Sony Xperia Z Availability at T-Mobile Starts on July 17 with $99.99 Price

The dust- and water-restistant Sony Xperia Z smartphone will be exclusively offered at U.S. carrier T-Mobile starting July 17. T-Mobile officially announced at the July 10 "Our Boldest Moves Yet" event that the Sony Xperia Z handset becomes available for purchasing with an upfront payment price of $99.99 over a two-year contract.

A monthly payment of $20 will be placed after the initial $99.99 payment for 24 months which brings the total cost for the Sony Xperia Z at T-Mobile to $579.99. The available colour choices on T-Mobile's Sony Xperia Z offer are black and purple.

The interested consumers can head to the T-Mobile Web site and look for more details on the Sony Xperia Z availability. Subscribers can place their pre-orders on July 16 through the T-Mobile Web site and a free Sony wireless Bluetooth speaker will be given as a bonus reward.

Additionally, Sony will be offering the same free Bluetooth speaker to the consumers who purchased the Sony Xperia Z smartphone directly from the Sony Stores or online with the Sony Financial Services card. Payment options are the upfront price of $579.99 or monthly payments of $25 for 24 months.

The availability of the Sony Xperia Z at T-Mobile marks the smartphone's first arrival in the U.S. territory. The Sony Xperia Z caught the attention of device enthusiasts with its waterproof design that can withstand depths up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.

Sony Xperia Z features a 5-inch Full HD screen display with 1080p resolution, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 16GB internal storage capacity, a 13MP rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing camera. According to Sony, the Xperia Z smartphone has a sensor that utilizes the High-Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging technique on still images as well as video recording.

Another feature of the Sony Xperia Z is the battery Stamina Mode the can conserve battery consumption as it shuts down the wireless radios or background activity when users do not use the smartphone. For the near-field-communication (NFC) support, T-Mobile and Sony are reportedly pushing for the device's connectivity capability.