This holiday season will see the sales of tablets soaring as most families are expected to buy the gadget as a gift. Amazon Fire HD : T...
Showing posts with label Sony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sony. Show all posts
Sony unveils smart phones
Sony Mobile Communications of Japanese electronics major Sony Corporation Thursday unveiled a range of smart phones for the upward mobile ...
Sony Xperia Sola brings floating touch navigation
Forget touch screens. You don’t even need to caress the screen of Sony’s “magical” smartphone to interact with it -- just hover your fing...
Sony Xperia S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II: S-hootout
Introduction Released nearly a year apart, the Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II are not that different - both are flagship droi...
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Showing posts with label Sony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sony. Show all posts
Friday, 6 February 2015
The 9 most sought-after tablets of 2014
This holiday season will see the sales of tablets soaring as most families are expected to buy the gadget as a gift.
Amazon Fire HD: The perfect budget device for those that want to browse and consume rather than get overly creative or productive. Amazon’s tablets are getting better every year and, at $99, even though you’ll be locked into Amazon’s smaller ecosystem of apps and services and the fact that the screen is just 6 high definition inches in size, the Fire HD 6 is hard to beat in terms of price and performance.
The Nexus 9: This is the best Nexus tablet ever built which means it’s also one of the best Android tablets ever created. Its squarer screen makes it better than past devices for multitasking and for doing things other than watching films and the build quality and attention to detail are also a serious step up. It’s also incredibly fast thanks to a phenomenal processor. The only criticism is that there’s no SD card expansion slot.
New Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro: Developed with help from US actor Ashton Kutcher, the Lenovo is as focused on entertainment as much as working on the fly. It actually has a 'hang’ setting which means the device can be fixed to a wall like a small TV so that everyone can see the 1-inch QHD screen. What’s more it also has an integrated projector for creating a mini cinema. It’s also the world’s first tablet with an integrated subwoofer for better sound.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 3: It’s third time lucky for the Surface Pro. The latest version comes the closest yet to really combining all of the best elements of a notebook with those of a tablet. It’s phenomenally well made and can run desktop applications. The pen input brings an extra dimension to design and graphics work. But that flexibility comes at a premium – the entry-level model is over $700 and comes with some limitations, it can only run Windows apps
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2: Like the Surface Pro 3, this huge 12-inch plus Samsung tablet takes productivity to another level thanks to all of that screen space. However, it’s an Android tablet so has access to pretty much every app out there as well as Samsung’s own growing ecosystem of apps and services. The only problem is build quality, it’s a bit plastic.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5: This device, available with an 8.4-inch or 10.5-inch screen, has one of the best displays found on any tablet made by any company and under that AMOLED screen everything else is equally high-specification. So much so that if it weren’t for the lack of attention to design and choice of construction materials, it really would give the iPad Air a run for its money.
The iPad Air 2: The original iPad Air, launched last year, was hands down the best full-sized tablet money could buy and the new model extends the gap between it and everything else even further. It has a reflective coating on its screen to make it easier to use outdoors and it also gets a biometric fingerprint sensor for extra security and for making online payments. And at 437g it is also one of the lightest and (6.1mm) thinnest tablets on the market as well as being ultra powerful
Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet: The only tablet here that’s waterproof, it is probably the best Android tablet that Sony has ever built. Despite a 10.1-inch screen and a pretty large bezel, it only weighs 426g. The company has paid as much attention to how it looks as to how it performs and so it feels like a quality product and one worth the price tag even if the display isn’t quite as impressive as those on Samsung or Apple tablets.
iPad Mini 3: Like its bigger brother, the iPad Mini is in a class of its own. If you are looking for a premium quality tablet where the only compromise is on size then there really isn’t anything on the market that can compete. It has a 64-bit processor, a great 7.9-inch Retina display and an integrated fingerprint scanner for extra security and online payments.
Amazon Fire HD: The perfect budget device for those that want to browse and consume rather than get overly creative or productive. Amazon’s tablets are getting better every year and, at $99, even though you’ll be locked into Amazon’s smaller ecosystem of apps and services and the fact that the screen is just 6 high definition inches in size, the Fire HD 6 is hard to beat in terms of price and performance.
The Nexus 9: This is the best Nexus tablet ever built which means it’s also one of the best Android tablets ever created. Its squarer screen makes it better than past devices for multitasking and for doing things other than watching films and the build quality and attention to detail are also a serious step up. It’s also incredibly fast thanks to a phenomenal processor. The only criticism is that there’s no SD card expansion slot.
New Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro: Developed with help from US actor Ashton Kutcher, the Lenovo is as focused on entertainment as much as working on the fly. It actually has a 'hang’ setting which means the device can be fixed to a wall like a small TV so that everyone can see the 1-inch QHD screen. What’s more it also has an integrated projector for creating a mini cinema. It’s also the world’s first tablet with an integrated subwoofer for better sound.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 3: It’s third time lucky for the Surface Pro. The latest version comes the closest yet to really combining all of the best elements of a notebook with those of a tablet. It’s phenomenally well made and can run desktop applications. The pen input brings an extra dimension to design and graphics work. But that flexibility comes at a premium – the entry-level model is over $700 and comes with some limitations, it can only run Windows apps
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2: Like the Surface Pro 3, this huge 12-inch plus Samsung tablet takes productivity to another level thanks to all of that screen space. However, it’s an Android tablet so has access to pretty much every app out there as well as Samsung’s own growing ecosystem of apps and services. The only problem is build quality, it’s a bit plastic.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5: This device, available with an 8.4-inch or 10.5-inch screen, has one of the best displays found on any tablet made by any company and under that AMOLED screen everything else is equally high-specification. So much so that if it weren’t for the lack of attention to design and choice of construction materials, it really would give the iPad Air a run for its money.
The iPad Air 2: The original iPad Air, launched last year, was hands down the best full-sized tablet money could buy and the new model extends the gap between it and everything else even further. It has a reflective coating on its screen to make it easier to use outdoors and it also gets a biometric fingerprint sensor for extra security and for making online payments. And at 437g it is also one of the lightest and (6.1mm) thinnest tablets on the market as well as being ultra powerful
Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet: The only tablet here that’s waterproof, it is probably the best Android tablet that Sony has ever built. Despite a 10.1-inch screen and a pretty large bezel, it only weighs 426g. The company has paid as much attention to how it looks as to how it performs and so it feels like a quality product and one worth the price tag even if the display isn’t quite as impressive as those on Samsung or Apple tablets.
iPad Mini 3: Like its bigger brother, the iPad Mini is in a class of its own. If you are looking for a premium quality tablet where the only compromise is on size then there really isn’t anything on the market that can compete. It has a 64-bit processor, a great 7.9-inch Retina display and an integrated fingerprint scanner for extra security and online payments.
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Sony unveils smart phones
Sony Mobile Communications of Japanese electronics major Sony Corporation Thursday unveiled a range of smart phones for the upward mobile with unique features to access a plethora of services anywhere and anytime.
Models pose with the new Sony Xperia smartphones during its launch in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad May 23, 2012. The prices of the smartphones start from rupees 17,399 ($320)
Sony Mobile Communications of Japanese electronics major Sony Corporation Thursday unveiled a range of smart phones for the upward mobile with unique features to access a plethora of services anywhere and anytime.
"Our new devices are a sign of the brand's commitment to Indian users, especially youth, young professionals and upward mobile who would like to stay connected and access a range of services in voice, data and digital forms," Sony Mobile marketing head Prasun Kumar told reporters at a product preview here.
Priced between Rs.17,399 and Rs.25,449, the three smart devices - Xperia U, Xperia P and Xperia Solar - have been designed for youth, executives on the move and high-profile users for a variety of services and applications through internet, web and television channels.
"The Xperia smartphones have been designed around user experiences of listen, watch, play and create and share to improve their personal, professional and social life. The Sola smart phone boasts of 'floating touch' for accessing web services by holding any finger on the screen to open the links," Sony mobile managing director P. Balaji said in a statement.
The company's smartphones, which operate on Android platform, are shipped to India from its manufacturing units in Japan, China and Mexico.
To promote the devices, the Indian subsidiary has tied up with Tata Teleservices Ltd to provide with free data services up to 3GB on Tata Docomo platform and about 30 games
Priced between Rs.17,399 and Rs.25,449, the three smart devices - Xperia U, Xperia P and Xperia Solar - have been designed for youth, executives on the move and high-profile users for a variety of services and applications through internet, web and television channels
Monday, 26 March 2012
Sony Xperia Sola brings floating touch navigation
Forget touch screens. You don’t even need to caress the screen of Sony’s “magical” smartphone to interact with it -- just hover your finger over the screen to navigate through the menus.
The Android-powered device combines Sony’s new floating touch navigation with NFC and Xperia SmartTags to provide consumers with a unique smartphone experience
The two included SmartTags can be personalized with up to 10 different commands -- such as instructing your phone to turn on its WiFi connection and launch the news app when you walk into the living room or to switch to silent and turn on the alarm when you move into the bedroom.
The Xperia sola is also equipped with a 3.7” Reality Display, a 1GHz dual-core processor, xLOUD and 3D surround sound, a 5MP camera with a 16x digital zoom, 720p video recording, DLNA, and Google Android 2.3 (upgradable to version 4.0)
Xperia sola is NFC enabled and comes with two NFC Xperia SmartTags in the box as standard to simplify consumers` everyday smartphone experiences. By touching an NFC Android smartphone on a SmartTag, a pre-configured profile in the smartphone will launch.
Xperia sola boasts razor sharp clarity with Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine, xLOUD(TM) and 3D surround sound audio technology delivering crisp and loud sound, and a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast performance
"Xperia sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web and latest technology to show off,” said Calum MacDougall, head of Xperia Marketing for Sony Mobile Communications.
“With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access to the latest content through Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia sola is perfect for consumers looking for ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone."
The Xperia Sola will be launching around the world sometime between the end of this month and the end of June, when it’ll be available in black, white or red. Pricing has yet to be confirmed
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Sony Xperia S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II: S-hootout
Introduction
Released nearly a year apart, the Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II are not that different - both are flagship droids with dual-core CPUs and 4.3" screens. But the newer Xperia S brings some fine upgrades, like the 12MP camera and the 720p screen.
Still, the Galaxy S II is the outgoing Samsung flagship while the Xperia S is the best and the brightest of Sony's new NXT series and will be for a while longer, so it will have to fight off the onslaught of quad-core droids headed to market.
Processor aside, the Sony Xperia S brings a high-pixel-density 4.3" screen with 720p resolution and Mobile BRAVIA engine. Then there's the 12MP camera with 1080p video recording, a notable advantage as most new recently announced phones use 8MP shooters. There's also excellent connectivity and so on.
The 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and Adreno 220 GPU showed promising performance, beating most dual-cores too. Here's the summary of the pros and cons of going for the Sony Xperia S.
Sony Xperia S over Samsung Galaxy S II:
- 4.3" 720p screen (342ppi) over 4.3" WVGA screen (217ppi)
- 12MP still camera over 8MP
- 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU over 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU
- Standard microHDMI port over MHL port (requires adapter for HDMI out)
- GLONASS support in addition to A-GPS
- All units have NFC over optional support in the S II
- 1750mAh battery over 1650mAh
- 3D sweep panorama and Multi Angle modes
Samsung Galaxy S II over Sony Xperia S:
- SuperAMOLED Plus screen has excellent black levels and better viewing angles
- Expandable storage, 16GB/32GB built-in over 32GB fixed storage
- 8.5mm thick (with some thicker areas) over 10.6mm (with thinner areas)
- Weighs 116g over 144g
- Bluetooth 3.0+HS over Bluetooth 2.1
- 2MP front-facing camera over 1.3MP front-facing camera
Both phones have features that we wish the other had, so there's no clear winner. Also, we'll be doing thorough testing too match the performance in seemingly equal areas (e.g. 1080p video capture) and also if the differences change the end user-experience (1.5GHz CPU vs. 1.2GHz, 1750mAh battery over 1650mAh and so on).
You should already be familiar with the structure of these head to head articles - we'll start off with a general comparison and then dig into the specifics, like screens, cameras, battery life and so on.
Software and hardware overview
The Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II both have 4.3" screens with roughly the same aspect ratio, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that both phones are about the same phones.
The Galaxy S is shorter, slightly wider and noticeably thinner than the newer phone, the Xperia S. The Sony's Human Curvature design means it's nearly the same thickness at the edges, it's much thicker for the most part of its body. It's also heavier than the Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy S II
Here are some specific measurements - the Sony Xperia S is 128 x 64 x 10.6 mm big and weighs 144 g. The Samsung Galaxy S II is 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm and 116 g.
The Xperia S has a fresh design with the illuminated transparent strip at the bottom, which help it to really stand out.
Sony Xperia S
We'll cover the screens in a separate chapter, there are more general hardware differences to cover here. We'll just note that both have scratch-resistant glass covering the screens, the Galaxy relies on the popular Gorilla Glass, while the Xperia uses an undisclosed source.
Moving on to storage, the Xperia S comes with 32GB of built-in memory, but it's non-expandable. The Galaxy S II on the other hand comes in 16GB and 32GB varieties, but it does have a microSD card slot if you really need that much storage.
When speaking of card slots, it's worth noting that Samsung use the traditional SIM card format, while Sony have opted for the newer (but less common) microSIM.
There's a lot to be said about connectivity, so we'll give it its own chapter further down.
Both the Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and both are behind the times. However, both are going to be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich soon, so they'll have a chance to catch up.
They have different user interface customizations, with TouchWiz changing more (notification toggles, adding/deleting homescreens, etc.), while Sony staying closer to the vanilla Android experience.
The custom interface of Sony Xperia S • TouchWiz on Samsung Galaxy S II
Which one you prefer is up to you, but since you can easily change the launcher on Android that's not a big deal.
Both phones come with a number of apps out of the box, including several tools for social networking. They're powerful enough to run anything in the Google Play Store (the rebadged Android Market), so you can easily add to their functionality.
Screen comparison
The Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II have 4.3" screens but this is where the similarities ends.
The Galaxy S II uses a SuperaAMOLED Plus screen with 480x800 pixels resolution. It's characterized by deep blacks (zero light coming from black pixels), theoretically infinite contrast and excellent viewing angles. The pixel density of the screen is 217ppi.
The Xperia S has an LCD screen with a much higher resolution - 720x1280 or 2.4x the number of pixels. This pushes the pixel density to the whopping 342ppi, higher than even the iPhone 4 and 4S, which are largely responsible for the pixel density craze.
Anyway, the Xperia's screen has decent black levels (though the Xperia arc did a little better here. The Xperia S brightness is generally middle of the road but it's still about 50% brighter than the Galaxy S II. The contrast is over 1000:1, but is lower than the Xperia arc and the Galaxy S II screens.
Both screens have about the same reflectivity and they have very good sunlight legibility.
Sony Xperia S and Samsung Galaxy S II have excellent screens in their own right
Here's the table that compares the brightness and contrast of the Xperia S, Galaxy S II and other phones we've tested. Note that we couldn't get accurate measurements for the Xperia S screen at 50% brightness and they are not included in the table (Sony's software always adjusts the screen brightness according to the ambient light sensor, no matter what you do).
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |||
| HTC Sensation XE | 0.23 | 172 | 761 | 0.64 | 484 | 752 |
| Nokia 701 | 0.64 | 619 | 964 | 1.12 | 1022 | 905 |
| LG Prada 3.0 | 0.19 | 184 | 993 | 0.81 | 835 | 1031 |
| Sony Xperia S | - | - | - | 0.48 | 495 | 1038 |
| LG Optimus Black | 0.27 | 332 | 1228 | 0.65 | 749 | 1161 |
| Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc | 0.03 | 34 | 1078 | 0.33 | 394 | 1207 |
| Apple iPhone 4S | 0.14 | 205 | 1463 | 0.52 | 654 | 1261 |
| Samsung Galaxy Nexus | 0 | 112 | ∞ | 0 | 247 | ∞ |
| Motorola RAZR XT910 | 0 | 215 | ∞ | 0 | 361 | ∞ |
| Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II | 0 | 231 | ∞ | 0 | 362 | ∞ |
| Samsung Galaxy Note | 0 | 287 | ∞ | 0 | 429 | ∞ |
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