Amazon U.K. has let slip that Sony's new flagship handset the Sony Xperia Z will be available in for shipping beginning March, 1.

Amazon UK has started taking preorders for the Sony Xperia Z with a £549.99 price tag, which makes the handset more expensive than the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3.

The Sony Xperia Z has been created by the engineers behind Sony BRAVIA TVs. The new, precision-engineered Full HD superphone displays content in stunning Full 1080p HD detail on the large 5 display, which also claims the highest pixel density of any smartphone. The OptiContrast panel guarantees crystal clear images when in use, as well as a seamless black finish when switched off.

In terms of specs, the Sony Xperia Z comes with It is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro system-on-chip clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB onboard storage with a microSD card slot, a 13-megapixel camera with Exmor RS and HDR video capture capabilities, a front facing 2.2-megapixel camera plus 4G capabilities thanks to the MDM9215M modem.

The Sony Xperia Z was Sony's big smartphone unveil of CES 2013 and it packs some serious specifications in an effort to match the higher-end smartphones that are already on shelves in addition to ones like the HTC M7 and Galaxy S4 that will be coming soon.