Sony might not be focusing on the USA, but it doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten about FreedomLand altogether. The company has just announced that they’ve begun taking orders for three of their latest devices, the Z Ultra, the Z1, and the second generation SmartWatch.
Starting with the Z Ultra ($650 HSPA+, $680 4G LTE), it’s technically the world’s first Snapdragon 800 smartphone. I say technically, because the thing has a 6.44 inch 1080p screen. Now I like big phone, and have no problem admitting that, but 6.44 inches? It’s frankly a bit absurd. Even the 6.3 inch Galaxy Mega, which I spent four weeks reviewing, was a bit bulky. Going any bigger than that sounds suicidal. Next there’s the Xperia Z1 ($650), which many say is what the Xperia Z should have been. It too packs a Snapdragon 800 paired with 2 GB of RAM, but the highlight feature of this bad boy is the 20.7 megapixel camera. Unfortunately, testing has shown that the high megapixel count doesn’t translate into awesome photos. Sometimes it does, but more often than not you’re left with a pixelated mess. And finally, the SmartWatch 2 ($200). As the name suggests, it’s the second generation of the SmartWatch, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to call it useless like other technology journalists have done, I will go on the record as saying that you’re better off spending $50 less and buying a Pebble. That seems to be the smartwatch to own, and everything else simply doesn’t compete.
