Sony at Mobile World Congress 2012 – The Verge

Sony: Android ‘doesn’t eliminate us from examining other opportunities’

2012-02-28T13:44:01-05:00

Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia U hands-on pictures

Just days after the closure of Sony's deal to buy out Ericsson from their decade-old Sony Ericsson joint venture, we've sat down with US product marketing manager Stephen Sneeden here at Mobile World Congress to discuss the phone brand's past, present, and future.

On integration, tablets, and the prospect of a PS Vita phone

By all accounts, last year's Xperia Play was well off the mark of the notion of a true "PSP phone," a dream that has haunted and eluded the gaming community for years (more on the Xperia Play in a bit). With the launch of the PS Vita, there's renewed discussion on the topic; Sony already has experience integrating 3G into …

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Sony Xperia U hands-on video, pictures, and impressions

2012-02-26T13:45:07-05:00

Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia U hands-on pictures

Amidst a dense, angry crowd of rabid tech journalists, we managed to get some time with the Xperia U, Sony's lower-tiered, Android 2.3.7 smartphone announced just minutes ago along with the NFC-equipped Xperia P. At first glance, the screen is very prone to slimy fingerprints - some of the fault lies in the crowd, but it also doesn't bode well for prolonged use, either. The the home button on the transparent bar was a little finicky, but the color changing looked great, especially as we went through a gallery of pictures and themes (including amethyst, gold, and sapphire). We were also pleasantly surprised by the bottom cap's firmness: it wil …

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Sony Xperia P hands-on pictures, video, and close up with the WhiteMagic display

2012-02-26T13:39:41-05:00

xperiap

We just had a quick chance to play with the new Sony Xperia P, and… it's a slightly smaller riff on the Xperia S packed into an aluminum unibody case. The big draw is the "WhiteMagic" LCD display, which adds an additional stripe of white pixels to the traditional RGB layout. Sony says it's a dramatically better display and allows the phone to perform better in daylight - it certainly looks beautiful, with super sharp text, excellent contrast, and solid viewing angles. It's only qHD, sadly, but it's nice to see a midrange phone with a highish-end display.

Software-wise, you're looking at Android 2.3.7 with a ton of Sony customizations - Sony …

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Sony introduces Xperia P SmartDock for a ‘full PC experience’

2012-02-26T13:27:37-05:00

Gallery Photo: Xperia P SmartDock with TV launcher hands-on

To go along with Sony's new Xperia phones, the company is lauching a SmartDock to connect your Xperia smartphone to your TV - and if you add a keyboard and mouse, the company claims you can have a "full PC experience." On its own, the SmartDock outputs via HDMI to allow your phone to serve as a media hub for music, videos, and photos. If you've got a newer TV, you can control the phone with your remote control over HDMI-CEC to navigate the media on your phone and play with Android apps, and you can also use a keyboard and mouse. It's not really a "full PC experience," since that's pretty much all you get, but it's certainly something. The Sm …

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Sony Xperia Ion launching worldwide this summer

2012-02-26T13:22:22-05:00

Gallery Photo: Xperia ion hands on pictures

Sony introduced the Xperia Ion at CES last month, but now Sony Mobile President Bert Nordberg has announced that the handset will launch in markets around the world this summer. The handset has a 4.6-inch 1280 x 720 display with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, NFC support, and 12-megapixel camera. There's no word on whether the LTE radio will be carried over into the global version, though.

In our hands-on at CES, we liked the Ion's solid feel and lightweight construction, and were impressed by the display and camera. Sony hasn't been any more forthcoming on when the Xperia Ion will see an upgrade to Android 4.0, but as things stand the softw …

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Sony Xperia U announced: 3.5-inch screen, 1GHz processor, and custom colors

2012-02-26T13:20:51-05:00

Xperia U

Sony has just announced another cousin to the Xperia S, called the Xperia U. The Xperia U has a small, "compact design" with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 3.5-inch Reality Display, and a 5-megapixel camera. For music, the Xperia U comes with "xLoud" for sound processing. It also has the Xperia transparent element, but the has added the ability to make it illuminate with different colors for notifications. You can customize which color the bar uses, but it has another trick up its transparent sleeve: it can change to match on-screen elements like photos or album art. The Xperia U will come in two base colors, but you can also swap out the bottom …

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Sony Xperia S shipping globally now, goes on sale in Barcelona this week

2012-02-26T13:19:02-05:00

Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia S hands-on

Sony has just announced here at MWC 2012 that its Xperia S Android smartphone is shipping now globally and will be available exclusively in the Barcelona Sony Store this week. Sony says the S joins the just-revealed Xperia P and Xperia U as part of the Xperia NXT series of "connected entertainment devices." The Android-powered phone launched in Japan just last week as the Xperia NX, but now it looks like the rest of the world will be able to get their hands on the device. The device has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor that runs a skinned version of Gingerbread on a 4.3-inch, 720p display. Be sure to check our hands-on impressions of the smartph …

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