At CES 2013, Sony announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z. Although the company declined to provide a price or cement an official release date, several major tech sites got their hands on the upcoming device and walked away with a positive reception. While Sony's new 5-inch handset features all of the spec upgrades one would expect, including a quad-core Snapdragon S4, 2GB RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 13-megapixel camera, its most unique selling point is the phone's water resistance. The Daily Mail reports that the Xperia Z "is capable of being submerged in water up to 3.3 ft in depth for 30 minutes," a quirk which may very well save consumers a considerable chunk of change in the long run. Sony hopes to put a dent in the reigning Samsung and Apple regimes, and the Xperia Z may just be the device capable of chipping away at the Samsung Galaxy and iPhone brands. Let's take a look at the most recent hands-on reviews.
"On paper, the Xperia Z looks to be a powerhouse of a phone and one well-suited to sit at the top of Sony's range. The quad-core processor and generous RAM should help it power through tasks and the high-resolution screen should make images and video look superbly crisp. It's likely to be matched in these departments by the rest of the year's flagship phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, so much of its success will depend on the quality of its camera and whether people value it being waterproof."
"Despite being a very large phone the Xperia Z doesn't feel oversized in the hand. It's very thin at 7.9mm and light for phone its size. Furthermore the handset is dust and waterproof - although this means things like the headphone port must be hidden behind flaps which will, er, flap around when you have headphones plugged in. Overall the Xperia Z has a distinctly premium and desirable nature."
Digital Trends
"Unlike the many Xperia's before it, the Xperia Z may mark Sony's first chance to really stand out from the crowd and get some attention thanks to one big feature: water resistance. The Xperia Z may be one of the first high-end smartphones in the U.S. that you can use in the bathtub."
"Performance during our short time with the Z was impressive, but that's not entirely unexpected given our prior experience with this processor. The interface didn't present any lag or hesitation that jumped out at us, and apps opened swiftly and performed well."
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