Phones

Sony Sells 140,000 Xperia Z Smartphones in First Week in Japan

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 22, 2013 | 6 comments

Many regular readers of this site and those generally interested in Sony can tell you that, while the company has faced many problems in the last decade, they’ve continued to churn out a steady flow of quality products. Extremely apparent with their PlayStation brand, Sony tends to release fine products and follow them through with some of the worst marketing campaigns in the world or, generally, none.

While it’s hard to tell if the following is due to a good marketing effort by Sony or general interest from consumers, the Sony Xperia Z has managed to sell 140,000 units in its first week in Japan. The Xperia Z had high praise during CES 2013 and has generally been treated well by journalists. NTT DoCoMo is the current provider of the Android smartphone who has called the launch:

fairly encouraging start

Maybe this is why Sony Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer has finally stepped down.

Sony Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer Steps Down, Reminds Us They Have a Marketing Head

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 13, 2013 | 5 comments

In what can be considered good news for Sony Mobile, Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Walker is stepping down after a 7 year stay with the company. During his time at Sony, Walker has gone through a lot of transformation with Sony by first entering into the mobile market years after Apple and Samsung. Eventually during his time there, Sony would break ties with Sony Ericsson and bring all mobile initiatives in house for a more consistent development cycle. Filling in Walker’s shoes will be Jacob Sten who currently leads the Sony Mobile Product Marketing department.

Sony Announces my Xperia, Allows You to Track Lost Phones

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 5, 2013 | 0 comments

While rumored previously, Sony has officially announced my Xperia, a cloud based service for its line of Xperia smartphones that allows you to locate your smartphone via the web browser should you lose it or have it stolen. Sony is also continuing its awkward capitalization scheme on its devices where some words are capitalized and others are not like Xperia ion, Xperia S, and my Xperia. If the service sounds familiar, its because its quite similar to what Apple has offered with its Find My iPhone service (note the consistent and proper capitalization scheme), which allows you to do the same thing via web browser and iOS apps.

Sony Xperia Z UK Pricing and Release Date Revealed

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 5, 2013 | 0 comments

Fancying yourself the Sony Xperia Z, the latest 5-inch flagship Android smartphone? If you live in Great Britain, we’ve got good news as Sony has just revealed the handset’s price. Available in black, white, and purple for pre-order, £529 ($715) is the damage that will be caused to your wallet — though US fans, keep in mind that phone pricing works extremely different in Europe where phone subsidies don’t really exist.

So when can our friends from across the pond get their hands on the Xperia Z? According to a tweet from Vodafone, February 28th is the date you need to circle in your calendar. We’ll keep you posted as we learn about the phone’s Western expansion.

Sony Mobile Updates ‘Album’, ‘Movies’, ‘Camera’ and ‘WALKMAN’ apps for Xperia Z

by A Glitch | Jan 31, 2013 | 1 comment

With the release of the Sony Xperia Z looming in the near future, Sony has made some pretty significant changes to three of the phones main apps. After the jump, you can check out the latest promo from Sony Mobile, highlighting their new series of Apps which include Album, Camera, Walkman, and Movies with many supporting Throw, Sony’s DLNA based tech for wirelessly transmitting your content to a DLNA television.

Jelly Bean Alpha Build Now Available for Sony Xperia T

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 25, 2013 | 1 comment

Say you’ve got yourself a knack for tinkering with things or you really just can’t wait for all the sugary goodness that’s set to come from Jelly Bean. Then listen up; if you’ve got a Sony Xperia T, then Sony is allowing you to get in on the action early with an Alpha build of the OS. It should be noted that this custom ROM is really intended for developers only and should probably be done on your spare Xperia T. If it’s your only phone, forget about it as there are quite a few things that don’t quite work yet.

Sony Personal Content Station Specs

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 25, 2013 | 4 comments

A great many of you were intrigued by the Sony Personal Content Station. Designed to back up your media from Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, the 1TB equipped unit is set to launch this summer for $299. The wireless hard drive is also capable of backing up your photos and videos via its USB input and Memory Stick/SD card reader. Despite my personal belief that specs don’t tell the whole story in our coverage of the Xperia Z vs. iPhone 5, specs can still be a helpful towards a purchase. Specs can also educate you on whether the given device is compatible with your ecosystem. After the jump, the Sony Personal Content Station specs await you.

Is Sony Looking to Up the Samsung Galaxy Note II with a 6.44-inch Xperia Device?

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 25, 2013 | 0 comments

It no surprise that Sony is playing catch up in the electronic market in all fronts, be it televisions, smartphones or tablets. The once king of electronics has been battered down by competitors like Apple and Samsung who have dominated the mobile industry and at this years CES, for the first time in years, Sony showed life and offered a compelling fleet of products. This included a new series of 4K televisions with their X900A line to battle and win a strong footing in the next generation of televisions. Sony was equally busy on the mobile front with the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL, their new flagship smartphone.

I’ve always argued that for Sony, Apple is only a side competitor and that their real rival is and has been Samsung. Sony may have also realized this if the above picture is to be believed. Though its hard to confirm the authenticity of the image, it appears that the device in hand is a 6.44-inch Xperia unit. Probably to small to be a tablet, this could be Sony’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the smartphone/tablet hybrid which offers a 5.3-inch screen. This of course can easily be a photoshop hoax or a Sony prototype that never makes it anywhere, especially with such a bigger screen size which can make portability in pockets very hard. Even though I don’t have a personal interest in these large devices, I’m hoping that like the Xperia Z, Sony offers a compelling device that can help them battle Samsung.

Sony Personal Content Station Takes on Apple Time Capsule

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 23, 2013 | 2 comments

One of the more interesting and less expected products from Sony during CES 2013 was the Personal Content Station. Pictured above, the white router shaped device houses an internal 1TB hard drive and acts as a backup device for tablets and smartphones via Wi-Fi. The device which mimics some of the capabilities of the Apple Time Capsule which is designed to make backing up simpler aims to do the same for the mobile generation. Equipped with NFC, the Sony Personal Content Station can easily start a backup from other NFC enabled devices like the Xperia Z smartphone and maybe the Xperia Z tablet with just a tap. Knowing that the number of NFC devices in the market is still limited, the Personal Content Station can also backup your media from traditional Android and iOS handsets via the free ‘PCS Manager’ app, which will be available through Google Play or App Store.

The Personal Content Station can also act as a backup hub for Sony’s Wi-Fi enabled cameras like the NEX-5R and select Cyber-shot units. Have a none Wi-Fi camera? The Personal Content Station also has you covered there with a Memory Stick Duo/SD memory card reader and USB input, no matter the make and model of your camera or camcorder. Once your content is backed up, via the free app and HDMI out, you can display your media on your TV of choice of share them on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Priced at $299, the Sony Personal Content Station will launch on April 30th in Japan and June in the US.

After the jump, our Personal Content Station video preview from CES 2013.

Sony Unveils Xperia Tablet Z

by A Glitch | Jan 22, 2013 | 1 comment

Sony has just announced the Xperia Tablet Z, a 0.27 inch (6.9mm) thick tablet. The tablet is going to be 10.1 inches which seems to be the perfect size for a lot of people. The tablet will also be waterproof as well as dustproff and feature a 1920 x 1200 pixel display. Not much besides this is known about the Xperia Tablet Z but we will be sure to keep you posted as more news becomes available.

Sony Xperia Z vs. iPhone 5

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 22, 2013 | 0 comments

You knew it was coming and since Sony is positioning the Xperia Z as their flagship phone, its only fair to compare it against the undisputed king of phones, the iPhone and specifically, the iPhone 5. It should be noted that I’m a big believer that bigger is not always better and that more RAM or megapixels does not translate into better quality and/or experience. However, intevitivality, when you create a competing device, the two will always be compared against each other based on their system specs. Bellow, you can find the specs of the iPhone 5 and the Xperia Z, including a small photo gallery with the two flagship phones, side by side.

However, if all you care about is screen size, look no further than the Xperia Z which comes in a 5-inch screen, versus the iPhones puny? 4-inch screen. Now I’ll leave that to you if you feel that its necessary to have a smartphone with a 5-inch display.

PS Mobile App of the Week – Lemmings

by A Glitch | Jan 19, 2013 | 3 comments

This week we will begin bringing you guys a new feature called PlayStaion Mobile App of the Week. It’s pretty self explanatory, we look over some games we think are cool on PlayStation Mobile and then pick what we think is the best one and tell you guys a little about it. We will do this weekly for you guys, every Saturday.

This week’s app of the week is created by d3t Ltd, it’s called Lemmings. Now I know the name sounds weird but trust me when I say this game is a little gem. The objective of Lemmings is to get your little creatures called “Lemmings”, hence the name, from one point in the level to another without getting them killed. As you can see from the screenshots below you keep them alive by giving them powerups that you can see at the bottom of the screens. As you get into the game you notice that it becomes very tactical. You have to be very careful with which powerups you give and when you give them so that you don’t end up with a group of dead Lemmings on your hands.

Sony Xperia Z and ZL to come with Display Calibration Software?

by A Glitch | Jan 18, 2013 | 1 comment

Based off of an image that seems to have surfaced recently it seems that Sony may be introducing some calibration software for it’s new Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. The image seems to show that owners of the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL will be able to adjust white balance, color saturation, and hue to get your screen to look perfect.

This calibration feature was only found in the Xperia ZL but we don’t see any reason why Sony wouldn’t include the feature in both the Xperia ZL and Xperia Z. Needless to say we hope that this feature even makes it into the consumer version of these two handsets, after all the screen is the most important part of any smartphone.

Sony Xperia Z with One-Touch NFC Preview

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 10, 2013 | 0 comments

One of the big initiatives that Sony is undertaking for 2013 is the incorporation of NFC technology in their fleet. Based around Bluetooth, NFC allows for the quick pairing of devices to allow transfer of data. The Sony Xperia Z, their flagship smartphone, features this tech as does a number of accessories from Sony like NFC-enabled speakers, home theater systems, sound bars, and backup servers. In its most basic form, NFC takes away the complication of connecting devices via Bluetooth and instead, does the pairing by touching two NFC devices together. Then, depending on the content, the transfer of information can happen via Bluetooth or through Wi-Fi. In the case of small files or streaming of music, no Wi-Fi connection is required and all of it can happen via Bluetooth. After the jump, you can find a video demo of the Sony Xperia Z and Sony home theater system and the transfer of music playback via NFC.

Sony Xperia ZL 360 Video

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 8, 2013 | 0 comments

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.