Sony Mobile

Saying ‘Sony could be ready to take a slice out of Apple and Samsung’ is delusional

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Rachel Gunter, ironically from a site called Market Realist, has written probably the most outlandish and delusional thing I’ve read in some time about Sony. Now when I call out sites, I tend to do it when they’re being unfair to Sony or have little understanding of the company which unfortunately happens far more often than it should. In this case, it’s perhaps clear that Gunter has little understanding of Sony, its competitors, and the market they operate in.

 Sony (SNE) could cause Samsung (SSNLF) and Apple (AAPL) nightmares in 2017, a year that many smartphone makers hope could offer a dramatic turnaround in their handset operations. 

In just the past few months, I’ve written multiple times about the less than stellar status of LG and HTC when it comes to their mobile divisions, but I’ve never once gotten the sense that any smartphone maker was thinking 2017 was going to be the year for “dramatic turnarounds.” In fact, most evidence points to many vendors looking to considerably scale down their mobile efforts and shift focus to other ventures, like VR. Below is a chart of smartphone vendor shares so you would understand if I’m a little skeptical about how Sony plans to cause nightmares for Samsung and Apple.

March 2017 security patch and update (32.3.A.2.33) arrive on Xperia Z5 family, Z3 Plus & Z4 Tablet

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If you’ve got any of the following devices (Xperia Z3+, Xperia Z3+ Dual, Xperia Z4 Tablet, Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z5 Dual, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia Z5 Premium Dual) then this news is for you. Sony has just released a new update (32.3.A.2.33) for your device which includes the Android March 2017 security patch. It’s believed that the update also includes with it an audio glitch that arrived on those devices after Android Nougat was released though that’s yet to be confirmed.

Sony Xperia Ear update adds new head gestures & voice notification for all apps

Sony_Xperia_Ear_Hero_2When the Sony Xperia Ear, the AirPod-like headset, was released in late 2016, it wasn’t met with much excitement and the reviews were quite brutal. IBT called Xperia Ear

 frustrating. It lacks any form of wow factor and doesn’t offer any real benefits over talking to Siri or Google Now through the headphones you are already using 

and Cherlynn Low from Engadget concluded:

 I was excited about the Xperia Ear and what it promised until I realized that, as it stands, the device does nothing different from Siri or Google over wired earbuds. In particular, the fact that it requires you to use your hand and press a button to use it makes me question the device’s existence in the first place. What’s the point of getting a whole new gadget for an assistant in your ear if not for the convenience when your arms are full? It’s not like this is a cheap purchase, either. 

Though doubtful Sony can do anything to completely revamp the Xperia Ear via software to turn it into a compelling device, in its first post launch update, a few noteworthy tweaks are coming that should make the headset more useful.

Sony Xperia XZ Premium is the first smartphone capable of gigabit LTE speeds, not Samsung Galaxy S8

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The tech racquet woke up to some explosive news today – Samsung is officially ready to announce their nearly 90% leaked Galaxy S8 and with it comes the usual fanfare, like taking credit for things which they’re clearly not the first at. Chaim Gartenberg writes the following for The Verge:

 The Galaxy S8 is going to officially be one of the first smartphones on the market that’s theoretically capable of hitting gigabit LTE speeds, per a new video from T-Mobile showing off Samsung’s newest smartphone hitting some seriously fast speeds in a test (albeit in a lab). 

“One of the first” is certainly accurate, seeing how the S8 isn’t the first phone capable of this which makes their headline of

 The Galaxy S8 will be the first smartphone capable of gigabit LTE speeds 

even more baffling as the two contradict each other. Chaim goes on to write:

Sony Xperia XZs Dual’s hybrid SIM tray detailed

Fans of Xperia Dual models from 2015 might recall their unique SIM tray which allowed users to insert not only two different SIM cards, but also a microSD card as well. All this changed in 2016 when Sony utilized a new SIM tray which only allowed for one SIM card alongside a microSD card and things don’t look to be any different in 2017.

Sony a major contributor to Android O

Sony_LDACIf you went back in time to 2015 and heard that Sony was one of the key contributors to Android O, the next iteration of mobile software from Google, would you believe it? After all, Sony has been plagued by their reputation for delivering Android updates at a snail’s pace in the past, something that has been drastically changing in the last 12 months. To that point, Sony was the first OEM to release Android 7.1.1, something that none of us would have thought possible two years ago. Now, according to Google, Sony has

 contributed more than 30 feature enhancements and 250 bug fixes. 

Sony Xperia L1 specs

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Seemingly out of nowhere, Sony reentered the budget smartphone market with the Xperia L1 which, as you’d guess, offers tapered specs when compared against the Xperia lineup. That includes opting for a MediaTek processor over Qualcomm Snapdragon and a lower spec camera like a 13-megapixel rear shooter. Until we know the price, it will hard to tell exactly how the phone fares but here are the full Xperia L1 specs.

Sony gets back into the budget smartphone category with Xperia L1

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Sony Mobile might be pumping out some powerful phones like the Xperia XZ in 2016 and now the Xperia XZs and Xperia XZ Premium but that doesn’t mean everything is going smooth for the company. Despite finally being profitable, which is a positive when compared to where they’ve been and their competitors like HTC and LG, Sony has seen their smartphone sales decline year-over-year since 2014 and likely won’t see them shipping many more than 15 million units for FY2016. Seeing how units sold is continuing to drop at an alarming pace, Sony might have gone back to the drawing board which could be why we now have a new budget phone from them, the Xperia L1.

Sony patent would allow for wireless charging between various devices

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Imagine a world where you’re walking with your Xperia XZs Mark II Premium Plus and you’re low on charge. What’s one to do? Plug in via USB-C? Too 2016. Place said phone on a wireless charger? Not a chance. Instead in this ultra-futuristic world, Sony would have your phone borrow charge from other devices. According to a patent filed in 2016:

Sony racks up 18 iF Design Awards, including three golds

iF_Awards_2017_LogoYou know what Sony’s amazing at? Designing products and winning awards for them. You know what Sony is terrible at? Telling the world and not regular readers of sites like SRN that they make these fantastic products.

 Today Sony is proud to announce that 18 products have been honoured with iF Design Awards, including three prestigious gold awards. The products that have won gold awards are the PS-HX500 turntable, Future Lab Program™ T Interactive Projector and PlayStation®VR (PS VR) virtual reality system for PlayStation®4, from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). 

Here are the products that won:

Sony Xperia XZ Premium cheaper than previously thought

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There is no two ways around it – the Xperia XZ Premium is a beast of a phone. If specs are your thing, chances are if it exists, Sony was able to put it inside of their flagship phone. That of course comes with a price, and in this case, Sony has never been known to offer phones at low prices – and that’s okay if what you’re making is a premium device. After all, Apple doesn’t sell cheap phones and they do amazing business worldwide, indicating that there is absolutely an appetite for the more premium products in life. But when you lack their brand power, would consumers turn up for a $799 or $899 Xperia phone? Luckily that’s not something Sony nor us as fans will have to worry about if the following pricing information holds true.

Sony Xperia XZ Premium named “Best New Smartphone at MWC 2017″

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Sony had one clear goal for their engineers when it came time to build their 2017 flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ Premium – if there’s a feature under the sun that can be crammed inside of this phone, you’re to do it, no matter the cost. For that reason, we’ve yet to be told the price of the powerful phone and I’m sure when announced, a few heads will explode.

Until then, Sony can bask in all the acolytes they’ve been receiving for the XZ Premium, including having it be called the “Best New Smartphone or Connected Mobile Device at MWC 2017” at the annual Global Mobile Awards (Glomo Awards).

But that’s not the only praise for the XZ Premium. A few others include:

Sony future proofs Xperia XZ Premium with ‘Gigabit Class LTE’

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There is no doubt the upcoming Xperia XZ Premium is packed full of powerful hardware that’s sure to make it a phone that will age nicely as tech continues to advance. One such feature is its networking capabilities:

 Xperia XZ Premium is powered by the cutting edge Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 Mobile Platform, making it one of the very first smartphones capable of Gigabit Class LTE (up to 1Gbps). 

According to Qualcomm’s own press release, they’ve:

Sony Xperia Projector renamed to Xperia Touch, appropriate because you won’t be able to touch it because of its price

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The Xperia Projector is a pretty nifty product that makes for one hell of a demo. For those unfamiliar, Sony basically took a projector, shrunk it down, injected it with Android – et voila! – you can now turn any surface into a touch input based product. Sounds great so far right? In fact, if you want to be mesmerized a bit more, go ahead and take a look at my video preview of it from CES 2017 which I’d forgotten to upload:

Sony sheds more light on why Xperia phones lack a fingerprint sensor in the US

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One of the more bizarre things out of Sony’s mobile ambitions has been the lack of fingerprint sensor on their phones in the US. Despite the technology being available worldwide since the introduction of the Xperia Z5, US models haven’t been able to utilize the feature, despite sharing the same hardware as their global counterparts. That’s because Sony has specifically disabled the feature via firmware, something that can be reverted if you’re brave enough to flash your device with software from another country.