what have been essentially the same bunch of products for the last 2 years.

   • seven_tech
     Posted 10/01/2013 at 11:52 am | Permalink | Reply

     @Daniel

     Tech moves in waves. The current smartphone wave is about upgrading the performance, design and battery life, not the features. These Sony phones fall nicely in that category.

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