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Editorial: Sony, Get Your Smartphone Act Together, Please

David Ruddock — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:28:47 +0000

Sony, you really confuse me sometimes. The US is just about to get the Xperia Ion on AT&T, supposedly the Sony-branded flagship smartphone. The problem is that the Xperia GX just took that crown from the Ion - before it even came out. I'm not sure what Sony's grand master plan here is, but looking from the outside in, it seems like the company (that lost $5.7 billion last year - most of it in the fourth quarter alone) is flying completely and utterly blind.

Sony got into the Android smartphone game way back in 2009, with the announcement of the Xperia X10.

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Ice Cream Sandwich Now Rolling Out To The Sony Tablet S

Cameron Summerson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:39:00 +0000

Back in late March, Sony announced that it would indeed be bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to the Tablet S and the funky little Tablet P. True to its word, the rollout has already begun for the former.

The update brings several new features to the 9.4-inch slate:

Enhanced lock screen
- Direct access to Notifications
- Unlock direct to camera
New panoramic camera mode
Enhanced Gallery media viewer
- Direct SD card access + photo editing tools
Exclusive “Small Apps’ for multi-tasking
- Calculator, Browser, Remote Control
- Move to screen edge for reduced clutter
New Home Screen actions
- Drag icons together to create folders
- Add names to folders
Enhanced web browser
- Switch from mobile to desktop web sites
- Save pages for offline viewing
Access files directly from SD card
Native screenshot capture
- Press “power” and “Volume –“

With the release of ICS, Sony is also offering a $50 discount and a free desktop cradle to anyone who picks up a Tablet S between now and May 12.

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Sony Walkman Z Review: A Few Great Ideas Wrapped In A Flawed And Outmoded Device

David Ruddock — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:18:00 +0000

Sony is a company going through major changes - it recently announced plans to lay off 10,000 plus of its workers (some of those through buyouts), has instated a new CEO, and just had one of its worst fiscal years ever. It also recently ended its Android smartphone partnership with Ericsson, and plans to now produce handsets under its own name. It's a difficult and uncertain time for Sony, and the Walkman Z, unfortunately, seems to be an excellent microcosm of the company's larger problems.

There comes an end to the life of every great consumer electronic. The portable CD player.

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Sony Wants To Make Sure Apps Work Properly On Xperia Devices, Offers Loaner Phones To Developers For Free

Cameron Summerson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:01:00 +0000

All manufacturers want to make sure that apps work properly on their devices. Of course, the best way to make sure an app works on any given phone is to actually test the app on the device in question. For developers, though, that could cost a substantial amount of money - just think about how many Android devices are out there at the moment.

As an answer to this quandary, though, Sony has come up with a unique plan to allow developers to borrow Xperia devices. For free.

The deal is pretty simple: Sony is willing to offer up a few of its more popular devices as loaners for developers to test their apps on for 30 days.

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Sony Begins Rollout Of Ice Cream Sandwich To The Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray In Nordic Countries

Cameron Summerson — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Sony has done an excellent job at being transparent with its progress on the bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to a number of Xperia devices. It has kept users aware of what's going on throughout the process, as well as shared alpha and beta builds along the way. Now, though, it looks like the beta days are behind them and the build is ready for prime time for a certain Xperia devices.

The rollout will being with unlocked variants of the Xperia arc s, neo v, and ray (seriously, Sony, stop with the lowercase device names. It looks awful) in Nordic Countries and will continue over the next four to six weeks.

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[Video] Watch America's Got Talent Finalist Team iLuminate And Labrinth Rock The Socks Off Sony's Xperia S Launch Party

Artem Russakovskii — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:40:09 +0000

Team iLuminate, one of the most visually impressive and creative dance troupes who just happened to ~~win~~ be one of the finalists in America's Got Talent last year, recently joined Labrinth in this stunning performance at the Sony Xperia S party. There really isn't much to say here - just watch:

I've been a huge fan of iLuminate, and while this isn't by far their most original performance, it was still quite a treat. Plus, Labrinth isn't so bad either.

As a bonus, here are some videos you absolutely need to watch:

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CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies Drop For Sony Xperia Arc And Neo

Aaron Gingrich — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:13:04 +0000

CyanogenMod (CM) has long been the modding community's custom ROM of choice, and for good reason: it takes the goodness that is basic Android (AOSP) and adds a hearty dose of all-around improvement. The list of devices supported by CM is quite a long and impressive one (truth be told, they do a better job of supporting devices than the manufacturers do), and last night, cutting-edge nightly CM9 releases dropped for the Sony Xperia Arc (Anzu) and Xperia Neo (Hallon).

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

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Ice Cream Sandwich Updates For 2011 Sony Xperia Phones Starting In Mid-April, But Carrier Restrictions May Apply

Ryan Whitwam — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:14 +0000

Before Sony Ericsson became Sony Mobile, the company seemed committed to developing an Android 4.0 update, going so far as to release alpha ROMs for a number of Xperia devices, and more recently a beta for the Xperia Play. Here we are, a quarter of the way into 2012, and Xperia owners are still gnawing on last year's official Gingerbread. Although, there may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel; the Sony Mobile blog has announced that the first Android 4.0 updates will roll out to select Xperia phones in mid-April. Don't get too excited when wireless carriers are involved though.

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Sony Announces Tablet P And Tablet S Ice Cream Sandwich Updates For The End Of April

Cameron Summerson — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Good news for anyone who bought one of the recent Sony Android tablets - namely the Tablet P and Tablet S - the update to Android 4.0 should be coming your way next month. The update will not only bring all of the benefits that ICS has to offer, but also a feature that will allow Tablet users to access and watch programs they've recorded on their compatible Sony Blu-Ray recorder.

Also included in the update is a new feature called Small Apps, which is quite similar to Samsung's Mini-Apps on its Galaxy Tab series. Included in the Small Apps micro-suite is a floating calculator, remote control, and a browser window that will run on top of other windows, offering a true multi-tasking experience.

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Sony Releases Open Source Archive For The Xperia S, Includes Handy Build Instructions

Liam Spradlin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:26:26 +0000

Sony released the Xperia S open source archive today, providing all the tools necessary to build a kernel and start cooking up ROMs for the Xperia S from Sony's source code. In a post to Sony Mobile's developer blog today, the company also noted that the opening of the Xperia S archive marks the first time Sony has published source code for a product built around Qualcomm's Snapdragon S3.

The post goes on to advise that in order to flash the software, users will need to complete a few extra steps and run a special script (which is linked, along with a proprietary firmware file, in the original post).

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