The small-handed among you who lust after Sony's enormous Xperia Z Ultra will be pleased to hear that Sony has your back.

Alongside the 6.44-inch smartphone-cum-tablet, Sony has launched the SBH52, a slinky little Bluetooth handset that lets you take calls, read messages and control music without unpacking the giant phone from your pocket, bag or specially-made cross-body case.

The slinky little handset looks as stupidly small alongside a person's head as the Xperia Z Ultra does over-sized.

OLEDMG

The OLED display will flash up caller IDs, song titles and text messages, while the handset supports HD voice and FM radio.

You can pair it with your phone via NFC if that's what floats your boat, and it also features Multipoint Bluetooth for pairing with more than one device at once.

When not taking calls, the SBH52 clips on to your lapel and can be used as a music remote thanks to the headphone jack and playback control combo.

No official word on a Sony SBH52 release date or pricing just yet, but we're expecting it to hit the shops around the same time as the Xperia Z Ultra, which is scheduled for a September launch.

• What did we make of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra? Check out our hands on here

We'll be adding to our hands on in the very near future - but feast your eyes on our current pictures if you simply cannot wait for our more in-depth thoughts.

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is meant to be a phone - but with a 6.44-inch screen it's pushing the boundaries of what a smartphone can really be.

It's a huge device, there's no doubt about that, but at 6.5mm thick it sits more comfortably in the hand than you might expect and the full HD screen really impresses too.

Spec-fans will be unable to contain their excitement at the thought of the first smartphone with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chip, a quad-core processor clocked to 2.2GHz.

It certainly shows in general use though, as it's as snappy as anything we've played with - both flicking between apps and browsing the internet over Wi-Fi were lightning fast. It's getting to the point where smartphones are faster than you'd ever need them to be, but we're still impressed by the performance here.

The design of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is something that is as much of an acquired taste as the Xperia Z before it. It has the same sharp design, which makes it slightly more difficult to hold in one hand but the rubber exterior does mitigate this to some extent.

Early verdict

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a phone that wants to be a tablet. While many will look at the Ultra and recoil in horror at its larger dimensions, those that want the larger screen won't be able to help but desire this handset.

Is it going to win over more of the smartphone market? It's a definite possibility as the power and size combination are currently unique. More importantly for the long-term future of Sony Mobile is that this handset shows that the Japanese brand is keen to show it's at the forefront of technology.

We honestly can't see this being a mainstream device, but it bridges the gap between phone and tablet, both decent devices, marvellously.

Sony has joined the phablet race, with a new smartphone sporting a whopping screen and ultra-slim dimensions.

The phone features a number of top-end features that will make this a real head-turner when it comes to choosing your next smartphone, not least the Snapdragon 800 CPU that's clocked at 2.2GHz in a quad-core arrangement.

It's also managed to pack in a 6.44-inch 1080p screen while maintaining a 6.5mm thickness - it's hard to explain just how thin this thing feels, but trust us on this one.

Not waterproof...

In true Sony style the Xperia Z Ultra is both water-resistant (a depth of 1.5m for 30 minutes, or being subjected to 'low pressure jets of water') and dust resistant too - both IP55 and IP58 certified. The headphone port is uncovered now too, in the same way Samsung has done on the Galaxy S4 Active.

Another interesting innovation is the ability to write on the device - which, in itself, isn't much to write home about. But you can sketch or note on the Sony Xperia Z Ultra with a normal pencil, or any 'selected stylus or pen', meaning you can get a decent level of detail when idly drawing pictures of rude things.

The phone will use an X Reality on a Triluminous display - if you're not up on the Sony vernacular, that means it's the same technology as used in the larger Sony TVs as well as an optimised engine that will help re-introduce lost pixels while improving colour reproduction too.

Colour palette

The phone will be available in purple, white and black, and will be running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean under the hood - rumours of it being the first handset to pack 4.3 seem to have been wide of the mark, which is a shame as it won't be here until later in the year.

There's 'only' an 8MP camera on the back, but given the slimmer frame we can understand the tradeoff. It does offer up all the Sony Exmor RS features we'd hope to see on a smartphone from the Japanese brand, so your snaps should be improved with the algorithms packed under the hood.

In true phablet style, it packs on the pounds slightly with a weight of 212g making it almost twice the weight of some modern smartphones, but with the extra screen the difference doesn't feel that marked.

We're still waiting for a Xperia Z Ultra price yet, but it looks like we'll be seeing this on our shop shelves in September or October globally.

What was foretold has come to pass: Sony has announced a new smartwatch today, packing water resistance and NFC into its Sony SmartWatch 2.

With the SmartWatch 2, Sony is attempting to sneak ahead of the Apple iWatch with what it describes as "a second screen for your Android phone" - a 1.6-inch high-ish resolution screen (220x176 pixels), that is.

This means that you'll get phone notifications, an app interface and the ability to control your phone from your wrist all in one neat little package.

Squint

You'll be able to handle calls, check maps, read emails (as long as you've previously downloaded them and have, let's face it, pretty solid eyesight) and control music playback through the SmartWatch 2.

You can even take photos through your phone with a dedicated smart camera app - next level selfies coming to an Instagram account near you soon.

Although it's a Sony product, you'll be able to use the SmartWatch 2 with "most" Android tablets and smartphones, not just the Xperia line-up. There'll be interchangeable 24mm wristbands to choose between and the whole shebang is dust- and water-resistant.

The Sony SmartWatch 2 release date is set for September 2013, although we've had no word yet on price.

Also announced today was Sony's insanely huge phablet, the 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra.