If your appetite is stil not curbed after our Sony Xperia Z image gallery from the CES 2013 Sony booth, then the only solution for you is to purchase the new 5-inch screen phone. Of course, seeing how the device won’t be available till Q1 2013, I encourage you to check out our 360 video of the flagship Android phone, after the jump.
As expected, during Sony’s CES 2013 press conference ( read our live blog coverage), Sony announced the Xperia Z. The previously leaked 5-inch Android smartphone with a 13-megapixel camera and water- and dust-proof casing is intended to be Sony’s flagship device and battle the iPhone and Galaxy devices. A majorly touted feature of the Xperia Z is its built in NFC, which is intended to make the sharing of content easier across a host of new Sony devices like speakers, headphones, and servers with a single tap. In addition to the mentioned specs, the Xperia Z also features a 1080p Reality Display, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, fast-capture camera, and 4G LTE with an expected Q1 2013 launch date. After the jump, you can find our Sony Xperia Z image gallery of the new flagship Sony smartphone.
In a mass email released by Sony recently, they tell us that something extraordinary will be coming to CES soon. The email reads, “In just three days we will unveil something extraordinary to the world and we cant wait to show you what it can do. Stay tuned for more“. The email has Xperia branding which tells us that it will more than likely be their new phone or phones. We will be there to bring you all the news as it happens. After the jump, share your thoughts with us.
Not a day after we reported the leaked specs on the Sony Mobile Xperia Z and ZL and the Android smartphone leaks again. This time, the leaks consist of a lot of pictures that appear to be taken from a promo video that will probably be shown at CES. Said pictures reveal that the phone will feature a water resistant chassis and a 13MP Exmor RS camera with HDR photo and video capabilities. The pictures also tell us that the phone will have a full HD Reality display.
Of course I urge you all to take this information with a grain of salt as there is no way to prove these photos 100% real at this time. We will likely find out all we need to know about the Xperia Z and ZL at CES shortly. The leaked pictures and your chance to comment await you, after the jump.
Unfortunately for Sony and fortunately for the public Sony has accidentally revealed two of their flagship phones on their website. There has already been many reports on the 5-inch phone code-named the Xperia Yuga. The Yuga is supposedly the Xperia Z and a previous phone code-named the Sony Odin is supposedly the Xperia ZL.
According to many reports surrounding the phones they will be running Android which should not come as a surprise to anyone. Supposed pictures of the phone from a while back were proven to be real with the pictures released recently of the phone. There are a few odd things about these new Sony phones though. For one the power buttons on the right side of the phone seem to be a bit oversized. Second, the ZL appears to have its front facing camera in the bottom right corner of the phone.
Sony Mobile has gone on record about their Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ambitions and has angered part of their community in the process. Come early 2013, between February and March, Sony Mobile will bring Jelly Bean to the Xperia T, Xperia TX, and Xperia V. In late March, Sony will then target Xperia P, Xperia J, and Xperia go smartphone owners and finish their roll out by upgrading Xperia S, Xperia SL, Xperia ion and Xperia acro S in the weeks after. If you don’t see your Sony phone listed, its not due to an error on our end but that Sony will not be upgrading them. More on that, after the jump.
A big part of the slow turn around story for Sony is hinged upon the success of Sony Mobile, the division responsible for smartphones, tablets, and VAIO computers. Thanks to increased sales of their Xperia smartphones, Sony was able to raise their revenue to $3.9 billion, more than double of their previous quarter. This resulting in Sony posting a much lower loss of $198 million last quarter. With an increased focus on mobile and the fall of HTC and LG in smartphones, Sony Mobile was elevated to the number 3 in global smartphone sales with Samsung and Apple definitively leading the number one and two spot.
Now, Sony Mobile has passed another milestone. Beating our rival Android smartphone maker HTC in UK has propelled Sony Mobile to become the number 2 Android smartphone in the country. Mobile Today reports that in Q3 of 2012, Sony was able to move 500,000 Android smartphones while HTC shipped 440,000 in the UK. While both numbers combined still pale in comparison to Samsung who shipped 3.2 million, it’s still a healthy sign for Sony Mobile.
Many, including Sony itself, credit the rise to the promotional boost their device received with the release of Skyfall, the latest James Bond film. The Sony Picture film helped create some cross promotional advertisement for their sister division and even saw to it that James Bond used a Sony Ericsson Mobile phone. What UK MD of Sony Mobile, Pierre Perron had to say, after the jump.
We were recently invited to a Windows 8 launch party, hosted by Sony at the House of Rock mansion. The event was designed to give members of the press and Sony sales representatives hands-on time with their new fleet of notebooks and desktops. The event featured engineers and reps from Sony, Microsoft, and Intel who walked us through some of the latest features and answered all of our questions.
During our time there, we were able to poke and prod Sony’s latest VAIO fleet, running Windows 8 with and without touchscreen variations and to say we walked away impressed is an understatement. With a simplified lineup, more powerful options and innovative features, Sony’s new fleet is quite simply the most compelling reason to upgrade to the latest OS from Redmond which heavily relies on touchscreen.
It’s a case of good news/bad news for Sony Mobile, the division responsible for the companies line of Android smartphones. According to the latest IDC report, Sony Mobile climbed to the number 3 spot in the global smartphone market in the third quarter, behind Samsung and Apple. This is quite the accomplishment since Sony was in the number 6 spot just a year ago. That right there is the good news, especially if you take into consideration the division’s ability to raise revenue to $3.9 billion.
The bad news if it can be called that, is how Sony was able to climb three spots in such a competitive marketplace. No — Sony hasn’t been able to sell droves of smartphones with some new and cohesive marketing campaign. Instead, the rise is mostly thanks to the dramatic fall of Nokia (now exclusively making Windows 8 phones), HTC, and RIM. In fact, Sony’s overall market share has fallen by 0.2%, down to 4.8%, compared to a year ago. The once-dominant Nokia, however has taken the biggest stumble to 3.4% from 13.6% a year earlier. HTC is also dramatically down to 4.7% from 10.3% while RIM’s share fell to 4.2% from 9.6%.
One of the touted features of the Sony Xperia Tablet S was its water-resistant body, which allowed the unit to withstand a certain amount of water without bricking instantaneously. Instead what reviewers and owners soon discovered was that, much like the Titanic, the Xperia Tablet S could and would indeed take on water. This resulted Sony to quickly pull the unit off its online portal and retail shelves.
Now Sony has indicated that the design flaw, which originated from the factory, has been addressed, and sales of the Xperia Tablet S will resume in mid-November. Sony was quick to point out that shipments will be light and they don’t expect to return to full production till a later point.
Thanks to the fine folks at the USPO, we’ve just learned about a new patent filed by Sony which allows for two-way folding of devices, think the Sony Tablet P. Under this new patent which seems to target smartphones, touchscreen functionality would transfer from one screen to the next from the two screens which are connected via two rectangular casings that can be “rotated relatively in one of a first rotation direction and a second rotation direction orthogonal to each other.”
As usual, there isn’t a whole lot more information on this, nor is there any word if such a technology will ever even come to a device though a mixture of the Tablet P and PlayStation Vita with rear touchscreen does pose an interesting blend for smartphones.
To say that Sony’s had a shaky history with upgrading their Android fleet of Xperia smartphones would be an understatement. Sony’s whose been having trouble bringing their smartphones to the market, having announced phones like the Xperia S and Xperia Ion in early January but having only just released them in the market planned for 2012 as the year they would update a majority of their devices to the then latest offering from Google, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Sony start the transition in late Spring though the company has yet to fully bring their entire line of phones to ICS while the Xperia S and Xperia Ion still ship without Android 4.0 and be updated later on. Not all phones will be as lucky like the Xperia PLAY which will not be receiving Android 4.0 at anytime.
Now, thanks to the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from Google, Sony is left with a tough choice of how to handle the latest OS which was targeted at cleaning up many of the faults that were created with 4.1 like extreme processor use. Seeing how Sony has yet to finish the transition to Android 4.0, the company has decided that only their 2012 lineup of Xperia smartphones will receive Android 4.1 Jelly Bean while their 2011 fleet like the Xperia arc S and Xperia mini pro will miss out.
The Sony Xperia P, the lower end sibling to the Xperia S is being introduced in a new color, metallic pink. This brings the color selection for the 8-megapixel camera equipped Android phone with 16GB of internal memory to four, along side the current silver, black, and red. There’s no word yet on a release date or pricing for the model but we’re somehow doubtful of the pink phones capability of charming custom agents and being made available in the US.
After the jump, a few refresher details on the Xperia P.
Thanks to our magic ball, early last month we predicted that Sony would release the long announced Xperia Ion in June. Not wanting to ruin our track record of predicting things, Sony Mobile has announced a June 24th release date for the AT&T exclusive 4G LTE device. You might recall that just yesterday, Sony also announced the Xperia Ion HSPA for countries that lack 4G LTE .
Seeing how we saw the Xperia Ion, Sony’s flagship Android smartphone 6 months ago at CES, lets take a refresher course on what this device is capable of. Some key features include:
Speaking of Android, despite the Xperia Ion shipping with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is right around the corner as a free update, later in the summer. Best of all, this AT&T exclusive smartphone is priced at just $99 with a two year contract. You can bet that a phone of this caliper had been launched by Apple and Samsung who are dominating the market, the price would easily have been $199. That’s why its refreshing for Sony to realize the position their brand is in and that though on a technical level the phone might merit it, many might not wish to pay a higher price with a brand they’ve became unfamiliar with.
Well played Sony, well played.
The Xperia Ion HSPA isn’t the only new phone Sony Mobile has announced today. Taking the opposite approach as the flagship Xperia Ion, the Xperia tipo dual (yes its lowered cased and no I didn’t mean typo, despite what autocorrect would have you believe) is a new entry level phone which will surely target the budget conscious consumers and emerging countries. Most surprising of all, unlike the Xperia Ion which won’t gain Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich till later in the summer and the Xperia PLAY which will never gain the latest OS from Mountain View, the Xperia tipo dual will launch with ICS.
We still don’t have a price or launch date but after the jump, you can find the Xperia tipo dual specs, pictures and promo videos.
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