Ina Fried

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Sony’s High-End Xperia ZL Comes to U.S. at a Hefty $719

Sony’s latest smartphone is coming to the U.S. with both an eye-popping screen and an eye-popping price.

Once again, the Japanese phone maker has found little carrier support, and is instead selling its device unlocked. That means that the Xperia ZL will sell for a whopping $719 ($40 more for the LTE version).

For that price, you get a device with some pretty nice specs, including a five-inch screen, a 13-megapixel camera, 1.5GHz quad-core chip, etc. Other features include Near Field Communication (NFC) and a battery-improving Stamina mode that turns off power-draining applications when the screen is dark.

And, of course, you aren’t tied to a contract.

The phone is set to be available for presale Monday on Sony’s online store, and will be coming soon to “select online retailers,” Sony said.

Sony also plans for its Xperia Tablet Z to hit the U.S. in May. On the tablet side, however, the company has the benefit that most devices are sold without a subsidy.

Globally, Sony is hoping that the Z series will help revive the company’s mobile business.

Sony bought out its former joint venture partner, Ericsson, and has now reintegrated the mobile business with other parts of its electronics business, but it has yet to see a hoped-for boost in business.

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