The Sony Xperia Z1, formerly known as the Honami, was revealed Thursday at IFA in Berlin Germany, but Sony failed to attach a price or release date to the water and dustproof smartphone. However, several online retailers have listed prices for the device, as well as release dates, which may be sooner than some may think.
GSMarena has rounded up several international online retailers claiming to have the device available for preorder, including Negri Electronics, which has the Xperia Z1 for $730. The website also has a release date attached to it, with Negri Electronics asserting the device will be out on Sept. 20. However, it looks as though the device may be coming to the European market a little bit earlier, as Clove UK has the device coming out on Sept. 16, with a price tag of 564 pounds.
It should be noted that the German press release for the device simply stated the release date was for the third quarter of 2013, with a price tag of €650, which is just over $850. This means the listing found on Negri is over a hundred dollars short of the price listed by Sony, unless the company plans on releasing the phone with a discounted price in the U.S. The prices of the optional lens attachments for the Xperia Z1 have also been revealed on Amazon, with the Cyber-shot QX100 priced at $500 and the QX10 sold for $250. Both of the optional lenses, which attach to the massive 20.7-Megapixel camera found on the Xperia Z1 via magnets, will be released on Sept. 25, indicating that the device may indeed show up sometime during the month.
The Sony Xperia Z1 is quite the smartphone, with its main selling point the massive camera attached to the device; however, the handset has other impressive features that make the Z1 stand out. Powering the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor with 2.2GHz speed and a 3,000mAh battery, along with Android 4.2.2 as the operating system. The device has some design changes in comparison to the Xperia Z, with smaller waterproof flaps for the various outlets and a new completely waterproof headphone jack. The device will come in black, white, and purple.
The Xperia Z1 is one of the most talked about devices coming out this year, and should be one of the top smartphones whenever it is released.