Sony Mobile’s flagship handset to be showcased in over 300 Phones 4U stores from February 15 before going on general sale two weeks later
Phones 4U will give customers a two week preview of the Sony Xperia Z ahead of its general release on February 28.
It will go on show at 300 of the retailer’s stores to enable customers to trial it, receive a live product demo, experience its features and pre-order the handset.
The Xperia Z will be available in black and white and will be free from £36 a month on a range of networks when it goes on sale at Phones 4U.
The first 1,000 customers to pre-order the Xperia Z at the retailer will also receive a free pair of Sony MDR-1R headphones worth almost £300.
Phones 4U chief commercial officer Scott Hooton said: “We are delighted to be enhancing our in-store experience by offering the opportunity to fully experience the Sony Xperia Z before it lands on general sale. By doing so, we’re giving people the freedom to test out the handset before they commit to a pre-order, ensuring they’re picking the smartphone that’s right for them.”
The Xperia Z is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and initially runs Android 4.1, with an upgrade to Android 4.2 available soon after.
It has a five-inch HD screen that is made from toughened glass and is powered by Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 technology, which the firm said improves screen brightness and clarity.
Included is Sony’s Exmor RS for mobile, which it said is the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones, providing sharp imagery regardless of the conditions. It comes with a 13-megapixel autofocus rear camera, 2.1-megapixel front camera and HD video recording capability.
The ‘Walkman’, ‘Album’ and ‘Movies’ apps come preloaded. The Walkman app provides access to 18 million songs from Music Unlimited. The Movies app gives users access to over 100,000 films and TV series from Video Unlimited, with the Album app enabling access to Facebook friends’ photos as well as browsing photos by location.
Other features include Battery STAMINA, which Sony said quadruples standby time by shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and restarting when it is back on. Users can also view photos and videos on the BRAVIA TV via NFC by touching the handset to the TV’s remote control.