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Our focus is on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, but anything goes!
Some things are quite fascinating when we get to see how a smartphone progressed through the design stage to how they actually look now. So when the XperiaBlog was showing these pictures of the Xperia Z, embedded below, we were quite interested.
As you can see, the first picture, which is still on Sony Mobile Hong Kong's Facebook page, quite clearly has those simple drilled metal holes which sounds comes out of, whereas the actual device, in the 2nd picture, has those slits which look to be covered in some sort of material.
The guys suggested that the subtle design change was probably down to the waterproofing which Sony wanted to offer and that seems to make sense to us! We're interested to know which speaker option you prefer though. Do you prefer the drilled metals holes or the slits? Let us know in the comments below! Via XperiaBlog.
That's not to say that everything is perfect though, check out this video and some of the pictures below and see if you can notice the difference in screens between the NTT DoCoMo variant and its European cousin. This might just be a difference in the two phones that mobiltelefon.ru got their hands on, but we suspect Sony uses two different displays between their Japanese Xperia Z, the SO-02E and the European C6603.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! We're interested to see which one you prefer! Mobiltelefon.ru Via XperiaBlog.
Sony's brand new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z, officially went on sale in the UK today. There's a fair few places that you can pick it up from at the moment and we'll have a look at the best deals a little further on, but just before that here's a brief refresh of what's inside the device!
The whole show will be kept on the road by a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor which is paired with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, as well as a 13-megapixel rear and a 2.2MP front-camera arrangement. The stars of the show are the 5-inch 1080p TFT display, as well as the IP5 and IP7 dust and water resistant certifications and all of this is crammed into a shell which is 7.9mm thick! On the software front you'll be dealing with Sony's skinned version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which will be updated to 4.2 at some point in the future!
So how much would a package like that cost you? Well here is a broad round up of where you can get it from in the UK and how much it will cost you!
SIM free/ Unlocked- Handset Only.
Handtec: £497.99.
Handtec have both the white and black versions available at the moment!
Amazon: £499 (Black) or £524.99 (White).
Amazon are offering the phone too, although the white version is more expensive. This seems to be the case for most phones on the site, we're not sure why, but either way you can get the black one here and the white one here!
Clove: £522.
Clove might be slightly expensive, but they throw in a free NFC speaker for you to pair with your shiny new phone. You can get both colour variants here! Full information on the speaker that's included can be found on Sony's website here.
Expansys: £529.99.
Just like Clove, Expansys will throw in that NFC speaker and they have a choice of black or white phones too!
On Contract.
Like always on contract there is an abundance of options with every network under the sun, we'll link to all of the main places you can pick them up, but there's a few deals which immediately stood out to us!
Contracts with Phones4U seem reasonable, the cheapest monthly cost which gets you the phone for free is £36, which will get you 900 minutes, Unlimited texts and 1GB of data. If you're prepared to pay an upfront contribution of £209.99 for the phone you can secure the phone for £20.50 that will 100 minutes, Unlimited texts and a 500MB Data Allowance.
Three offer the cheapest option for those of you who demand unlimited internet! You can snag the phone for £69 on a £34 a month contract in both colours!
O2 are interesting in that they're offering the phone at almost any price point on contract. You can pay anything up to £549.99 for the phone on top of a minimum monthly contract price of £11 a month! There's literally something for everyone, but remember to get higher amounts of internet you'll be paying through the roof!
Vodafone are currently only offering four price plans with the phone. The cheapest will cost you £29 a month and £149 for the phone and you will have the pleasure of using 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of data!
Tesco are offering lots of contracts, but they were keen to promote two of them, both of which will be O2 contracts. The first offers 600 minutes, Unlimited texts and 750MB of data for £32 per month and the second bumps that up to Unlimited minutes and texts and 1GB of data for £36 per month, the phone is free on both deals.
The reason these are promoted is that they are interesting for Tesco Clubcard holders as they will earn and extra 2500 Clubcard points when they buy from Tesco on those contracts.
EE, Orange and T-Mobile haven't posted up any availability details yet, but if they do we will update the post!
If you've made it this far then well done! To round the post off we've embedded a YouTube video from the Tesco Phoneshop which shows off the Xperia Z in all its glory!
If there is anyone we have missed off the list please email it to us and we will add it to the post! Use our contact form here!
Sony have a new flagship smartphone! The Xperia Z is basically the best of Sony's current design language coupled with all of the latest internals. For example there's a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor keeping things ticking over with 2GB of RAM, as well as a 13-megapixel camera, a 5-inch 1080p TFT display, which may have some viewing angle issues, but we'll wait for full reviews to come in to judge that! All of this is crammed into a waterproof body which is a mere 7.9mm thick!
Both this device and it's sister the Xperia ZL will on Android 4.1 and Sony will offer an update to 4.2 shortly after they launch! The Xperia Z does offer LTE connectivity so there is a chance that this will be arriving in the United States, but we do know it'll be arriving in the UK because Vodafone, O2 (Who have an exclusive purple version), Three and Phones 4U have already confirmed they will be selling the phone in March! EE will likely get it but they always take their time announcing things like this!
Via CNet.
The Sony Xperia ZL!
Xperia Z pictured left and the Xperia ZL pictured right! Image Credit: TechRadar.
We mentioned that there was an uncanny similarity between the Xperia Z and the slightly smaller Xperia ZL. Essentially they are the same except the ZL features an Infrared blaster for controlling your television and it's slightly skinnier in terms of width but it is also thicker and curved, presumably it's thicker to accommodate the slightly larger battery!
Either way they both support LTE and they will both be available in March. We haven't heard of any carriers for the ZL yet, but if we do hear we'll be sure to update this post!
Via TechRadar.
If you're stuck between which one to go for then Sony has made a nice little video showing off both phones and they make some nice comparisons about which one to go for depending on your preferences! Check the video out below!
If you're interested in Sony's huge (and we meant absolutely enormousness!) list of new televisions and cameras then you can have a look through this list here! It would be silly to try to cover every individual one because there's probably somewhere near 50 of them! But here is a little teaser of Sony's new television design!
This TV comes in 55 and 65" options!
The full press release for both phones is embedded below:
Introducing Xperia™ Z –the best of Sony in a premium smartphone
Full HD 5″ Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 for super brightness and clarity Sony’s media applications deliver rich user experiences and instant access to entertainment services
Easy and fast One-touch functions to wirelessly share music, photos and videos across devices
New stand-out Sony design with water and dust resistance
January 7th 2013, Las Vegas, USA – Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) today introduces its new flagship Android smartphone, Xperia Z. With a 5″ Full HD 1080p Reality Display, Snapdragon™ S4 Pro quad-core processor, 13 megapixel fast-capture camera and 4G LTE, Xperia Z has all the specifications expected from a premium smartphone. On top of this, it brings the best of Sony’s unique technology, content, design and connectivity to deliver rich user experiences. Xperia Z will launch globally in Q1 2013.
“With Xperia Z, we are bringing over half a century of innovation in TV, imaging, music, film and gaming to create a superphone experience that truly stands out,” said Kuni Suzuki, President and CEO, at Sony Mobile Communications. “With great specifications, Sony’s media applications and One-touch functions,
Xperia Z is well positioned for leadership in the smartphone market. By putting smartphones at the heart of our strategy, Sony is enabling people to create, enjoy and share content and experiences like never before.”
Intelligent Sony Technology
Xperia Z’s razor sharp Reality Display, powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 2, brings Sony’s long-standing TV expertise to the smartphone and delivers an immersive viewing experience with super brightness and clarity. The smartphone shares capabilities with Sony digital cameras and features Exmor RS for mobile, the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones. HDR technology gives clear images against strong backlight, so users can capture razor sharp pictures and videos whatever the conditions.
Xperia Z also includes Battery STAMINA Mode that can improve the standby time by four times or more*by automatically shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and starting them up again when the screen is back on.
Discover, enjoy and share entertainment with Sony’s media applications and One-touch functions
Sony media applications offer a consistent entertainment experience across a range of Sony devices. Pre-loaded on Xperia Z, the “WALKMAN”, Album and Movies apps, enable discovery of on-line and off-line content through a single access point with new ways to enjoy and share that content. The “WALKMAN” application provides access to all your downloaded music, a library of 18 million songs to explore from Music Unlimited and Facebook social integration. The Movies application gives consumers access to over 100,000 movies and TV series from Video Unlimited while the Album application enables easy access to Facebook friends’ photos as well as browsing photos by location.**
One-touch functions enable consumers to easily share music, photos and videos from their smartphone to an array of NFC-enabled Sony devices, including speakers, headphones and now TVs. With the new BRAVIA TV, also announced today, simply touch Xperia Z to the remote control of the TV to instantly enjoy your photos and videos on the big screen.
Two additions to Sony’s range of NFC-enabled headsets were also introduced today, the Stereo Bluetooth™ Headset SBH20 and the Wireless Headset DR-BTN200M. Touch Xperia Z to either headset and begin listening to tracks instantly.
Stand-out design and durability
Precision engineered with premium materials, Xperia Z introduces a unique OmniBalance design with subtly rounded edges and smooth reflective surfaces on all sides. Despite its slim 7.9mm body, Xperia Z is highly durable with tempered glass and anti-shatter film on the front and back, as well as the highest levels of dust and water resistance*** (IP55 and IP57) found in a premium smartphone.
In selected markets, a design variant of Xperia Z – Xperia ZL – will also be released in Q1 2013. Xperia ZL delivers the same immersive entertainment experiences as Xperia Z but in a smaller form factor.
Xperia Z and Xperia ZL will launch on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and will be upgraded to 4.2 shortly after launch for the latest Android user experience.
Key features for Xperia Z
· 5″ 1080 x 1920p full HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 2
· 13MP Fast Capture camera with Exmor RS for mobile, HDR video, Superior Auto and Noise Reduction to effortlessly capture razor sharp pictures and videos in any conditions
· Dust and water resistant (IP55 & IP57) with a durable glass display
· 1.5 GHz asynchronous quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB RAM
· Battery STAMINA mode improves standby time by at least 4 times
We're just about to shut the doors and batten down the hatches for the night here at TheTechFront, but just before we do there's just about enough time to give you a quick look at Sony's brand new Xperia Z!
The device has been spotted on the CES showroom floor a little before it was meant to have been, but nonetheless here it is! We've heard a lot about the 'Yuga' or Xperia Z, but unfortunately we don't have any more news on what the internals are just yet! From the look of this picture that 5" 1080p screen is very believable! Sony has promised us that:
"In just three days we will introduce something extraordinary to the world and we can't wait to show you what it can do. Stay tuned for more..." Via XperiaBlog.
So naturally we'll have some more details in the coming days as Sony kick off their announcements, which judging by a tweet from them, are also rather extensive!
With a mere four days left of the year it seems fitting that we see one of the tech giants and their insanely popular platforms offering a 'best of apps and games' list. Today Google have offered up their favourite picks from the Play Store! So without further discussion here are the highlights.
Apps:
This was unsurprisingly a closely fought category, but Google thinks that out of a list which included the likes of Pocket, Expedia, TED, Ancestry and Pinterest the first app on the list, shouldn't surprise too many people, it was Evernote. You can see the full list here.
Games:
Games, just like apps, was always going to have a very stiff set of competitors. You might be surprised when you see some of the games on the list, we were. There's no Angry Birds or Bad Piggies in sight, instead Google has opted for games like Granny Smith, Need for Speed and ShadowGun : Deadzone. The last one is definitely worth a download and we can't wait to see that running on OUYA! If you need some ideas to kill some time over the holidays you can find a full list of Google's recommendations here.
The latest reports from Korea are suggesting that Samsung plans to best their already notable successes from 2012 next year! The South Koreans reportedly want to move half a billion phones next year. Yes, they really do want to have a brand new phone in the hands of one fourteenth of the world's population within the year!
The Korean Times says Samsung wants to see 20% growth on their 420 million sales and that would work out to 504 million sales within a year! That figure would be split down intp 390million smartphones and the rest would be feature phones, either way that would be another stellar year for Samsung if that were to come true!
Naturally much of Samsung's success will depend on their next flagship, the Galaxy S4, or whatever they settle on because of the negative connotations of the number four in Korea! Incidentally, today we got a great look at a render of one guys ideal Galaxy S4, you can see it in the video embedded below! What do you think? Are you interested if it looked like that?
Toshiba's Excite 10 tablet is getting its pack of Jelly Bean today. The update is available in the US at the moment and given the history of Toshiba's roll outs it should be available to the rest of the world in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Incidentally, the Excite's 7.7" sister tablet also received the update earlier in the week.
OUYA is currently shipping their developer consoles out to those who backed the project through Kickstarter! Any devs or very eager players received theirs already? (Source embedded below)
Post in OUYAForum's "I got my OUYA Console" threadwhen you receive notification that your OUYA has been shipped!ouyaforum.com/showthread.php…
— OUYA News (@OUYAForum_com) December 27, 2012
Samsung's ChatON app has received a rather major overhaul for both Android phones and tablets today and it might be worth checking out if you're looking for a good cross-platform alternative to WhatsApp! You can download it here! Via AndroidGuys.
Samsung has a few nifty features in their Galaxy devices and one of them is Smart Rotate. Essentially this little perk rejects the information from the accelerometer, which normally rotates the phone and it instead uses facial recognition to hold the phone in the right orientation, something which is extremely useful for us bed readers! You can now get this device, courtesy of XDA on any device! Head here for all the details! Via DroidDog.
Microsoft has revealed that their app catalogue for their mobile devices has grown by 75,000 apps recently, which is impressive growth since the launch of Windows Phone 8. The company also revealed that people who own their devices downlaod an average of 54 apps to their WP8 devices, which may sound like quite a lot, but compared to iOS users it isn't too favourable. Apple's customers install, on average, more than 100 apps on their devices! Microsoft Via TheVerge.
Samsung has officially confirmed that their original Galaxy Note users will be getting an update to Android 4.1 and the update will have some of the 'Premium suite' features which are currently landing on the Galaxy S3's in the wild. Naturally Android 4.1 brings Google Now, but the Premium Suite update also includes 'multi-window, popup note, popup video, popup browser, photo note, photo frame, easy clip and paper artist as well as handwriting on S Planner and email and the enhanced version of S Note'. It's good to see Samsung offering a good level of support for their older devices and hopefully this update will pave the way for the Galaxy S2 update as well! Samsung Via Engadget.
Bluestacks, the Android app emulator, is now available for Macs albeit in a Beta form. You can download it here now! Source embedded below.
Mac beta is live! Now you can download any app to your Mac at BlueStacks.com
— BlueStacks (@bluestacksinc) December 27, 2012
Apple and Intel are rumoured to be working on a Smartwatch for next year! Given the success Apple saw with the last iPod Nano and their Wrist straps for the device, it wouldn't be too much of a leap to see Apple do something like this! You can find more details here!
Apple also slipped up a little on customer satisfaction from their online store this holiday period. 9-to-5 Mac is reporting research from a firm called Foresee. Foresee have said that Apple 'stumbled from their usual focus on the customer experience', and their satisfaction score dropped to 80, a score which puts them equal with HP's online store and one point ahead of Sony's equivalent. Naturally Amazon came out head and shoulders above the rest with 88 points! It's an interesting report and it's well worth a read! You can find it here! Foresee Via 9-to-5 Mac.
And finally, is this Sony's upcoming Xperia Z? It's been leaked left right and centre and according to Chinese site ePrice this is what the finished article will look like! We'll be covering the details from CES so you'll hear about the device when it officially launches, assuming Sony has it ready for that show!
Gangnam becomes the first video ever to receive One Billion hits!
Deep down, whether we wanted to or not, we all knew that this day was coming. We're not quite sure what it is about 'the Gangnam' which gives it so much style. It could be the incredibly catchy 'eyyy sexy ladies' line or perhaps it's the simplicity of the dance and the smiles it puts on faces everywhere. One thing we do know though is that Psy and his song are now written into internet history for ever.
Having a smash hit that peaked at Number 1 in the charts in at least 34 countries is nothing to be sniffed at, but one billion hits on YouTube is something no one else can claim to have achieved. We know this isn't necessarily accurate maths but in theory one in seven people on the earth have listened to Gangnam Style on YouTube and when you factor in radio play time and television plays, the reach of this one single song is quite staggering!
We'll leave you with this thought, the video was posted in July and Google works it out that the video was watched somewhere between 7 and 10 million times every single day since. Perhaps we do have too much free time! But, we did re-watch the video while we were writing this... It's hard not to be tempted! Via BBC.
Is iOS 6.0.2 killing your battery?
Today Apple has rolled out the latest update to their iOS software, version 6.0.2. This is meant to bring with it a fix for "a bug that could impact Wi-Fi". That's great news if you happen to be having some problems at the moment, but some users have been reporting issues with that update.
Over at Apple's support forum have said that they have been suffering with battery drain since the update. One owner said, "It is absolutely draining my battery... I can usually get through a day with about 75 percent of my battery power remaining. Today I've gone through 90 percent and I've done nothing special with it". It's possible that this is only affecting a small number of users as everyone else seems to be OK.
If your phone does seem to be draining a little quickly, pop back to your local phone store or an Apple store and we're pretty sure the nice guys there will be more than happy to swap the phone out for you! We don't think this is any sort of major issue though so don't be too concerned about updating! If you would rather not take the risk just hold off, if this is a widespread issue Apple will offer another update in the next couple of weeks, so there's no harm in waiting this one out!
You see that shiny Galaxy S3 on your desk? Well all may look well on the outside but on the inside it may be a different story. Some reports are coming in that Samsung's latest darling is simply giving up the ghost. Some people have reported that their handset died overnight while it was simply charging and others have said that the handset died during a reboot.
Irrespective of how they're dying, it doesn't disguise the fact that they are. Regardless of how it happens though, the end result is a handset that turns off and doesn't turn back on. The reports are saying that this is happening to phones that are between 150 and 200 days old. There hasn't yet been a confirmed reason why this is happening from Samsung, but some have suggested that the NAND is becoming corrupted and failing.
All said and done, Samsung has yet to offer an official statement on the matter, however based on the reports coming from xda users, they are replacing the handsets with no questions asked. In fact, Samsung is even said to be replacing handsets that were rooted.
If you've had this very problem then head to this website and find your nearest Samsung Care Point. If you're interested in reading the full debate then there's a 61 page thread on XDA at the moment for you to flick through! Via AndroidCommunity.
In other news:
Just like always at the time of year devices start popping up in benchmark tests. Today a new device with a dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 chipset has appeared on GLBenchmark. The device it's supposedly powering is the Acer V350. The benchmark didn't reveal too much aside from the processor and a display with the resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, unfortunately we don't know how many inches this resolution will cover, although knowing Acer it won't be anything too much more than 4.5", they don't like to alienate people with large phones. Another positive to take from the benchmark is the presence of Android 4.1.2 on the V350, this will be a very good mid-range phone for next year! Via PhoneArena.
Phones4U is reporting that there is an update rolling out to those of you out there lucky enough to own an Xperia T from Sony. The update is 'incremental' and will bring 'extended standby mode, screen mirroring allowing content sharing with enabled TVs, microphone sensitivity improvements [and] improved battery indicated accuracy.'
This sounds like a good maintenance update from Sony so if you do have an Xperia T it will be well worth heading to Sony's website to install the update, although at the time of writing Sony hasn't got round to updating the download link, but that should happen sometime soon! Via Phones4u.
Sony's much leaked 'Yuga' smartphone which is rocking a 5" Full HD display, 12 MP Exmor RS sensor, 2 GB of RAM, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with LTE radio, and a full suite of ports, including a microSD and microHDMI, may well be arriving with the title the 'Sony Xperia Z'. It's a rather cool name in our book. We just hope Sony can bring the device to market at a price which is somewhere near to that of Google's Nexus 4, although we think that's highly unlikely! Via XperiaBlog.
Research released today by KantarWorldPanel indicates that Apple now has a 53.3% dominance of the smartphone sales in the United States of America! Yes more than 1 in every 2 people in the US walks out of their local carrier store with a shiny new iPhone! Apple’s gain in this report came at the expense of Android and Blackberry maker RIM. Android lost 10% of last years sales figures, while RIM dropped 6%!
This does make you wonder whether or not Apple's bubble is going to burst soon, is it really possible for people to just want what everyone else has indefinitely or will they look for something unique and distinguishing soon? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below! Via Slashgear.
AT&T has announced that LTE is now live in Lancaster, Pa., Ogden, Utah, Hartford, Conn., Bowling Green, Ky., Lexington, Ky. and Boise, Idaho! It's good to see America's second largest carrier is still committed to their LTE rollout plans! Via AndroidCentral.
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