As expected, Sony used its CES 2013 press event to announce the flagship Xperia Z and its variant, the Xperia ZL handset. The pair offer a top-of-the line camera phone experience and dust and water resistance that’ll make any outdoor camera phone enthusiast nod in approval.
The Xperia Z rocks a 5-inch 1080P display, a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB of RAM, which is now the de facto specs for most upcoming smartphones. Looking beyond the internals, the Xperia Z ships with a 13-megapixel fast capture camera with Exmor RS sensor and dust and water resistance for those who use their phones in less than desirable conditions. All this goodness is powered Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), though the handset will be upgraded to 4.2 shortly after launch.
The Xperia Z will launch globally in Q1 2013. The Xperia ZL, a design variant of Xperia Z that packs the same hardware into a smaller form factor, will also debut in Q1 2013. Unlike the Xperia Z, the ZL will only be available in select markets.
[Via Sony, Xperia Product Page]