Sony Xperia Z available in the grey market for Rs 47,000

We recently reported about the speculated launch date of Sony Xperia Z, as discerned from Sony Mobile India’s official Facebook page. Going by the post, it looks like the device may be launched in India on March 6, but if you can’t wait that long to get your hands on it, here’s some good news. Our gray market sources have informed us that the device is very much available and can be bought for Rs 47,000. 

Considering you pay a premium when buying a phone from the gray market before it's been launched, a price tag of Rs 47,000 is quite modest. While the Xperia Z is no iPhone, if we jog down memory lane then the 64GB iPhone 5 was being sold in the grey market for Rs 1 lakh. And more recently, grey market punters were selling the BlackBerry Z10 for Rs 80,000 before it was launched. In comparison, Rs 47,000 for the Xperia Z seems reasonable. 

The Xperia Z has managed to garner quite a buzz

Earlier this year, the phone was officially launched in the UK for £529, which roughly translates to Rs 45,000. We expect the price in India to be similar. If we look at other phones offering similar specs, like the HTC Butterfly, then the price seems to be just about right.

The success of the Xperia Z and its twin, the Xperia ZL, will be crucial to the Japanese manufacturer's standing in the Indian market. If the device performs well, then it will do much to bolster Sony's image.  

With the Xperia Z, Sony has joined the posse of manufacturers offering 1080p resolution display devices with a pixel count of 443 ppi. While that’s definitely a highlight, what’s also a big plus is the 13-megapixel camera, which also allows HDR video recording. Touted as one of the best cameras out there, its 13.1-megapixel Exmor RS sensor comes with an LED flash and has support for geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization and Sony’s 3D sweep panorama.

Sony has designed prominent power buttons for both phones

In terms of design, the phone is strikingly thin at 7.9mm and is water-proof and dust-proof. It is IP57 certified, which means that the phone is water resistant up to 1 metres for 30 minutes. Under the hood, it is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro with Adreno 320 GPU. Its display is powered by Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine 2, which makes colours more vivid and enhances brilliance, bettering the visual experience. It also has a Battery Stamina Mode, which the company claims can improve the standby time of the phone by four times by shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and starting them up again when the screen is back on.

Here are some of the specifications of the Xperia Z:

• 5-inch screen with a 1080p resolution, 443 ppi
• 4G LTE, EDGE, Wi-Fi, NFC
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 13 megapixel rear camera with HDR recording; 2 megapixel front-facing camera