IFA is Europe’s largest consumer electronics show and today’s opening has given us a bevy of shiny new piece of tech to salivate over – Sony was first to take the stage at the Berlin Messe to showcase their latest tablets, smartphones and TVs – here are the highlights.
Sony has had a rough year, but today marked a line in the sand as Kaz Hurai, the new CEO of Sony, made a surprise visit to Sony’s key note to tell the world’s tech media that Sony is going to bounce back strong.
“Sony is an extraordinary company going through extraordinary times,” said Hirai.
“We must look at ourselves honestly and I am determined to make changes and do this with laser-like focus and speed.”
“This company drives innovation, rather than reacting to it,” said Hirai in his impassioned keynote. “Now is the time for Sony to change.”
They hope to start this sea change with its latest tablet offering: the Xperia Tablet S. The new Android-based tablet is a slimmed down version of last year’s rather lacklustre S Tablet – but this time its had a facelift and some much needed botox.
Housed in a slim aluminium body, the splash-proof design is certainly less flamboyant than last year’s attempt, the new tablet is the second attempt by Sony to try and make an impact in the fast-paced tablet market. The tablet is no slouch, with a quad-core Nvidia Tegra processor and Android 4.0, rather than the latest Jelly bean.
It comes with the usual storage options (16GB, 32GB and 64GB), there’s Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi connectivity, and an 8 megapixel camera on the back and just a 1 megapixel HD camera on the front.
Like its predecessor, the Sony Tablet S, the Xperia Tablet S has been preloaded with a stellar lineup of media apps. You’ll find Walkman, Music Unlimited and Sony’s Movie app – which will appear on all future Sony mobile devices, whether it be smartphones or tablets.
Thankfully Sony hasn’t skimped on the battery as it comes with a 6000mAh battery – which is good for 10 hours web surfing and apparently 12 hours of video playback from a single charge.
Sony also unveiled their latest Android smartphones, the Xperia T, V and J. The T is Sony’s new fagship handset and follows on from the good work they did with Xperia Arc.
The Xperia T packs a 4.6-inch HD Reality display powered once again by their mobile Bravia engine, it has an impressive 1280×720 screen and comes with special shatterproof glass.
Not only is the screen fantastic, but somehow Sony has managed to cram in a 13 megapixel rear camera that goes from sleep to snap in under a second. You’ll be able to shoot in 1080p on the rear camera and take video calls in 720p via the front facing camera.
The new handset comes with a host of clever technologies including an NFC chip, which alongside Sony’s ‘One-Touch’ software will allow you share photos, videos and just about anything you can think of just by touching handsets.
Other juicy specs include Playstation certification, a 1.5 Ghz processor, Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream) and the handset comes in black, silver and white.
As well as a new flagship there are two new handsets for those who don’t have such deep pockets. The Xperia V has the same 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a smaller 4.3-inch display; it will also have the same 13 megapixel camera too. Interestingly it comes with a water-resistant skin which is good enough to save the phone from dying if submerged in water.
The Xperia J is the bottom of the range and has a 4-inch screen, 5 megapixel camera and just a single core processor – worryingly there’s no mention of what version of Android it comes with, but were betting it’s probably Ice Cream Sandwich.
Sony finished its Keynote with a glimpse of what its under-fire TV departmet has been working on, and it’s one of the most stunning TVs in existence. Their new 84-inch 4K set was unveiled to the public for the first time and shows what you can expect from the next generation of HDTVs.
According the Kaz Hirai it will be able to convert existing movies, TV shows and photos into a 4K resolution – which is a mammoth 3840 x 2160. Although there’s no footage on sale at that resolution it’s thought that the next version of Blu-Ray will be 4K compatible. Not only do you get 9 million pixels their engineers have squeezed in 10 separate speakers into the set to create virtual 5.1 surround sound.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but Sony says the KD-84X9005 will be out by the year’s end and will no doubt cost a small fortune – still, its nice to dream.
IFA 2012: Sony Shows Off Xperia T Smartphone, Xperia S Tablet And 80-inch 4K Smart TV is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com
