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Sony's Xperia Z gets a smaller, more waterproof little brother

Sony's new Xperia ZR smartphone comes with a smaller screen and less memory than the flagship Xperia Z, but it can be taken that extra bit deeper under water.
Written by Sam Shead, Contributor

Sony is to add a smaller waterproof smartphone to its Xperia range later this year.

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Image: Sony

The 4.6-inch Sony Xperia ZR, which shares many features with the 5-inch Xperia Z released in April, was revealed on Monday. The device is set to launch in the second quarter of 2013, but Sony has yet to announce which countries will get the ZR or how much it will cost.

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone comes with a HD display, a 13-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM and a SnapDragon S4 Pro quadcore 1.5GHz processor. The LTE device also has NFC capability.

Like its big brother, the Xperia ZR is capable of taking underwater photos and HD video. However, the smaller ZR can be plunged to 1.5m for up to 30 minutes and still work, while the larger Z can only go down to depths of 1m. 

The ZR only has 8GB of internal storage compared to 16GB in the Xperia Z, although both can expand their memory through a microSD port that can support cards up to 32GB. 

The phone comes with "Stamina" battery technology, which can quadruple battery life by automatically shutting down energy-consuming apps that aren't being used, according to Sony.

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