Sony Xperia Z Ultra Launch


[Gadgets]
Sony Mobile launched their brand new Xperia™ Z Ultra, touted as the world’s slimmest smartphone which also comes with the largest full HD display at Aloft KL Sentral on 1 August 2013 followed by a buka puasa session (my 4th buka puasa session for 2013 but prominent blogger Rebecca Saw’s 35,624 buka puasa) for us attending media and press.

The Xperia Z Ultra enters the phablet (phone tablet) market offering a big screen smartphone entertainment experience which is pretty useful for watching movies, playing games, reading books and browsing the web.

 I seem to be bumping into the beautiful Jessica How (R) quite often. The Xperia Z Ultra which was first announced globally on 25 June 2013, features a 6.4′ touchscreen Full HD display with Sony’s unique TRILUMINOS® Display for mobile, which provides a wider palette of rich natural colours thanks to Sony’s BRAVIA TV expertise. 
 The breakthrough technology includes X-Reality™ for mobile – Sony’s intelligent super resolution display technology which analyses each image and reproduces lacking pixels to optimise quality for the sharpest videos. 
 It analyses elements depending on the scene and adjusts them based on pattern, outline and colour composition. It also strengthens subtle patterns and accurately portrays their detailed feel, as well as reinforcing bold outlines. The large Full HD display has been optimised to experience at least 60% more of the screen than most other smartphones.
 The new Xperia Z Ultra is also water-resistant (up to 2 meters) and features a fully integrated Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 processor with 2.2 GHz quad-core CPUs, and 4G LTE for super fast mobile data connection (dependant on the telco of course). That’s the Sony Xperia Tablet Z (remember the Celcom 4G LTE Blogger Race that MHB participated in at Sunway Lagoon with the tablet as the grand prize?) next to it and yes that’s water dripping on it.
 Xperia Z Ultra is slim and lightweight with an elegantly crafted 6.5mm thick body and weighing just 212 grams. It features the same OmniBalance design as Xperia Z and Tablet Z with clean lines and premium materials while the front and back are made of tempered glass, creating a seamless surface with the OptiContrast™ panel housed in a solid metal frame giving it a very premium look indeed.
 The Xperia Z Ultra comes with HD voice, that together with Sony’s audio Sony’s ClearAudio+ mode and Xloud loudness enhancement, that delivers good voice and audio quality.
 The Xperia Z Ultra has a responsive screen with handwriting recognition which is compatible with any pencil and selected stylus or pen (capacitive stylus or metal pen with tip diameter over 1mm). 
 Battery STAMINA Mode significantly improves the standby time of your smartphone by four times or more as it recognises when you’re not using your display and automatically turns off the functions you don’t need, while keeping the notifications you want. As soon as you press the power button to wake up your screen, everything is up and running again.
 With one-touch functions you can instantly and easily share music, photos and videos from your smartphone to a wide range of NFC-enabled Sony devices, including speakers, SmartWatch, wireless headsets and TVs. 
 The latest generation of SmartWatch, the SmartWatch 2 SW2 (available in September), helps you keep track of everything without taking your smartphone out of your pocket or bag. The SmartWatch 2 lets you receive notifications, control your music, and connect with one-touch NFC to your Bluetooth™ headset for easy call handling. The water-resistant design is handy and can be personalised with any standard watch strap, and can even be used as a standalone watch

Apparently you can even film in Full HD underwater (but up to 2 meters of course). The camera features “Exmor RS for mobile”, HDR for both photos and film, and Superior Auto mode automatically activates HDR and noise reduction when needed, which helps to produce good pictures even in low light conditions. However I was slightly disappointed that the phone did not have a flash.
Jason Smith, Director of Marketing, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Sony Mobile Communications was in Malaysia for the launch and remarked that Sony Mobile is very excited to bring Xperia Z Ultra in to Malaysia, just over a month after its global announcement. This device is specially designed for Asian consumers who are looking for a premium smartphone that offers an extraordinary viewing experience in a complete entertainment device. It is also for consumers who enjoy Sony entertainment and want a fully integrated mobile experience,
“We are 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, he added.

Tomcat says – I liked the clear, responsive, fast and LARGE HD screen. The phone being dust-resistant and water-resistant up to 2 meters was another plus point. Thought it was kinda big to put in my pocket though and I would have preferred a flash with the camera as the camera is a very important took for me.

Xperia Z Ultra is now available in a choice of black or white colour finishes at a recommended retail price of RM 2,299 for the HSDPA version.
More info at http://www.sonymobile.com/my/ or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sonymobilemy