Leaked just prior to CES 2016, the Sony h.ear go is the company’s newest stylish Bluetooth speaker. Its very small form factor allows the h.ear go to be extremely portable while still offering a host of unique features like Hi-Res Audio support and pairing via Sony’s SonyPal app.
At CES 2015, Sony announced three new Bluetooth portable speakers: the SRS-X11, SRS-X33, and the SRS-X55. Featuring NFC and a battery that allows for hours of music playback, each speaker has some unique elements with a price tag that matches its features. To make the series that much more enticing to buy, Sony is also offering them in an array of colors that will either make them blend in with your house or stand out to give them a fun pop. After the jump, we have all the details from Sony’s 2015 Bluetooth speakers, including prices.
Sony is great at audio quality and producing it in a wide variety of packages. The Sony SRS-X11 portable speakers are just one example of Sony’s hip offerings that will hopefully appeal to those looking to have some fun with their music. Although these speakers currently have no announced release date or price point, the functionality that comes in this colorful box makes it worth the wait. For instance, if you have two or more, you can join them together with the push of a button – providing a mini surround sound setup in a snap.
Small, handheld, and cube-shaped, the SRS-X11 comes in 5 eye-popping colors: black, white, red, pink, and blue. But don’t take it from us – watch the video above to see these adorable portable speakers for yourself!
Sony has proven itself once again in design terms, with no less than 26 of its products earning the seal of approval from the iF Design group, with three products earning a gold award. In individual company achievements, Sony ranked the third highest awarded company, ahead of rivals Apple and LG.
iF is an international group that recognises excellence in product design. It is their aim to “strengthen public awareness of design” and their logo has been an illustrious global standard of design for over sixty years. This year’s event took place on February 28th in Munich, Germany.
It probably surprises few that Sony would do well with awards for design. The company has always raised the bar with iconic and effortless designs with current class-leaders in the Xperia Z2, the PlayStation 4 and the luxury X9000A Bravia TV line to name but a few.
Read on to find out which Sony products earned gold and which two awards come at a bittersweet time.
While previous Sony CEO, Sir Howard Stringer didn’t believe that they should create components for competitors like the 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4 and 4S, new CEO Kaz Hirai understands that money is money. If Apple is willing to pay for those parts, then who better to contract with, seeing how each iPhone is a blockbuster. Accessories are no different in the world of iOS and Sony is looking to target that audience. Announced for Japan, the Sony SRS-GC11IP speaker dock (pictured above) offers an iOS jack, making it the perfect companion for the iPhone 5, iPod Touch, and iPad and iPad mini.
One of the advantages of the iOS ecosystem is the sheer number of accessories available for them. From docks, to cars, and home theater systems, manufactures want to appeal and appease users of iPhones, iPads, and iPods. With the tendency to spend more than other segments, say traditional PC showers, its no surprise that Sony wants to also cater to them. Enter Sony’s two new iOS dock for iPad/iPod/iPhone, the CMT-V50iP and the CMT-V75BTiP. Featuring traditional sleek Sony design, the two also offer a CD player and built-in DAB and DAB+ radio. The CMT-V75BTiP also offers Bluetooth for music streaming while the CMT-V50iP houses a USB input for direct plugin for music playback. While these seem like nice features and they are, what truly sets these two new units apart is Sony’s use of magnetic fluid instead of speaker dampers to push sound, resulting in a cleaner sound with less distortion. No price point has been announced for the pair. After the jump, the official press release and additional pictures.
Say it aint so! A recent app developer for Sony’s Chumby OS based Dash was contacted by Sony who indicated that development would soon be ending for the tablet-like device. The Sony Dash was released nearly two years ago, long before the announcement and release of Sony’s true tablets. The device was meant to attract those who want a more 21st century device by their bed. The Sony Dash would have traditional features like an alarm but also had what we expect from modern devices, like an app store which gave the device access to Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix to name a few. Where your old alarm click might have accessed FM radio, the Dash instead had Pandora. In fact, we had a chance to review the device a few years back and had some great things to say about it. That’s why, though it’s not definitive, Sony’s response towards the app developer does not look promising for the future of the Dash.
Beginning February 29th, 2012, the Sony Dash developer website will close and no longer support development of new applications. This closure includes the Dash developer forum and Dash developer support, which will close on March 31st. Sony Dash applications will remain available. Thank you for your contributions and we encourage you to continue your development activity on Sony’s other platforms available at SonyDeveloper.com
Again, thank you very much,
Team Dash
In my opinion, the Sony Dash was always a very interesting device that was never properly supported or advertised (see a familiar theme here with other promising Sony devices?). Living in such a connected world, I do believe that there is a proper market for those would like to wake up to an alarm that play their Pandora station instead with your weather and tweaks on screen. Take the idea to the next level with integrated support with Sony tablets and smartphones and a potential injection of Android and you’ve got yourself a killer product. We’ll have more to report on this when/if Sony reveals any more information on the matter.
Holy sweet mother. When Sony released this dock for Japan (Yes, boo, nothing for America yet) they went forward with one simple philosophy: conquer them all! The Sony CMT-L7D is a Walkman dock (We’re not sure if this means no iPod interface or if there were to be a US release, they would change that) that that can play CD/DVD on its 9-inch screen, as well as pick up AM/FM radio with its 50W＋50W speakers. From there on, you also have the capability to plug in SD (Again, no MMS support here? What?) and USB drives to play music off of them as well. If that was not enough, that 9-inch screen isn’t wasted for just movie playback. Instead, it moonlights as a touchscreen as well that holds all of the device controls and settings. The dock also has the capability of displaying your Walkman’s album artwork, as well as acting as a digital frame. Look for it in Japan with a $585 price tag.
Did you think that digital radios were going out of style thanks to the Walkman, CD Player, iPod and now your smartphone? Think again. They just needed a digital reboot, from the looks of the ICZ-R50. Sony has just released this new radio for Japan and packed it with features like AM/FM radio and recorder with 4GB of internal memory which is upgradable up to 32GB with SD/SDHC or Memory Stick Duo cards. This means recording your favorite BBC show will be easier than ever, unless of course you subscribe to their podcast or visit their website. Still! this unit can also play MP3/WMA off those memory cards and record audio as well, the perfect spy tool. Look for a February 21 release date in Japan with a $218 price tag. And no, you can’t get one for Christmas as this will more than likely stay a Japan-only device.
Hulu and Sony have announced that all Sony Dash owners will now have the ability to access Hulu Plus content via the Hulu app. This marks an ever growing expansion and partnership between Hulu and Sony. As of last week, all Playstation 3 members were treated to a downloadable Hulu Plus app as well while Hulu will continue to expand to other Sony platforms like their Blu-ray players in the near future. If you haven’t picked up a Sony Dash yet, Amazon
[Via Sony]
Being the current owner of two Sony digital frames, I’m extremely excited for this new set of digital frames from Sony. Dubbed the S-Frames, Sony is bringing out 3 new models for the holiday season. The DPF-XR100 and DPF-VR100 models are the new 10.2-inch LED frames that can not only display your photos, but also play back full AVCHD video. This is a fantastic new feature as many people tend to take videos with their camera to only have them put on the computer and never be seen again. Now with the DPF-XR100 and DPF-VR100, not only will your photos transition through, but your videos will as well. For those like me who also have a Sony camera that can do panorama shots, both S-Frames are capable of Panorama playback as well. Both units will launch in November, with the DPF-XR100 priced at $250 while the DPF-VR100 carries a $200 price. The difference?
Sony’s exclusive TruBlack™ technology improves how your content looks on the S-Frame XR100 by reducing reflection and enhancing contrast to ensure more natural tones.
Now, the 3rd of these new S-Frames is the DPF-D830, a 8-inch unit with a $150 price tag. Although it does not do the HD video like the above units, the frame comes with a built-in rechargeable battery that is capable of displaying pictures for 100 minutes. The idea goes that if friends and family come over, you can easily unplug the frame and pass it around while they view the photos on the frame. Pretty freaking awesome. Expect this unit to launch in November as well. All three units will also come with 2GB of internal memory and of course expandable via Memory Stick.
There are two things you can bet on. One, that I will be getting the DPF-XR100 this November to display some of my upcoming Hawaii videos and two, if you hit the ‘More’ button, you will get a full press release from Sony in regards of these new frames.
I know a lot of people are excited about the Sony Dash, including me. Trust me, at first, I didnt really get it. I have a Sony dock next to my bed for my iPhone 3GS. I have a Sony 7″ frame and a 9″ frame. So why do I need the Dash? I felt this way until I checked it out the site. Now I love it. I’m trying my hardest to get a review of this fantastic looking unit because I understand the product from what I’ve seen so far. By the way, look for this to hit your local Best Buy or Sony Style store on Firday, April 30th.
Over in Japan, Sony has launched a nice specked and priced Digital Frame that seems extremely worthy of the price. The VGF-CP1 measures at 7 inches with a 800 x 480 resolution panel, multicard reader / USB port, 100MB of free internal memory (85MB for pictures, 15MB for music), support for still images / MP3s / WAV files and built-in 802.11b/g WiFi. So one might think that with such specs, is a good buy right? Well Sony went further to sweeten the deal. The CP1 can also display the current time, check in and display your RSS feeds and give you the local weather. Anybody else want this at maybe 20″ inches and start calling themselves a Stark? Let’s hope that this puppy comes state side as it penned for release on May 17th in Tokyo for ¥30,000 ($258).
