Sony Xperia Touch turns any surface into an Android Tablet

In a congress dominated by smartphones and tablets, Sony brought to MWC a curious little device that can turn any surface into a tablet: the Xperia Touch.

Sony's new sensor can capture Full HD video at 960fps

Sony is one of the world's best image sensor manufacturers, and one of their upcoming image sensors will really be a game changer, by adding a DRAM layer directly to the sensor itself.

LG and Sony OLED TVs need no speakers

It's kind of sad to see manufacturers pushing for ever thinner TVs, and then forcing us to use boxes to take care of the cables, not to mention the speakers. But LG seems to have found away around it... by making the OLED screen the speaker.

Sony backtracks and says waterproof phones shouldn't be used underwater

Sony seems to have changed stance on their waterproof devices, and is now saying you shouldn't actually use them underwater.

How to fix Play Store on Sony Xperia smartphones

If you've just bought a Sony Xperia smartphone and found thay your Play Store is blank, it's not your fault. This is a known bug, and thankfully there's a way around it.

Sony is selling "premium sound" memory cards... at premium cost

After the "amazing" $10,600 ethernet cable that improves digital sound, we have a new contender in the "treat the customers like they're stupid" department. And this time, although at a far cheaper price, it comes from a brand you'd might think wouldn't resort to this sort of tactics: Sony.

Sony cancels The Interview after terrorist threats

Sony Pictures is still trying to cope with the mega-hack that stole lots of confidential information, and has now seemingly bowed to the attackers by cancelling "The Interview" movie premiere after some terrorist threats targeting cinemas and spectators.

Sony combines dual-USB flash drive for PCs and smartphones

Do you remember when you had to lug around cases of floppy disks and CDs with your essential software and data? Probably not. Nowadays a single USB flash drive does the trick and it has become the most common device to transfer data around.

However, with the growing usage of mobile devices, the USB flash drive we so much love has now become nearly useless to transfer data between PCs and smartphones/tablets. That is... unless you use one of the curious dual-USB pen drives from Sony.

This "2-in-1" flash drive has both a regular USB connection as well as a micro USB plug hidden behind its cover. That means you can easily plug it into your PC; and then quickly detach it and connect it to your smarphone (using a File Manager app - or the one provided by Sony).

This USM-SA1 flash drive is available in 16 and 32GB versions and in different colors, and has a recommended price of €22 and €37 (in Europe).

Sony PS4 vs Xbox One

Sony finally unveiled its new PS4 at E3, and it seems like Microsoft will have to do some serious re-thinking about the Xbox One. (Sorry for not going into much detail, but having to stay up well into over 4AM in the morning to watch the E3 presentations live takes it's toll - though you can check out the posts I wrote in Portuguese about the Xbox One at E3 and the Sony PS4 and hope Google Translate won't make too much of a mess of it - although you can simply skip to the bottom to watch the game videos. :)

I'll do just a quick recap/review of the most important aspects:

• Xbox One - available in November for $499, region locked, requires internet connection every 24h, used/lent games will be allowed (or not) to the producer's discretion.
  
• PS4 - availble for $399, no regions, no internet connection required for offline games, disc games can be resold, given away, etc.

Tough I currently have both a PS3 and a Xbox 360, and am slightly biased to the Xbox (I admit it), I have to say that MS really has a tough road ahead. Looks like Sony really pulled the right cards and trumped the Xbox One in nearly every (all?) aspects. Not everything is perfect, as the PS4 will also require you to pay up for the "Plus" subscription in order to play multiplayer games - much akin to Xbox Live Gold subscriptions. But at least you can still use a PS4 as a game console, taking it with you wherever you want and being able to play (offline) games - while on the Xbox, if you happen to have an internet problem for a week... you won't even be able to spend your days playing games!

Then there's the price. A $100 difference is quite substantial, even more when the PS4 has the edge in raw graphics power (what matters most to gamers). And although the Xbox One includes the new Kinect - which has really amazing capabilities - you can also add the new PS4 camera and still have enough money left to buy some extra game.

Sony also played the right cards when it comes to indie developers, showing that the PS4 will have not only the latest blockbusters and some amazing exclusives, but it will also have lots of original indie games to cater for a substantial larger gameplay variety. And coming 2014, it will also have the Gaikai streaming game techonology.


It will be interesting to watch how MS will react to Sony's PS4 now that the cards are on the table. Will it buckle to the pressure and reconsider its offering? Or will it play it trough, betting gamers won't mind the extra $100, the outdated "region" system, the more restrictive used game policies, and last but not least... the nearly constant internet requirement.

Even worse for MS, it seems that the Xbox One Asia's launch will be delayed substantially, something that would make it even easier for Sony to take a hold in that part of the world.

Being a long time Xbox fan, I can't help but feel kind of sad seeing MS potentially ruining all the reputation built by its Xbox over the years. At the very least I would hope to see the Xbox One and PS4 going at it perfectly balanced and keeping the status quo. As it is right now... I'm afraid there will be a lot more former Xbox users jumping aboard the new PS4 than PS gamers considering the jump to the opposite site.

The Xbox has bet too much into being a TV media center replacement... and forgot the rest of the world won't be able to take advantage of many of those features - and that many gamers don't even care about that  should they have it available.

Sony Xperia ZL gets Guinness World Record for Largest Screen Mosaic

What do you do with nearly 200 high-end smartphones? For Sony the answer was simples: to mash them up into a giant mosaic screen and grab the Guinness World Record for the largest animated smartphone mosaic. It happened  during the last MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, where they put 196 Xperia ZL in a 14 x14 matrix for the world to see.

... I think this record won't stand for long, as I imagine other manufacturers will quickly jump in to beat it and show off their own brand (20x20 seems like a nice round number... should you happen to have 400 smartphones around somewhere).

In case you were impressed by its size alone, I should also remind you that, having a 5" Full HD screen, this mosaic also is sure to have one of the highest pixel resolution in the world: 26880 x 15120 pixels - enough to put to shame even the Ultra HD 4K and 8K!

To put things into perspective, a single uncompressed frame at this resolution takes about 1.13GB! That translates into roughly 34GB per second should you want to display a video at 30fps (meaning 1TB would only be able to hold about 30s of video).Of course, that's exactly why codecs and compression were invented for, and the real values would be a lot less intimidating... but it's still incredible to think at this scale of things.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Sony has been pushing hard on the Android front, and their latest Xperia Z smartphones are certainly some of the best looking mobile devices ever created - and not only do they look good, but they have all the requirements to face off the competition for 2013 (FullHD screens, quad-core, CPUs, etc.)

It would be a safe bet to assume that Sony wouldn't stop there... and now we have the confirmation: the Xperia Tablet Z is coming, and it does seem like it will be a head-turner.

As it is, this 10" (1920x1200) tablet is the world thinnest (just 6.9mm thick!) but that didn't stop Sony from packing it with a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core CPU (@1.5GHz), 2GB RAM, LTE and WiFi versions, up to 64GB, microSD, NFC, 8MP and 2MP cameras, and it's even water resistant so you won't have to throw a fit should you (or anyone) spill a drink over.

It will arrive in Europe this ver month (March) and starting at the usual 499€.

It may not have the ultra-high-resolution screen of the Nexus 10, but it sure will make us want the next Google Nexus devices to come from Sony! :) (And it's about time for that anyway.)

Sony (kind of) Unveils PS4

Sony has just unveiled their new PS4, which will arrive by the end of the year in time for the holidays. But this was a very strange unveiling... as we didn't get to actually see the new PS4, nor get to know an exact release date, let alone its expected price. But in any case, we got to know what the PS4 will bring us, and it certainly won't let gamers down.

• Single-chip custom processor, with eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores and 1.84 TFLOPS next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine
• 8GB GDDR5 memory
• Built-in hard drive
• 6x Blu-Ray and 8x DVD drive
• USB 3.0 and auxiliary ports
• Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1
• HDMI, analog AV-out, and optical S/PDIF audio output
• DualShock 4 controller, with two-point capacitive touchpad, three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, vibration, light bar with three color LEDs, mono speaker, micro USB port, stereo headset port, extension port, 1000mAh battery
• PlayStation 4 Eye camera, with two 1280 x 800 cameras, f/2.0 fixed focus lenses, 85-degree field of view, 30cm minimum focusing distance, four-channel microphone array

Yes, we're having a octa-core CPU and 8GB of RAM, that should be more than enough to bring the PS4 up to par against a pretty decent high-end PC. Sony has finally decided to let go of the Cell architecture and use "PC-like" components, something that developers will certainly appreciate, as developing games for the PC, Xbox and PS4 will now be practically identical (is this the first step to a unified gaming platform in the future? One can always dream...)

This also means that you can forget about backwards compatibility with current PS3 titles - something that may happen via the Gaikai video streaming in the future.

PS4 also gets a "kinect-like" 3D camera, with higher resolution than the current Kinect (but the next gen kinect is also about to popup any day now).


With all this extra hardware power, Sony says gamers will no longer have to wait for the console to boot up, for games to start up, or for downloads to complete. You'll be able to press the power button and start playing, and turn off at any moment and return later to exactly where you were.

The new DualShock also has a dedicated share button, and you can now select clips of your video play and share it with friends - and even broadcast your games to the internet via Ustream. There's also an interesting option where you can watch what your friends are playing and even lend them a hand should it be required.

Remote play and second screen gaming are also contemplated, with the PS Vita and generic smartphone/tablets being put to use for playing actual PS4 games or showing extra game content in sync with the game.

Then we had a lot of game demos to show the graphic power of the new PS4, with impressive footage being rendered in real time:

Killzone Shadow Fall

Driveclub - Sadly Gran Turismo was a no show at this event.

Quantic Dreams showed how we're reaching a level that allows digital character to convey emotions.

We also got to see Agni’s Philosophy Luminous Engine demo, Watch Dogs, Destiny and several others:

Now it's up to Microsoft to show what their new Xbox will bring to the battle. Will they dare up the ante and go crazy with somthing "overboard" just to say it's better than the PS4? :)

Sony Xperia Tablet gets "Surface" Style Keyboard?

Looks like Microsoft's opportunity for success with their Surface Tablets is narrowing down. While we're still waiting to know how much their tablets will cost, it already seems they'll be having a similar contender. The upcoming Sony Xperia tablet seems to learn a couple of things from the Surface tablet, including a cover-keyboard.

But, these Xperia tablets already have a price, starting at $449 for the 16GB, and $99 for the cover keyboard. Meaning, around $549 for the "pack" (unless they sell it cheaper bundled together). You'll get a quad-core Tegra 3 inside, and although we don't expect it to have a "retina-level" display, it still is within an acceptable price range for an Android tablet.

Meaning... Microsoft better be planning on putting their "competitive priced" Surface Tablets on the market soon, and at similar price ranges... or else... they'll risk having a completely flattened sales volume...

Sony XQD Memory Card offers 168MB/s Transfers

If you were getting used to your SDHC memory cards, get ready to start considering yet another new format that promises to be better: the XQD. Well, more precisely, this XQD hope it will eventually phase out the aging Compact Flash that is still used in many devices. To that effect the new Sony S Series XQD cards might help you want it succeed as quickly as possible, because it pushes the data transfer speeds from the previous 125MB/s to 168MB/s - and we're talking sustained read and wrote speeds - which are faster that the maximum speed of CF cards.

Before you start thinking this is "yet another proprietary sony format", rest assured it isn't the case: although Sony currently is the only manufacturer pushing out these cards, the XQD format was developed by SanDisk, Sony and Nikon, and has the backing of the CompactFlash Association.

So far, the only camera with an QXD slot is the Nikon D4, which thanks to these new cards, can capture a non-stop burst of 108 RAW frames.

The Sony 64GB XQD S Series card will be available this month (in Japan it costs around $754 - and it will be followed by a 32GB model in the coming months, for $503).

Sony A57 Translucent Mirror Camera

If you're tired of hearing your DSLR mirror clicking and clacking as it drops and raises every time you shoot, maybe it's time your consider switching to a SLT camera. What does SLT stands for? Single Lens Translucent, exactly the kind of technology you can find on the new Sony A57 camera. Instead of a movable mirror, the A57 uses a slightly translucent mirror that allows it to keep snapping photos in high-speed, while the auto-focus system (15 point, 3 sensor AF system) also gets enough information to keep working.

That's the trick that allows it snap precisely focused imagens at up to 12fps, with no mirror bouncing around.

You also get Auto Portrait Framing, that promises to automatically frame your portraits to get better looking photos, as well as a Clear Image Zoom, that Sony claims can provide a 2x digital zoom with no loss in picture quality. A claim that will certainly be put to the test once this camera is out.

As you'd exepect, this 16MP camera also gets FullHD 1080/50p video recording, with full manual/auto controls.
This A57 is expected to land in April, costing $699.99 (body-only), or $799.99 (with an 18-55mm lens kit).

Sony Experia with 13MP Camera

If you thought the fight for the highest megapixel claim was restricted to compact cameras, you better see what's Sony Ericsson is readying for this new and upcoming Xperia Android smartphone. A device that is sure to make SE fans drool over...

This SE Xperia LT28at will please both power users as well as anyone looking for a smartphone capable os replacing their point and shoot camera. If current high-end devices like the iPhone 4S alreay shoot amazing photos with its 8MP camera, this new Xperia goes one step futher, by offering a 13MP camera.

Even its front facing camera will be capable of recording 720p video (HD videochat will soon become the norm, it seems) as well as a dual-core 1.5Ghz CPU, a 720p 4.55" Reality Display screen, worldwide 4G support (LTE, HSPA, TD-SCDMA) as well as dual band WiFi N (2.4 e 5Ghz).

This new Xperia might be revealed in the upcoming CES 2012... and it looks like a very good for Sony Ericsson to start a new year!

Sony Recreates Holodeck using PS Move

There have been lots of attempts to recreate Star Trek's Holodeck in the real world, and most of them have failed - in fact, none has ever come close to what one would expect from it. But we have to say that Sony has now become closer than ever with its latest promotional videos using projection mapping.

Truth be told, this isn't an "actual" Holodeck, as the effect can only be seen from a specific point in space, and to allow the camera to move in sync with it, they've used PS Moves to track it's precise position and recreate a perspective corrected image in real time in order to keep it "real".

Nevertheless, the results are truly impressive... just watch and be amazed!

Bendable eInk Screen by Sony

Digital paper has been around for a while, but it keeps evolving, as Sony just proved with their  13.3" bendable eInk paper.

This 13.3" screen/paper has a resolution of 1200x1600 (150ppi) and is capable of showing 16 gray levels with a constrat ratio of 10:1. You can bend it up to a 5mm radius, and the main question is: when will this sort of technology be available for commercial use?

Until then, we'll have to keep waiting, seeing these prototypes being shown in exhibitions... and imagining all the equipments such technology would allow.

Sony PSN User Data Stolen

What a big mess... If you we're annoyed by the PlayStation Network being down the last few days, you're bound to become a lot worse when you find out all your user account data is now compromised and most likely in the hands of criminals.

Sony finally came public and told us why the PSN was down. And the news are not good: the attackers were able to get their hands on user account data for 77 million users.

Names, addresses, login and password, security question answers, birthdates, and even possibly their credit card info.

Sony is advising everyone to be extra vigilant for suspicious activity - though what they should actually do would be to come forth and assume responsibility for anything that may derive from this major security breach!

After this incident, I guess lots of users will think twice before trusting Sony with their private information... (And it should serve as a warning for any other service holding user info - it is a great responsibility, and you should better do the best you can to keep it safe, and be ready to take the consequences if you don't/can't.)

Sony S1 and S2 Android Tablets

No manufacturer wants to be left out of the "Tablet revolution", and Sony is preparing not one, but two Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets - and both offer interesting features.

The Sony S1 has a 9.4" screen and is based on Tegra 2, and you'll be able to use it as a remote control thanks to its embedded IR port.

As for the Sony S2, it offers a foldable design with two 5.5" (1024 x 480) screens, which will certainly come in handy for anyone wanting a tablet that can be carried around in a compact format.

Both sport a modified UI designed by Sony - which makes my wonder when will Google start enforcing their "Android look and feel" policy, if ever!

These Sony S1 and S2 should be launched later this year, but if they really cost $600 and $700 as rumoured... it will be a tough sell compared to other Tegra 2 tablets that are available at nearly half as much.
(The Asus Eee Pad Transformer being one of them!)