Sony Xperia Z2 now available in the US through Sony Online Store

Sony’s current flagship smartphone Xperia Z2 is now available for purchase in the United States. Sony’s official online store is offering the unlocked Xperia Z2 in the US for $699.99. The Japanese manufacturer started selling the handset across Europe and some other countries in April-May and the Xperia Z2 has officially arrived in the US in about 3 months which is pretty soon considering the company’s track record.

Earlier, Sony had confirmed that its unlocked Xperia Z2 would be available in the US only through its online store. However, later, a leaked image of the Xperia Z2 was spotted with the Verizon logo and speculations were rife whether the device will be available through Verizon. Well, this seems unlikely now at least for the present.

Sony is offering its international model D6503 in the US. This handset supports networks UMTS HSPA+ 850, 900, 1700, 1900 and 2100 MHz; GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz and LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17 and 20. So this device should work with T-Mobile, AT&T etc.

The Xperia Z2 is being offered at a $50 discount taking its price down from $749.99 to $699.99. The phone available in three colors – Black, White and Purple and is backordered at present. Its shipping date has not been revealed by the company as yet.

Sony Xperia Z2 boasts of a 5.2-inch (1080 x 1920p) IPS LCD touchscreen,  Quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and Adreno 330 GPU, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory with microSD card slot to expand up to 128GB, a 20.7MP primary rear camera, a 2.2MP front-facing camera and a non-removable 3200 mAz battery. The operating system is Android 4.4.2 KitKAt. It is IP55 and IP58 certified for water and dust resistance.

Sony Xperia Z2 now available in the US through Sony Online Store

Sony Xperia Z2a introduced in Taiwan, to hit the shelves in July

Sony Xperia Z2a has debuted in Taiwan. Xperia Z2a is much similar to the Xperia ZL2 that was launched in Japan some time ago by KDDI. The only difference being that the Xperia Z2a would be having only 16GB of internal memory as against 32GB available in the Xperia ZL2. The other hardware specs remain the same.

The Sony Xperia Z2a also has a resemblance to Xperia Z2. However, the screen is a little smaller at 5.0-inch (Xperia Z2 is 5.2-inch) Triluminos display with resolution of 1080p.  Other specs include a Qualcomm 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal memory expandable to 64GB with microSD card and 20.7MP camera with Exmor RS sensor having 4K video recording facility. It has a 3000mAh battery and IP55/IP58 certification for resistance to dust and water. The handset is running Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Sony Xperia Z2a will be available in3 colors- White, Black and Turquoise. This will be Sony’s first phone to support Taiwanese 4G LTE band and it is expected to hit the shelves in July there. No information is available as yet about its pricing. Along with the Xperia Z2a, the Xperia T3 has also been introduced in Taiwan and it is also expected to be released next month.

Sony Xperia Z2a introduced in Taiwan, to hit the shelves in July

Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet getting new firmware update

Sony is rolling out new firmware updates for its flagship model Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet. Earlier in the month, a new firmware with build 17.1.1.A.0.402 had been certified for the two devices to follow the current build 17.1.A.2.69 existing in them.

The Android 4.4.2 KitKat based new 17.1.1.A.0.402 firmware brings various improvements in performance including touchscreen sensitivity according to some preliminary reports. However there is no exact information about it since no changelog has been provided by Sony. It is also not known if the 4K recording performance of the Xperia Z2 has been improved upon to overcome the forced shutdown problem.

The firmware update is available for the Xperia Z2 D6502 (HSPA+) and D6503 (LTE) models. In case of Xperia Z2 Tablet, they are available for SGP521 (LTE) as well as SGP511/SGP512 Wi-Fi models. The update is downloadable through Sony PC Companion suite and is available in Germany, Russia, the Nordic region and other countries.

Some screenshots showing the updates for Android 4.4.2 build number 17.1.1.A.0.402 are given below:

Update for Sony Xperia Z2 model number D6503-

Update for Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet  -

Update for Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet model number SGP511 -

Update for Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet model number SGP521 -

Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet getting new firmware update