Sony's latest Android smartphones, the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL, have undoubtedly been two of the hottest smartphones launched at the CES 2013 and now the company has confirmed that both the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL will be released in South East Asia this quarter.

At the CES, Sony informed that the Xperia Z and Xpeia XL will be region specific and both the smartphones may not make their appearance globally. However, there's good news for customers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam as Sony confirmed that both the devices will be released in these countries in Q1 2013. Details regarding pricing of the smartphones have not been revealed, though.

Both the smartphones sport a 5-inch full HD Reality Display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, and have a pixel density of 443ppi. The display is made of shatter-proof sheet on scratch-resistant glass. Both the Xperia Z and Xperia Z feature a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with Adreno 320GPU.

Additionally, the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL have 16GB of on-board storage, 2GB of RAM, a 13.1-megapixel primary camera, 2.2-megapixel secondary camera, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Even though both the smartphones have identical hardware specifications there are certain key differences when it comes to size, camera placement, battery, and most importantly dust and water resistance.

The Xperia Z is slightly taller, thinner, and is equipped with a marginally smaller battery when compared to the Xperia ZL. The unusual placement of the front-facing camera at the bottom right of the Xperia ZL makes the handset somewhat strange. Most importantly, the Zperia ZL is not dust- or water-resistant, unlike the Xperia Z.

South East Asian countries will soon get to see the Xperia Z and the Xperia ZL. However, it is anybody's guess if both the smartphones will arrive in other parts of the world.