Showing posts with label sony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sony. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2015

Sony Reveals The Xperia Z4, Its Latest Flagship Smartphone

Sony has revealed the Xperia Z4, its latest flagship smartphone, today. The device was made public in an announcement in Japanese, and, at this point, there is neither an international launch date nor an accompanying ‘Compact’ version.
The Xperia Z4 is much like its Z3 predecessor, with the same 5.2-inch screen, a thinner 6.9mm form, and a Snapdragon 810 processor which clocks a more modest 2GHz but is eight-core and 64-bit. The rear-facing camera has the same eye-popping 20.7-megapixels, the front-facing camera has gotten a wide-angle lens, and elsewhere there’s 3GB of RAM under the hood and Android 5.0 Lollipop runs out of the box.
Sony is known for its water- and dust-resistant devices, and the Xperia Z4 also delivers on that front. (That’s of note for any Samsung customers frustrated that the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are not water-resistant.)
Sony had been rumored to be considering an exit from the smartphone space, though its latest restructuring didn’t see that eventuality realized it remains a possibility in the future. The Xperia Z4 is another iterative product and, while the Xperia Z3 received positive reviews, it didn’t sell particularly well, which makes it hard to see how sticking to the same recipe will dig the company out of its rut on mobile.
But, if you’re an Xperia fan, stay tuned for details of the Z4’s international launch, which will come sooner rather than later now that the cat is out of the bag in Japan

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sony Xperia Phones May Get A Touch Of ‘Exclusive’ Android KitKat Features

Sony Xperia users are in for some good news. Samsung and Apple might be hogging on the limelight but that doesn’t stop the Japanese phone vendor from announcing the coming of the latest Android 4.4.2 to its Xperia smartphones.Of course, the first to receive it will be the latest Xperia Z. Soon after, the Jelly Bean update will reach Xperia SP, T, TX and the V. This KitKat update will give the Z1 the same interface and functions with the Xperia Sirius and Z1.Back during the debut of the Xperia Sirius, users get two home screen options to choose from. This will be axed and replaced by a brand new interface. Following the Xperia Sirius, plenty of camera functions have set the trend with other Xperia devices. This includes the Smart Social Apps, Timeshift video and Background Shift.The Smart App in particular got itself a new look and function like the Close All button. Other key features coming with the KitKat includes the white balance support, smart call handling and double tap to wake up the device. The Sirius will get that extra S Force audio , Clear Audio and xLoud engine.
As for the KitKat, it will allow more customization with the status bar as well as the notification bar. Xperia Z users are surely having something to smile about. This is excluded on the Jelly Bean.
Aside from all that, the KitKat will definitely improve the battery life of the Z1. The update is expected to arrive sometime this year.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

MWC 2014 Expectations: Launch of Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G Pro 2, Nokia X, Sony D6503 Sirius and More

iPhone 6, Galaxy S5
The much-anticipated Mobile World Congress 2014 (MWC 2014) is all set to begin on Monday and several smartphone makers are expected to announce an array of devices, including Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G Pro 2, Nokia X, andSony D6503 Sirius. The event will be held in Barcelona from 24-27 February, 2014.
Samsung Galaxy S5:
The South Korean electronics giant had sent out a press invite, titled "UNPACKED5", giving a strong hint that it will announce its much-hyped smartphone - Galaxy S5.
The flagship smartphone is expected to boast features like water and dust proof technology, multi-hovering technology and head-tracking gesture control and fingerprint sensor. It is expected to be powered by 2.5Ghz Snapdragon805 (main) or 2.0Ghz Octa-core Exynos6 (64-bit) and feature 5.2 or 5.25-inch AMOLED display. Several reports suggested that it will run on new Android v4.4 KitKat OS.
Sony D6503 Sirius aka Xperia Z2:
Sony is expected to launch its Android flagship smartphone - D6503 codenamed Sirius - at MWC. The device, which is also called Xperia Z2, a sequel to the Xperia Z1, is expected to be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AB) chipset and have 5.2-inch full-HD display. It is also expected to run on Android 4.4 KitKat and have 3GB of RAM.
Other speculated features of the device include timeshift video, smart backlight control, and USB DAC audio support.
LG G Pro 2:
The South Korean electronics giant will launch its second-generation phablet, LG G Pro 2, a sequel to Optimus G Pro. The device is expected to have features like 5.9-inch full HD (1920x1080p) LCD screen with pixel density of 373 ppi (pixels per inch), finger-print sensor, Snapdragon 800 series CPU with speed up to 2.2GHz., 3GB RAM, Android v4.4 KitKat OS and 4G-LTE Advance network support.
BlackPhone:
BlackPhone is an upcoming smartphone aimed at outmost privacy, including protection from snooping of private data by NSA. The joint venture by Silent Circle and Geeksphone is backed by Phil Zimmermann who is known for his work in VoIP encryption protocols.
The security-oriented smartphone is powered by PrivatOS. Specifications of the device is not known yet but Silent Circle CEO Mike Janke claimed that it is a high-end smartphone.
Nokia X aka Normandy:
Nokia's Android smartphone, Nokia X codenamed Normandy is all set for debut at the upcoming MWC event.
The budget smartphone is said to feature 4.0-inch WVGA screen with 480x800p resolutions. It is expected to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU backed by 512MB RAM and 4GB inbuilt storage. It is said to run on the tweaked Android operating system pegged as Asha on Linux (aka AoL), an  ASOP (Android Open Source Project) OS version.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Android 4.4 KitKat Testing Scheduled for Xperia Z

As Sony has released Android 4.3 Jelly Bean software update for its Xperia series devices, the focus now shifts to Android 4.4 KitKat update, starting from Sony's 2013 flagship smartphone.In December last year, Sony rolled out Android 4.3 update for Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra. Following this, Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z received the latest Jelly Bean firmware.
Earlier this month, the company released Android 4.3 for some of its mid-range Xperia handsets such as Xperia SP, Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V.
As for the Android 4.4 KitKat, the update will be available for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z1.
Android 4.4 KitKat
Vodafone Australia
Android 4.4 KitKat testing is scheduled for Xperia Z.
There is no official word on Android 4.4 update status for the Xperia Z but Vodafone Australia has new details on the update. The software update page of Vodafone Australia suggests the Android 4.4 KitKat testing is scheduled for the Xperia Z. Currently, there is no information as to when the roll-out will begin.
However, considering the current testing status, the Android KitKat update is expected to commence soon.
Prior to this, Play, one of the network operators in Poland, published a list containing software update availability for a number of smartphones. According to the list, Xperia Z has been scheduled to receive Android 4.4.2 software sometime between the end of February and March.

Jolla readies Sailfish OS for Android in a bid for Chinese firmware flashers

Finnish smartphone maker Jolla says its Sailfish OS has exited beta and will soon be available to install on Android devices.Jolla has been selling its devices in Europe for a few months now, but today the young company outlined how it will get its operating system to more remote markets without the help of carriers and OEMs.So far, there have been three main parts to Jolla's plan: the device, the Sailfish operating system, and the Sailfish alliance. Last November it started selling its Jolla smartphone, which carried its beta OS, and was available for purchase in Europe.Not so much appears to have happened yet on the alliance front — other than in Finland with carrier DNA — since it signed up Chinese retailer D.Phone as a partner in 2012. Jolla hoped the alliance would attract OEMs, carriers and others to extend the OS to the giant Chinese market.However, today Jolla said it will soon open online sales in Russia, India and Hong Kong. It's negotiating new channels in main European markets, the company said, presumably referring to retail or carrier partners.Jolla also has a fourth and fifth component to its plan, announcing that from March version 1.0 of its OS will be available to install on Android devices. Jolla says the Sailfish community has already ported the OS to some Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia devices, while a port for popular Xiaomi handset is in the works.The move is similar to Ubuntu making the developer preview of its OS available for Nexus devices, except Jolla's will be a full commerical release. Jolla's move has parallels to how Android users can install custom ROMs, such as CyanogenMod, on to their devices, although the ROMs are actually based on Android Open Source Project builds.Still, Jolla is hoping the popularity of re-flashing Android devices with custom ROMs will benefit it, particularly in China.
"Last year in China alone, about 100 million devices were re-flashed after the purchase with a new operating system. This approach allows Sailfish OS to scale into volume fast without limitations. This is a scaling opportunity in a similar way as we have seen in the mobile gaming industry recently," Antti Saarnio, chairman of Jolla's board said.
The fifth leg in its plan is a new Sailfish app launcher for Android devices, which will "simulate the Sailfish OS experience on Android devices", according to Jolla. That puts it on par with the dozens of app launchers available on Google Play, which offer different ways of presenting and organising apps on the home screen.While Jolla device owners can't install Android apps from Google Play, there's no reason why Jolla couldn’t put its own app launcher there, though Jolla only says that it will be available in the near future from jolla.com and "common Android market places". 
"We see this as a huge volume opportunity for Sailfish OS as there are close to a billion Android users globally. Many of them are looking for new user experiences to freshen up their existing devices," said Saarnio.In any case, the app launcher carrying the Sailfish UI will be made available ahead of Sailfish OS ports for different hardware, which will be released in phases during the first half of 2014. Good news may be on the way for current owners of the Jolla device, especially if they've noticed stability issues with some of the apps.
Its fourth software update to released at the beginning of March will included "improved performance, extended landscape support, lots of visual improvements, lots of new camera functionalities, enhancements to the Jolla store, new general settings" and other fixes.