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Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet teased in saucy French invite

"Sony Mobile has a big surprise for you," says a saucy little invite sent out to French tech sites. Could it be an Xperia phablet?

Nick Hide Managing copy editor
Nick manages CNET's advice copy desk from Springfield, Virginia. He's worked at CNET since 2005.
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Nick Hide
2 min read

Ooh la la! What ees zees, my leetle chickens? Could it be une grande phablette? This cheeky little invite has been sent to French Android blog FrAndroid, and it looks very much like a gigantic Sony Xperia Z. Bonnet de douche!

"Sony Mobile has a big surprise for you," the invite winks saucily, "Don't forget to mark your calendars!" The grande debut is on 4 July.

Showing a very tall, thin device sporting the trademark Xperia power nubbin and a classy looking stylus, there's little doubt Sony's planning a version of the flagship Xperia Z with an even bigger screen.

It's called the Xperia Z Ultra, according to reliable gossip-merchants Xperia Blog, and features a 6.4-inch display with the same 1080p resolution as the Xperia Z. It may feature new infrared screen tech from a company called Neonode, which lets you control it with pretty much anything -- a finger, a stylus, even a piquant merguez.

Other rumoured specs include a mighty 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, which has an Adreno 330 graphics unit and an ultra-low power digital signal processor for saving battery life. 2GB of RAM seems a fair bet, and 16GB of storage expandable with microSD too.

An 8-megapixel camera seems a little stingey compared to the Xperia Z's 13 megapixels, but there should be a 2.2-megapixel snapper on the front for video calls.

We absolutely loved the Xperia Z with its incredible 5-inch screen and waterproof capabilities, and the Tablet Z is a wonderful bathtime chum too. The Ultra doesn't look to have the same damp-repelling abilities, however, with an uncovered headphone jack.

What do you make of the idea of an Xperia Z phablet? Magnifique or merde? Do your best Gallic shrug down in the comments, or over on our Gitanes-smoking Facebook page.