sony - 12/16 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Official: Sony Ericsson Xperia arc Coming Stateside In August - But No Word On Which Carrier(s)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Last Updated: May 26th, 2012

Sony Ericsson just dropped a press release announcing that the Xperia arc would be available for purchase in the U.S. beginning in August. On the upside, it will be available through Amazon, Newegg, Buy.com, and through Sony directly. On the downside, they give no mention of the device coming to any carrier, and the unsubsidized price is a whopping $600.

Though the arc presents an enticing exterior, the innards aren't so much so:

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Custom UI
1GHz Scorpion CPU (MSM8255, same as the fairly dated Desire HD and myTouch 4G)
512MB RAM
512MB internal storage
4.2" 854x480 TFT display
8.1MP camera

Our own Brian O'Toole managed to get a good amount of hands-on time at CES and came away content.

Jul

Sony S2 Tablet Coming To AT&T... Eventually

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, News, S2

Yesterday we heard that the Sony S1 tablet could be available for pre-order in the UK in early September, and now Engadget is reporting that the S1's brother, the Playstation-branded Sony S2, will be hitting the States on AT&T's HSPA+ network. Don't expect it to carry the same (lame) S2 name, however, as Sony made sure to note that's just a codename.

What Sony execs didn't note, though, is price, availability, or any other important information that consumers usually want to know. They've kept a fairly tight lid on details surrounding this tablet (and the S1) - we still haven't even seen the "heavily modified" Honeycomb interface, after all.

Jul

[Unconfirmed] Sony S1 Tablet Available For Pre-Order In The UK On September 1st

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, S1

According to This is my next, rumor has it that one of Sony's upcoming tablets - the S1 - will available for preorder in the UK beginning on September 1st. That's still a couple of months down the road, so pricing, availability, final release date, and other details (including possible US release date) are lacking at the moment.

The S1 is one of a pair of tablets that Sony announced back in April, alongside the clamshell style S2. It houses modest specs, along with an unusual design:

^{Right: Promo shot; Left: Mockup of the "off-center gravity design"}

9.4 inch display
1Ghz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
Front and rear cameras
Honeycomb

It also sports a custom overlay on top of Honeycomb, but Sony has yet to let us catch a glimpse of what that is expected to look like.

Jun

[Video] Sony S1 and S2 Get A Quick Hands On

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, S1, S2

While Sony broke the news of its upcoming S1 and S2 tablets back in April, there has been little info surrounding the pair since then - until today, that is. German blog Golem got some hands on action with the duo, and even took the time to grab a really quick video of the S2. Before I go any further, have a look:

As anticlimactic as that is, it does give a better idea of the form factor of this dual-screened oddity. Golem compared the feel to a Nintendo DS, and noted that it includes an obvious Playstation logo, suggesting that this device is designed for mobile gaming.

Jun

Two New Sony Phones: Meet The Xperia Ray And Xperia Active - With Maria Sharapova

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Xperia Active (Satsuma), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

Last Updated: August 20th, 2012

Update: Now with video goodness. In fact, you can watch Maria Sharapova (don't get too excited) talk about the Xperia Active. And hey, she knows about active lifestyle phones, because she's sporty.

Catch the other videos about the Ray (here, and here) and the Active (here). You know, if you want. Also, the word "lifestyle" was definitely used in describing the design of the Ray. I felt queasy.

Today at CommunicAsia (we've never heard of it, either) Sony-Ericsson announced two additions to the Android-powered Xperia line of smartphones: the Ray and Active. Both phones are niche sort of "lifestyle" devices, and will probably be marketed more heavily in Japan than the rest of the world.

Jun

[Updated] Sony Quietly Launches Music Unlimited For Android, Powered By Qriocity, Complete With A Gorgeous UI

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Now that continuous waves of attacks against Sony's servers have slowed down a bit (it's been over a week since the last hack), the company found some strength to regroup and released an Android client for its popular cloud music service Music Unlimited, powered by Qriocity.

$3.99/month for basic and $9.99/month for premium (30-day free trial available) buy you streaming of various catalogs of music from the web (à la Pandora) as well as syncing of your own library to Sony's cloud servers with subsequent playback from said cloud (à la Amazon Cloud Drive and Google Music).

May

[Updated Again] N64oid, Snesoid And Other Emulators Pulled From The Market, Developer Suspended, Are Emulators Soon To Be Banned Content?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, Editorials, News

Update 3: ZodTTD, developer of several well-known emulators, recently met a similar fate as yongzh - both his Market account and his apps were removed. Today, he decided to clarify a few things in a blog post, noting that the removal of the apps was not due to an open source violation but rather came as a result of a trademark infringement letter from Sony to Google concerning PSX4Droid's icon. While yongzh did not publish any Sony emulators himself, it does seem that the big guys are taking an active interest in the emulator situation on the Market.

Update 2: Google has issued a generic response to our inquiry asking what led to the takedown:

Thanks for checking in.

May

[Deal Alert] Verizon Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY On Sale For $100 For New Accounts, $150 For Upgrades

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Deals, Verizon Wireless, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

The ~~Playstation phone~~ Xperia PLAY may not have quite hit store shelves yet, but it has been up for pre-order for a few days now. Amazon and Wirefly are both stepping up their game in an attempt to beat Verizon's price of $200 with contract, though, and have discounted prices accordingly. Specifically, Amazon has dropped the price for new accounts to just $100, and upgrades are $150. Wirefly has pegged both prices at $150, but hopefully they reflect Amazon's lower price in order to stay competitive. Then again, Wirefly includes a $25 Android Market Card and free backup service for life.

May

Sony Ericsson Refreshes The Mini Line - The New Xperia Mini And Mini Pro Are Official, Set To Launch In Q3 2011

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango)

If tiny smartphones that pack a punch are your thing, then today is your lucky day. Sony Ericsson just officially announced the new Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro, which are both essentially the same phone, except the latter has a full slide out QWERTY. The new line succeeds last year's X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, but drops the X10 monicker and heavily beefs up the specs. Here are the details:

3 Inch 320x480 display
1GHz Snapdragon processor
320MB internal storage (ouch), SD Card slot with 2GB card included
5MP rear camera with 720p video capture and face detection
Sony BRAVIA engine
Android 2.3

While the pair may not be the hottest thing to hit the streets lately, they definitely have the whole smallest-HD-smartphone thing going for them.

Apr

Sony Unveils Its Own Pair Of Honeycomb Tablets - The S1 And S2

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, S1, S2, Sony

Last Updated: June 30th, 2011

The tablet news just keeps on coming. In the past few days, we've already caught wind of two Honeycomb tablets from Lenovo, and now Sony is officially revealing the S1 and S2 tablets. The event is being live blogged by the Wall Street Journal here, but thanks to an official press release we have plenty of details on both the tablets. First up, the S1:

9.4" display
Android 3.0 Honeycomb
"Off-center of gravity design" (check out this mockup for an idea of what this means)
NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Front and rear cameras
Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connectivity

And the S2: