The Sony Xperia ZL has been listed for pre-order in the United States for a while now, though no specific word on when it would be coming or how much it would cost – now we get a few new details.

There will be two models, the C6502 with pentaband HSPA+ connectivity and a more expensive C6506 with LTE on bands 2, 4, 5 and 17. That means LTE for AT&T and the upcoming T-Mobile LTE network as well.

As for pricing? Don’t expect them to come cheap. The HSPA+ variant will cost $720, with the LTE model priced at $760. There also isn’t any carrier deals announced for the ZL in the United States, so buying outright might be your only option here.

For those that need the reminder, the ZL is pretty much the same as the Xperia Z although it is slightly smaller and has a few other changes like the lack of water resistance. Specs include a Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 13MP camera, 2GB of RAM and a 1080p display.

What do you think, interested or not?

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Last month, a report was issued saying that iOS had a 48.1% market share when it came to smartphones, compared to the combined 46.7% enjoyed by Android devices. The lead was slight, but it was there. Now, a more recent report is saying that the iOS market share has increased to 53.3%. The assumption is that this has to do with the launch of the iPhone 5, despite the many troubles that it has faced. Android’s market share shrank to 42% over the same period.

The outlook is that the iPhone’s smartphone market share will continue to rise in the US now that it’s broken the 50% mark. It should be noted that Android is still much larger elsewhere, though, getting 61% of the smartphone market in Europe.

Interestingly, it’s possible that Android will continue to shrink in the US as some people make the switch to Windows Phone 8. After all, it’s the same companies — HTC, Samsung, etc. — that are doing both WP8 and Android. And then there’s Nokia with WP8, too. It should also be noted that these figures are for smartphones only. It appears clear enough that the iPad continues to dominate the tablet arena for now.

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