Sony Xperia Z Release Date: Earlier than Expected, February in Japan and Pre-orders in Poland (Rumor)

If you want to get your hands on an Xperia Z soon, we've got the first specific release date that's been rumored so far, and it's way earlier than expected: February 9. That's when some blogs are saying the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL will hit stores in Japan now.

We've seen talk of the Xperia Z coming to stores by the end of March. But then we heard that a big rival, the HTC M7, moved up its unveiling date from late February, during the Mobile World Congress that starts on February 25, to about a week earlier.

Now it seems that Sony is putting their roll out in high gear. According to Japanese sources close to TalkAndroid, there are already demo units hitting the stores in Japan, including the photo above, which was apparently in a Kichijoji store.

There is talk of the Xperia Z coming to Europe earlier than expected, with Unwiredview saying that a Sony retailer in Poland has been taking pre-orders for the new Sony flagship and expects it to ship starting February 18.

The Xperia Z looks to be a major breakthrough handset for Sony, possibly putting it back into the smartphone game as a major player. With a high-definition 5-inch screen, 1.5GHz Quad-core processor with 2GB RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom, the specs on the Xperia Z look top notch. The devices will come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean installed, but will likely be updated to the newest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean shortly after launch.

However it's the little extras that always push a device into the spotlight, as I've written earlier. The Xperia Z has a few of those, including tablet-to-smartphone charging with the Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia Z, and the new Xperia line-up is impressively waterproof.

Keep with us for more updates as they roll in. Who knows? With so many smartphones vying to get attention first ahead of the Mobile World Congress, maybe something will be released by tomorrow.