Sony Xperia S not delayed, insists Sony

The Sony Xperia S is still on schedule. Sony has scotched rumours that the hotly tipped Android phone had been delayed.

Online retailer Play.com originally slated the Xperia S for release today. It's now pushed the date back to 6 March -- but Sony contacted us to confirm that the phone was always planned for March.

Other shops and phone networks are also quoting March release dates, with prices around £450. Amazon and eBuyer reckon we'll see the S on 12 March.

O2, Orange, Three and T-Mobile are also planning to offer the S on extended contracts.

We contacted the folks at Play for comment, but they haven't got back to us yet.

Retailers and phone networks have become a good source of information about release dates and prices of new phones, even when the phone's manufacturer is trying to stay cagey about when we'll see their latest darling.

But in their eagerness to bag some column inches off the back of a new phone, it seems retailers may be speaking out of turn -- or at least before dates are set in stone.

Here's our first look at the Xperia S in action:

Other features include this clever NFC tag technology -- hit play to see the phone-tapping tags explained.

There's a lot riding on the Xperia S. It's the first phone to bear just the Sony name, after the Japanese giant parted ways with Swedish partner and brought a decade of Sony Ericsson phones to a close. And we don't blame them: last year Sony Ericsson lost £200m. Ouch.

The Xperia S has certainly got people excited about Sony Eri-- sorry, Sony again. Other forthcoming phones from the newly single Sony include the recently leaked Xperia U, codenamed Kumquat.

Meanwhile another leak suggests Sony has a Windows Phone up its sleeve. Nothing's official but it would allow Sony to cadge a boost from another former phone titan left behind in the smart phone boom -- Nokia -- and from the renewed interest the Finns garnered by adopting Windows Phone.

Are you counting the days until the S arrives? Where will you be buying? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook page.