The Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet is now available for pre-order in the U.S.
Sony has been very aggressive with the launch of new top-end smartphones this year. The company has already unveiled a number of top-of-the-line smartphones such as the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z Ultra and the Xperia Z1 (Honami). The Japanese company announced the Xperia Z Ultra on June 25 and the handset has only made its way to select countries.
"The Xperia Z Ultra is the most exciting revolution in large-screen smartphone entertainment devices with both the slimmest and largest Full HD smartphone display* in the world that is second to none," said Calum MacDougall, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications. "We're already bringing the best of Sony technology and design across a range of premium smartphones and tablets, and now we are bringing this same premium offering to the large-screen smartphone segment, setting a new standard for others to follow."
The Xperia Z Ultra has not officially reached the U.S. on any carriers or via the Sony Store. However, you can now pre-order the handset from Newegg. The retailer is selling the HSPA+ version of the handset at a price tag of $699.99 and the LTE version for $729.99. Newegg has all three colors (black, purple and white) on offer and the expected delivery date is Oct. 14.
The phablet sports a 6.4-inch display with Sony's Triluminous display technology (taken from the company's latest TV portfolio) and a 1080p Full HD resolution.
The Xperia Z Ultra was the first handset to pack a powerful quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.2 GHz. The phablet also packs in 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, with the option to expand the memory to a further 64GB using a microSD card. The phablet is equipped with an 8-megapixel rear-facing Exmor RS sensor, but the camera lacks flash. The handset also features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Xperia Z Ultra is 0.25-inch (6.5mm) thick and weighs only 7.47 ounces (212 grams), which makes it the world's largest and thinnest Full HD phablet.
The phablet is undoubtedly one of the most powerful handsets around and it will be interesting to see if the device can steer some attention away from the recently-launched Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
