Sony Mobile

Sony Tablet S 3G and Tablet P 3G to be Released on October 28th

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 13, 2011 | 19 comments

Hopefully the above title didn’t excite you too much if you live in the US or Europe as the Sony Tablet S 3G and Tablet P 3G are indeed being released on October 28th. However, the launch is currently only for Japan with NTT DoCoMo as the provider. Currently in Western markets, Sony has yet to even release the Tablet P though we’re excepting it before the year’s end.

As a recap, the Sony Tablet S runs on Google’s Android 3.2 operating system. This tablet comes equipped with a 9.4-inch multitouch LCD screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, and a Tegra 2 chipset at 1GHz can be found at the heart of this slick machine. The Sony Tablet P, on the other hand is the more ambitiously-designed of the two with a love it or hate it design. With a clamshell design and dual 5.5-inch multitouch LCD screens and a 1024 x 480 resolution, the Tablet P will also have DLNA capabilities like its sister model, giving it the option to stream content to other DLNA devices.

Sony to Buy Ericsson, Bring Mobile Operations In-House

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 7, 2011 | 1 comment

Sony Ericsson is the joint venture between Sony Electronics, based in Japan, and Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, to manufacture mobile phones. Established in October of 2001, the joint venture was meant to bring Sony soft and hardware design with Ericsson’s knowledge in telecommunications to produce world class phones. As we discussed in our previous post, such venture from the company worked and worked well pre iPhone. Since then, Sony Ericsson has lost its lead as a top handset manufacture which has the company barely treading at 6th place.

Now, Sony is looking at what it should have done years ago, to bring mobile handset manufacturing in-house by purchasing the remaining shares of the handset manufacturing from Ericsson. According to inside sources, talks are currently ongoing, though things are fragile and could break down at any point.

A deal “could amount to a huge financial burden on Sony,” said Hideki Yasuda, a Tokyo-based analyst at Ace Securities Co. with a “neutral” rating on the stock. “There could be a costly fee for using patents reserved by Ericsson.”

If the deal goes through, it’s expected to cost Sony 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion). However, the biggest obstacle currently is not the price tag (which is no small amount of money, especially for the cash-stripped Sony) but the more than 4,000 patents that Sony Ericsson controls, which is currently a 50/50 partnership.

One can imagine that if such a deal were to go through that the Ericsson name would be dropped and the Sony moniker would be the only name to appear on the phones, thus making it a simpler branding experience for consumers. By bringing all production in-house, Sony will also be able to better align future handsets with their product strategy and integrate their services without the need of split decisions and split design ideals.

On the Eve of iPhone 4S, Sony Ericsson CEO Reflects

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 6, 2011 | 15 comments

Did you know that once upon a time, Sony Ericsson was one of the top smartphone makers in the world? Things were much simpler pre 2007, specifically, pre iPhone. At that time, Sony Ericsson made a slew of custom UI smartphone and models that ran on Palm and Windows Mobile variations. Sure Blackberry was still king back then but only in the corporate world. Others and more importantly, the everyday public which was a large and untapped market, didn’t want bulky phones with Exchange and spreadsheets. Things were indeed good in those days where a products spec sheets still ruled the world and determined how a buyer would know if a product was worthy. With a name like Sony which has enjoyed a long heritage of quality products on the box, it was hard not for the joint venture between the two companies to be on top of the sales charts.

Now, the world is different. Sony Ericsson is no longer on top of the sales charts and has a hard time even cracking the top 5. So how does current CEO, Bert Nordberg see all this? We should also point out that Mr. Nordberg was not the CEO of Sony Ericsson, during the times mentioned. For one, he is happy with picking Android as the OS to use in their smartphone category and while others like HTC, LG and Samsung have also backed Windows Phone.

“At this point I wouldn’t feel comfortable investing in a platform that isn’t as good as the one that we currently use,” he said. “Therefore we have remained with Android, but I am quite curious about Windows Phone.”

Only in the last year alone and under Nordberg’s eyes, we’ve seen a plethora of Android powered phones from Sony Ericsson. Their current lineup includes though not limited: Xperia arc, arc S, neo V, Live with Walkman, mini, mini pro, Active and PLAY (for those playing at home, Sony does indeed use funky capital and none capital letters throughout their lineup). With nearly 15 Android powered phones in their current portfolio, Sony Ericsson has shifted a majority of their business practices from the traditional “dump phone” to the more lucrative and ever growing smartphone centric market. With so many phones at their disposal, it’s hard to imagine why Sony has yet to see real success from their shift to Android until you realize their lack of focus on the US.

Sony Ericsson has long been a power house in Asia and Europe. To this day, the majority of their sales comes from the international market and not the United States. Much like Nokia, Sony was slow to see the US as a growing and maturing market. With the launch of the iPhone, the entire mobile landscape would change. Traditionally exclusive to AT&T, the iPhone changed how people viewed smartphones. The demograph which was once only the business men in suits would soon change to teens, coaches and moms and dads. The iPhone would change the trajectory of the mobile landscape, leaving those who were slow to the realization of the new market and profits behind it to fall victim to loss of market share and profits.

Nordberg said, “it’s safe to say that Sony Ericsson should have taken the iPhone more seriously when it arrived in 2007.”

Taking the iPhone seriously however was only part of the problem. Sony, like every other manufacture relies heavily on OS makers to provide them with the software needed to power their phones. In the first two years of the iPhone, Google and their Android software were still in incubation while others can argue that Microsoft is still there. With no other software makers in the market, it’s hard to imagine thing’s being different had Sony taken Apple and iPhone seriously. However, in the last two years where other manufactures like Samsung, Motorola and HTC have taken advantage of the free OS provided by the folks in Mountain View, Sony has stumbled and continued to lose market share. This ties directly to Nokia’s problem as well which failed to see the US as a strong player. While both companies continued to sell their phones through channels like select retail stores and online domains, other handset manufactures were quick to cut deals with US providers like Verizon and AT&T. These partnerships would result on advertisement for their handset and dramatically reduced prices on the phones while Sony Ericsson had no marketing in place and full priced phones which were all between the $450-800 range.

Nordberg is hopeful that the current promotions on the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will win over consumers as the company under his leadership begins to create more partnerships and promotions with US carriers.

Discuss:

How do you see Sony Ericsson in the mobile landscape? Are their offerings exciting while they lack the proper promotions and partnerships or is the problem somewhere else?

Verizon Offers Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY for Free (limited time)(updated)

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 5, 2011 | 5 comments

We’re not entirely sure how long this deal is good, though October 6th (tomorrow) is the date we keep hearing tossed around, which has Verizon Wireless offering the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY for free with the traditional two-year contract. Previously AT&T had offered the Xperia PLAY 4G for only $49 which made it a steal and left Verizon with a $199 price tag. Now, Verizon has outdone the folks at Ma Bell by offering this PlayStation Certified, Android 2.3.4-powered smartphone for nothing. So if you enjoy gaming, like the folks in red, and Android is your OS of choice, we highly recommend jumping on this deal.

Updated:

The deal has now expired which has Verizon offering the Xperia PLAY for $49; still not too shabby.

Sony VAIO SE Price Drop Gives You 15-inch 1080p Screen for $999

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 4, 2011 | 16 comments

Really hope that you haven’t pulled the trigger on the recently price dropped VAIO SA and SB that we told you about yesterday because Sony has another price drop for you. The VAIO SE is now joining the party of being priced like the VAIO SA at just $999. The recent price drop gives you plenty of bang for your buck while those who want more can always upgrade their RAM, processor speed and built in drives to include Blu-ray. The Sony VAIO SE now comes with the following as standard features for $999:

15.5-inch screen
1920 x 1080 display resolution
Intel Core i5-2430M processor (2.40GHz / 3.00GHz with Turbo Boost)
AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512MB) hybrid graphics
4GB (4GB fixed onboard + 1 open SDRAM slot) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
500GB hard drive

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Receives HD Video Capture

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 4, 2011 | 6 comments

Hot on the heels of Sony Ericsson’s release of Android 2.3.4 for the Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY, we’ve learned of an additional improvement for the Xperia PLAY which was not announced as an updated feature. Though the Xperia PLAY has always been equipped with a 5 megapixel camera, the lack of HD video recording and lone support of 480p video capture has been baffling. Now, the latest Android update from Sony Ericsson has unlocked the smartphone’s 720p video capture capabilities.

Sony Lowers Price of VAIO SA and SB to Under $1,000

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 3, 2011 | 23 comments

If the recent speed bumps to the VAIO S series wasn’t enough of an incentive for you to buy a VAIO, maybe a price drop will. Sony has just announced that their 13-inch VAIO SA series will be dropping in price from $1,250 MSRP to $ just $999 while the entry version, the VAIO SB, will now be priced at $799. Just as a recap, the standard VAIO SA includes:

13.3-inch screen
1600 x 900 display resolution
Intel Core i5-2430M processor (2.40GHz / 3.00GHz with Turbo Boost)
AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB) hybrid graphics
4GB (4GB fixed onboard + 1 open SDRAM slot) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
500GB hard drive
HD webcam
Fingerprint reader

The VAIO SB includes:

13.3-inch screen
1366 x 768 display resolution
Intel Core i3-2310M processor (2.10GHz)
AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512MB) hybrid graphics
4GB (4GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
320GB hard drive

Both variations are also highly customizable with features like solid state drive, Blu-ray player/burner, up to 8GB RAM and upgraded processors like the Intel i7.

[Via Sony]

Android 2.3.4 Now Available for Sony Ericsson Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 3, 2011 | 5 comments

If you own a Sony Ericsson Xperia arc or Xperia PLAY, it’s time to fire up your phone and check for a system update. Sony Ericsson is one of the first Android partners to be rolling out Android 2.3.4. The new OS update is designed to give Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY owners:

Video Google Chat
3D panorama camera feature
Swipe text input system
Screen capture
Enhancements to Facebook inside Xperia

Gameloft Getting Ready To Bring Games To Sony Tablets

by Jan Hutchings | Sep 23, 2011 | 20 comments

Last month, we published an in-depth preview of the upcoming Sony Tablet S and Tablet P. The two are set to go up against the iOS-powered iPad 2 when released. And, since the iPad is the current leader, toppling giants like HP as legitimate tablet PC competition, Sony may have to bring its big guns to win the fight.

Well, it looks like successful-mobile-gaming-company Gameloft is set to help Sony in its mission to bring Android Honeycomb 3.1 and 3.2 tablets to consumer’s hands by bringing a number of its high-profile games to Sony Tablets (S and P as of right now) pretty soon. So far, the company has announced the following games for release on the tablet PCs:

N.O.V.A. 2 HD
Spider-Man: Total Mayhem HD
Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD
Real Soccer 2011 HD
Green Farm HD

So, in addition to Android app capabilities as well as the PlayStation Suite (PSOne game catalog), Sony Tablet owners will also be able to play Gameloft titles when the tablets release.

[Via Destructoid]

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY 4G Now Available on AT&T for $50

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 20, 2011 | 20 comments

Verizon was the first company to get the previously thought of as PlayStation Phone but as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. AT&T would soon followup and announced the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY 4G, an upgraded model from the Verizon counter part and the first 4G Sony Ericsson Xperia phone on AT&T, capable of tapping into their newly rolled out 14.4Mbps HSPA+ network while the Verizon version is limited to 3G. Equipped with Android 2.3.3, this PlayStation Certified phone will also be priced at $49.99, versus the $199.99 price tag of Verizon. If this doesn’t make you ready for a purchase, checkout our previous coverage on the Xperia PLAY and then head to your local AT&T store for a purchase, because its now available for your gaming and business pleasure.

Discuss:

With a $49 price tag, are you willing to try out the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY?

[Via AT&T]

Sony Tablet S Overview (Video)

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 19, 2011 | 23 comments

To help promote their upcoming Tablet S, Sony during the course of last week ran a series of advertising blitz where they invited Sony and tech fans to meet them at different major cities throughout the United States to #catchthetablet. In these areas, fans could spend a few minutes with the tablet, take some pictures and maybe even win one for themselves. We got a chance to meet the Sony street team in Santa Monica where we were given a quick overview of this Android Honeycomb device. Later that day, we’d meet the Sony team and others at the Century City Sony store, their new flagship retail destination.

Though are site hasn’t been fortunate enough to get a Tablet S for review, I figured that this would be an opportune time to spend some time with the Sony Tablet S and give you guys and gals an overview. In the video, I discover the tablets navigation interface, native apps and multi-tasking functionalities.

Discuss:

Would you consider the Sony Tablet S as your next or first tablet?

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active to Launch on September 30th

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 15, 2011 | 0 comments

While a majority of Android handset makers have been all too busy attempting to clone the iPhone, Sony Ericsson has taken a different approach by creating unique Android smartphones that cater to specific and unique needs like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Live with Walkman which targets music lovers. Smartphone owners who wanted to take their Android device on the go while still having a durable and rouged phone were treated earlier this year to Sony’s Xperia Active. The Android 2.3 phone which targets the active and sport enthusiasts out there is both dust-proof and water-resistant. In fact, the phone can be kept under 1m of water for 30 mins.

Till now, the phone always had a Q3 time table attached as a release date. Eventually, Sony Ericsson would set September 9th as the official release date for the UK. With that date come and gone with no phone released yet, we’ve learned that Sony Ericsson will be launching instead on September 30th. No reasons were given for the delay but a minor one is something that we can live with. No word yet for the rest of Europe or the United States though all mentioned territories will receive this phone. If you want to know more about this phone, you can read our previous Sony Ericsson Xperia Active overview.

[Via unwiredview]

Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman Lands at the FCC

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 12, 2011 | 16 comments

More often than not, the FCC tends to be a good indicator of a product’s release. Only when a product has been built to final specs will the FCC place their stamp of approval and only with FCC clearance can a product enter the US market. Now, the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is getting the honors from the FCC. This Android Gingerbread 2.3 Walkman is designed to target music lovers out there while keeping the costs low for the end user. Now, the FCC is showing us the innards of this device. As always, you can find plenty more pictures after the jump.

Watch the Sony VAIO Z Be Taken Apart by a Sony Engineer (video)

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 10, 2011 | 22 comments

With the new VAIO Z launch, Sony decided to change and redesign the laptop series from scratch. A new, thinner, and sturdier housing will acompany the notebook’s ultra powerful 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 Processor (with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz). Other standouts include the 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM and 1600 x 900 resolution which are usually specs you would expect on a desktop. Still, what made the new VAIO Z shine was the addition of a Thunderbolt port which would connect the laptop to the Power Media Dock, giving it a boost with an AMD Radeon 6650M GPU with 1GB of dedicated memory and Blu-ray burner, to name a few of the benefits. With so much power and technology, what does the inners of this notebook look like? A Sony engineer decided to show us exactly whats inside of this power and portable notebook.

After the jump, watch the laptop be put together from memory!

Sony Adds Glasses-Free 3D to Notebooks with Lenticular Sheet

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 8, 2011 | 19 comments

Sony has been one of the biggest supporters of 3D and has featured the technology in every one of the company’s vast product lines. The notebook line is no different, and Sony already provides a 3D VAIO with the F series but that price point ($1,899) is set above what many may want to pay for a laptop. To be fair, with a Intel i7 3.30GHz processor, 16″ Full HD 2D/3D display, 6GB RAM, 640GB (7200rpm) HDD, Blu-ray player, NVIDIA graphics (1GB VRAM) with HDMI out, that laptop would have been expensive without 3D. Enter the new lenticular sheet from Sony, designed to accommodate the VAIO VPC-SE1Z9E (S series) which has the users attaching the lenticular sheet in front of the S Series 15.5-inch LCD screen. With the screen in place, a 3D image is then formed on your non-3D LCD display.

The naked-eye 3D display is realized based on the lenticular method, which creates parallax by arraying lenses that are thin and long and have a semicircular cross section.

The sheet itself is also accompanied by a software which will utilize your notebook’s webcam to track your head movement and adjust the 3D effects accordingly. This 129 euro (approx US$183) is expected to be available next month and will again break down the 3D entry price point by a wide margin. After the jump, a picture of the lenticular sheet.