Sony’s Xperia Z arrives on Orange

JAPANESE PHONE MAKER Sony's Xperia Z smartphone is now available on Orange, as it becomes the latest mobile network to offer the smartphone in the UK.

Despite EE's promise that Orange and T-Mobile would remain affordable 3G-only networks, the Sony Xperia Z isn't cheap.

Orange is offering the handset on a two-year £41 a month contract with a £39 upfront cost, complete with 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of monthly data. Alternatively, if you want a cheaper contract you can sign up for a £36 tariff with a £109.99 upfront cost that will get you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.

Orange isn't offering the handset on pay as you go yet, which isn't so bad as we dread to imagine how much it would cost. The handset isn't available on EE yet either, but given Orange's pricing it could be worth holding out to see the handset's LTE pricing.

If you're wondering whether the Sony Xperia Z is worth skinting yourself for two years, here's a rundown of the handset's specifications.

At the forefront is a 5in HD 1080p touchscreen paired with a Qualcomm quad-cord Snapdragon processor and Google's Android 4.1 Jelly Bean mobile operating system. This comes skinned in Sony's custom user interface, which thankfully isn't as obtrusive as previous iterations, and the phone also comes with lifeproof features such as the ability to withstand one metre of water for 30 minutes.

The Sony Xperia Z also features a 13MP rear-facing camera, a 2.2MP front-facing camera, integrated NFC technology, 16GB of internal storage with room to expand via microSD card and a 2,330mAh battery.

If you're not convinced, Sony today announced the Xperia SP and Xperia L smartphones.

Check out our Sony Xperia Z review. µ