Sony’s latest addition to the Xperia line of smartphones is the Android 4.1 running Xperia ZR, the main feature of which is that it has better water resistance when compared to the Xperia Z. You can keep the ZR in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and while you are at it you can also take photos and full HD videos. But that’s about it.

The Xperia ZR is almost identical to the Xperia Z when it comes to the specs, with the ZR having a smaller screen and a 4.6-inch 720p HD Reality display (the Z also offers full 1080p HD). The ZR’s 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 13MP cam, 2GB RAM, pre-loaded Walkman, Album and Movies apps and NFC have all been there with the Xperia Z, which is also pretty rugged.

The ZR is also fatter measuring in at 10.4mm thick compared to Z’s 7.9mm, though you won’t feel that much of a difference. The ZR’s front cam is VGA (likely 0.3MP), but the Z offers a 2MP one. And 8GB of internal memory with the ZR, while the Xperia Z gives 16GB, but both support microSD.

So the Z seems to be better in a few areas than the ZR, although the latter is the one for you if you are fond of diving with your phone once in a while.

Meanwhile, the success of the Xperia Z seems to have affected the sales of other Xperia handsets. We will have to wait and see how the sales go after the ZR is rolled out sometime in Q2. The new device will be available in black, white, pink and mint.

What are your thoughts about the arrival of the Xperia ZR? Will the sales of the Xperia Z be affected by the ZR? Or will people just go for the Z? Or will they forget both the ZR and the Z and go for an upcoming powerhouse?

[Source]

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The Sony range of Xperia phones will soon be joined by a new budget minded device, if these leaked photos and rumored specifications are found to be genuine.

According to the leak, the S39h will be a 4.3-inch 720p Android phone, and will go on sale in China to compete in the fiercely competitive smartphone market. A full specification sheet hasn’t been made available yet, but tipsters suggest the phone to offer dual-sim support, and either a 5 or 8 mega-pixel rear camera. The Xperia S39h might even end up being powered by a quad-core Mediatek chip, if reports in China are to be believed.

Personally I’m not a fan of the design of the S39h and believe Sony will need to improve their styling to compete with high spec, low-cost phone offered by local Chinese brands. What do you think of the S39h, how does it compare to other Chinese-marketed handsets out there?

[ Source ]

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Remember the Sony Xperia Yuga? It’s been mentioned a few times in the past as a possible 1080p smartphone from Sony. It’s been spotted in FCC filings and more. But now we also have an alleged photo of the device.

In the past we’ve had similar “leaks” only to discover that they were photoshopped images. This image could certainly turn out the same way, so take this all with a grain of salt. Based on what we (think) we know, the phone might have a somewhat minimalistic design but has a fancy glass backing that is similar to the LG Nexus 4.

We don’t know everything about Sony’s big-screened beast, but we do believe we know it will feature a 5-inch display and will be powered by a Qulacomm chipset, most likely the S4 Pro.
When are we going to see the phone show up? More than likely at CES 2013, if we had to take a bet.

If this all proves legit, would you be interested in a 5-inch Sony handset or not?

[ source ]

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Own a Sony Xperia smartphone and looking forward to Jelly Bean? Bad news, then. It seems that Android 4.1 won’t be making its way to Xperia devices until early 2013, according to Sony.

Even worse news, several handsets won’t be getting the upgrade at all. This includes the Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, and Xperia Neo. We do know for sure that the Xperia T, TX and V will get the update, though.

While it isn’t that out of place for older devices to not make the cut for major upgrades on Android, many of the Sony handsets that won’t see Jelly Bean aren’t even a year old at this point. If Sony wants to continue to enjoy success in the Android world they might want to step up their game a bit.

For those that are lucky enough to get Jelly Bean early next year, there is a lot to look forward to. From the voice-based search functionality in Google Now to the project Butter speed improvements– there is a lot to love with 4.1. Not enough? There are also improvements to the keyboard, notifications and a heck of a lot more.

For many Xperia fans this will be bittersweet news. Some will be glad that their device is covered, others very angry that they are going to be left out in the dark. What do you think?

[ source ]

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The Sony Xperia T is on its way soon, or so we are hearing. With the new phone, according to rumors, comes some pretty impressive specs such as a quad-core Qualcoomm Snapdragon S4, 1GB of RAM, 4.3-inch display, 16GB internal storage, 13MP rear-facing camera with flash and NFC connectivity. The T is just one of the upcoming Xperia phones that Sony is preparing for, with a likely official announcement coming at IFA.

If you are the impatient type and don’t want to wait that long to get your eyes on the Sony Xperia T, don’t worry, you won’t have to. A full archive of glorious photos has popped up at nixanbal.com allowing curious Sony fans to get a look ahead of any official word from Sony. The site has over thirty high-quality pictures and is certainly worth checking out.

What about you, excited about the upcoming Xperia T and the other expected Sony handsets?

[ source ]

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Leaked information from internal slides seem to have hit German news site, Mobiflip, painting a picture of a powerful new Sony Xperia tablet. The new Sony tablet features pretty impressive specs such as a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, Android 4.0, 3G connectivity and storage choices of 16, 32 or 64GB. The tablet actually follows Sony’s existing tablet designs with its folded magazine look and is also splashproof. The pricing on the new tablet seems to start around $450 and from there goes upwards to $650. The pictures from the slides also show a lightweight keyboard that seems somewhat similar to the Microsoft Surface’s keyboard design.

So when is it coming? It’s hard to say at this point as, unsurprisingly, Sony is keeping tight-lipped about the entire leak saying they have “no comment at this stage”. Next month the European trade show IFA kicks off, so it’s very possible we will hear more about it then. Sony might be far from a major leader in the tablet space, but I have to admit it looks like a pretty attractive Android tablet from the limited views we get of it in the slides, and it’s not surprising to see a tablet out there that has a somewhat similar look to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 tablet, either.

[ source ]

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On August 29^th Sony is planning to unveil several new handsets before IFA starts in Berlin, and one of these is the Sony LT30p. It seems that Mobile-Review managed to get their hands on the LT30p, also known as the “Mint”, well ahead of the event and have not only given us full details about the specifications of this new phone but also have released several screenshots detailing the custom Sony UI running on top of Android 4.0 ICS.

The Sony Lt30p features a 4.3-inch screen with a 720p resolution, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of Storage, a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Dual-Core processor, microSD, microUS, microSIM slot, NFC and an internal battery. What’s most impressive are the video cameras found in the LT30p, which include a 720p front-facing camera and a powerful 13MP 1080p rear-facing camera. Interestingly enough, Mobile Review claims the screen is 4.3-inches but set against the Galaxy S III it looks more likely that the LT30p is 4.6-inches in size.

Unlike the NXT range from Sony, the Lt30P uses ICS onscreen navigation keys and manages to move away from the need for physical buttons on its front. The other physical buttons on this Sony smartphone are a power button, volume rocker, and camera shutter buttons- all of which are curiously located on the bottom right hand side of the phone. It seems that the custom software in the Lt30P has also changed from other Sony offerings including quick access to certain applications from your homescreens and other changes to the Small Apps.

Overall, benchmarks indicate that the Sony Lt30P is a little less powerful than other high-end devices like the HTC Ones S and Galaxy S III, but it still seems to be a rather capable device that is nothing short of attractive in design.

[ Mobile Review via Slashgear ]

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Sony is continuing with its “HD Reality Display” here, going with a 4.3-inch screen that supports full 1080p HD video recording and 720p HD video chat, as well as HDMI-out. There’s NFC on board (Xperia SmartTag), 1.5GHz dual core processor, Android 4.0 ICS, a 12MP camera, scratch-resistant mineral glass display, wet finger tracking, and IP55/IP57 ratings for dust and water resistance.

All of this water-resistant elegance can be yours in your choice of white (as shown), black, or pink. And yes, it’s PlayStation Certified too, in case you want to do some Sony-branded gaming on the go. Expect to see the global launch some time in the third quarter of this year.

[Source]

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No, unlike the PlayStation Vita, the Xperia Play 2 does not appear to have dual thumbsticks or a touch-sensitive panel on the back. Instead, the basic control scheme remains unchanged from the first Xperia Play, meaning you get a D-pad, shoulder buttons, and a couple of touch-sensitive pads in the middle meant to mimic the controls of thumbsticks.

You will notice that they’ve seemingly abandoned the curvaceous nature of the first Xperia Play (and most other Xperia smartphones) for something a little more squared off, though it still has rounded corners. The rumored spec sheet includes a peppy 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.3-inch 1280×720 display, and an 8.1MP rear camera with LED flash. And yes, it’s PlayStation Certified, of course. The touch sensitive Android buttons seem to point toward Gingerbread, but there’s likely an ICS update in the works too.

There’s no way for us to know if this rendering is legitimate, so take this with a grain of gaming salt.

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It’s raining smartphones at the ongoing CES 2012 and Sony has also jumped in on the action with their latest additions into the company’s popular Xperia line of smartphones. The four new smartphones, two among which will be released overseas in the coming months, have been beautifully designed and appear to be targeted at all the shutterbugs out there.

If you are a fan of the Apple iPhone 4S camera, you should realize that it’s got a Sony Exmor sensor in it. Sony’s new smartphones are also coming with pretty good shooting capabilities.

Sony Xperia S

The Xperia S (pictured above) is the first smartphone in the new Xperia NXT series, Sony’s next generation smartphones. The new device is coming equipped with a dual core 1.5GHz processor along with 1GB of RAM and features a 4.3 inch screen with a resolution of 720×1280, a front 1.3 MP cam and an impressive rear-facing 12MP shooter.

Our guys at CES found the device to be absolutely gorgeous. The device features a new design approach which is being dubbed “Iconic Identity” by Sony. It will be seen across all the upcoming smartphones in the Xperia NXT series.

The device features a transparent element at its base which provides illumination effects and integrates the handset’s antenna components. Other features include NFC, 32GB of internal memory, and a microSD card slot that supports cards of up to 32GB. The Xperia S will be available “globally” in yet-to-be-named markets in the coming months.

Sony Xperia Ion

As we reported earlier, the Xperia ion is an AT&T exclusive and is the first LTE smartphone to be announced by Sony. Other than that, the device is quite similar to the Xperia S specs wise. It’s got the same 12MP camera, same 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, and the same NFC chip. But it comes with a slightly bigger screen, at 4.6-inches.

Other features include 16GB of built-in memory, a microSD card slot (cards of up to 32 GB), built-in HDMI-out port, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera capable of recording 720p video, and you will be able to share content via DLNA and Bravia Sync.

And it’s also PlayStation Certified, so you can expect some good entertainment services from Sony. That rear camera captures 1080p video at 30 frames per second. We found the cam especially fast. It was snapping clear photos almost instantaneously.

The big disappointment is that both the Ion and the Xperia S are coming with Android Gingerbread. But the company has promised an update to ICS sometime in the coming months. Both phones are coming with Sony’s own skin on top, which kinda looks unfinished. That might be why we experienced a bit of lag here and there. But the guys from Sony promised that the devices will be launched with the final software, so there won’t be any problems at the time.Xperia NX and Xperia acro HD

The Xperia NX is a variant of the Xperia S for the Japanese market. The Xperia acro HD, which is the follow-up to the company’s Xperia acro, is coming with Japan-specific features such as infrared port data exchange, mobile wallet and mobile TV.

Both the devices are coming with a 4.3inch screen, will sport that 12 MP cam and will be available in Japan from this spring.

Check out the hands-on videos and be sure to place your comments about the new handsets.

Sony Xperia S (via)

Sony Xperia Ion (via)

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