Sony Xperia Tablet S review: Sony’s second-gen Android slate has a slimmer design, faster guts

Posted on 24/09/2012 by Joseph Volpe

Sony Xperia Tablet S review

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For Sony, it's all about the presentation. To be sure, since the company put all of its mobile products under one roof, it's achieved more of a balance between style and substance than it did with the original Tablet S and Tablet P -- two devices that had a lopsided emphasis on unique, proof-of-concept designs over user experience. It's fair to say those initial tablet efforts failed to resonate with consumers, leaving the company with little recourse other than an all-out do-over.

Which is why the new Xperia Tablet S has a lot to prove: it can't get by based on looks alone. Running skinned Ice Cream Sandwich and packing a quad-core Tegra 3 SoC, this 9.4-incher maintains the same 1,280 x 800 IPS LCD panel used on the first-gen S, and even assumes the same folded-over magazine shape -- albeit, in thinner form. Yes, that full SD slot remains, but you might not need to rely on it now that the tablet comes with up to 64GB of built-in storage. So, will an emphasis on OS, ecosystem (Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited, Crackle, Reader, etc.) and a slimmed-down build make up for the blunders of the first-gen Tablet S? Will a $399 starting price help this WiFi-only tab stand out amongst the Android competition? Stick around as we find out whether this S is more than initially meets the eye.

Gallery: Sony Xperia Tablet S review

Continue reading Sony Xperia Tablet S review: Sony's second-gen Android slate has a slimmer design, faster guts

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Sony Xperia Tablet S review: Sony's second-gen Android slate has a slimmer design, faster guts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s stacked Exmor RS phone camera sensors detuned over quality worries

Posted on 21/09/2012 by Jon Fingas

Sony would still like you to get excited about its upcoming Exmor RS stacked CMOS image sensors -- just not too excited. Both the 8-megapixel IMX134 and 13-megapixel IMX135 are scaling back from their original RGBW (red, green, blue, white) coding to an ordinary RGB over concerns that they aren't meeting Sony's "image quality standards" as originally designed. Consequently, either sensor will be less sensitive to light and diminish some of that high dynamic range magic. The company also doesn't want to get our hopes up for a quick arrival on shelves and clarifies that there's a phased launch starting in January. Mobile shutterbugs may be crestfallen knowing that Sony won't have the best possible camera sensor in future Xperia phones, but the honesty at least guarantees that the company gets a timely return on its $994 million investment.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras

Sony's stacked Exmor RS phone camera sensors detuned over quality worries originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia T lands at the FCC, lets us peek under the hood

Posted on 13/09/2012 by Brad Molen

There isn't much mystery left to an FCC-bound phone that's already been announced and thoroughly handled, but we must admit that Sony does a pretty good job at making the federal approval documents more exciting than most. How? More often than not, the confidentiality request has already been lifted, leaving us with a user manual and a full trove of teardown photos. Such is the case with the Xperia T, announced recently at IFA 2012. Aside from these additional elements, there likely isn't much for the average gadget-loving American to geek out about -- this particular model offers pentaband HSPA+ / UMTS but lacks LTE, which means it's probably only going to find its way to purple mountains majesty through the efforts of T-Mobile (or importers, worst-case) -- we're still holding out hope for the AT&T-branded version that leaked a few days ago, however. No matter its fate, follow us below for a gallery full of revealing photos.

Gallery: Sony Xperia T FCC teardown pics

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Sony Xperia T lands at the FCC, lets us peek under the hood originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia T shown on UK’s Phones4U… with AT&T branding

Posted on 04/09/2012 by Brad Molen

Seeing the trademark AT&T globe brandished on the front of the Sony Xperia T may simply pass as a pleasant surprise for US customers if it were leaked through a Stateside e-tailer, but the GSM giant's logo popping up on a UK website is more of a head-scratcher. Yet, as you can see in the shot above, the Phones4U image of the new Xperia flagship (likely the TX, in this case) sports the famous icon below the screen, in place of the traditional Xperia branding. To add more fuel to the rumor fire, the back of the AT&T-ized variant is broken up into three segments, setting it apart from the international version's one-piece. Naturally we remain skeptics on the matter, but the two pieces of evidence at least hold a little more weight than your standard website blunder.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Sony Xperia T shown on UK's Phones4U... with AT&T branding originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Central | source

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O2 UK denies Xperia Ray, Arc and Neo owners Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted on 03/09/2012 by Jamie Rigg

It's bad news for Xperia Ray, Arc and Neo owners on O2's UK network, as the carrier's reported it won't be updating these Sony handsets to Ice Cream Sandwich. O2 claims it has tested three versions of the OS update and decided not to approve it, due to increased hardware requirements resulting in "speed and performance" issues. This is curious, since Sony itself had no problems getting Android 4.0 up and running on the devices -- even if it did take a while. If you know your way around a ROM, you probably stopped scoffing Gingerbread a long time ago. However, if you're yet to tinker and ain't scared by O2's "you can't go back" warnings, an hour or two on some specialist forums should have you sticky in no time (at your own risk, of course).

Update: O2's been in touch assuring us the decision was not taken lightly, and that although Sony has released ICS for these handsets, they did so with clear disclaimers on performance concerns (see the Sony source below).

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

O2 UK denies Xperia Ray, Arc and Neo owners Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Early benchmark scores are in for the Sony Xperia T, TX and V

Posted on 01/09/2012 by Sarah Silbert

We've already benchmarked the Galaxy Note II and the ZTE Grand X IN at IFA, and as the week wraps up we're circling back to test the mettle of other handsets announced here in Berlin. We ran mobile benchmarks on Sony's new flagship Xperia T, the Xperia TX (the US version of the T) and the LTE-enabled Xperia V. All three devices pack dual-core Snapdragon S4 Krait processors clocked at 1.5GHz, and they're currently running Ice Cream Sandwich -- though a Jelly Bean update is reportedly on the way. Meet us past the break for a first look at how these smartphones stack up.

Continue reading Early benchmark scores are in for the Sony Xperia T, TX and V

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Early benchmark scores are in for the Sony Xperia T, TX and V originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 08:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on)

Posted on 31/08/2012 by Joseph Volpe

Sometimes getting lost in the maze-like sprawl of the Messe can turn up unexpected surprises. In this case, we chanced upon Sony's Xperia sola hiding in plain sight at Sparhandy's booth. The petite Android handset, formerly codenamed "Pepper", was officially announced earlier this spring and even crept up in FCC filings. But until now, we'd never had quality hands-on time with the 3.7-inch Gingerbread device. For its diminutive size, the wee phone sports a 854 x 480 LCD display powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a dual-core CPU clocked at 1GHz, 5-megapixel rear shooter and NFC functionality for Smart Tag use.

As you might expect, the sola fits quite nicely into the palm of your hand, though its tiny screen can pose an issue for those with larger digits. And speaking of touch navigation, this Sony phone separates itself from the rest of the Xperia pack with the inclusion of floating touch technology -- much like the Galaxy Note 2. What's that? Well, turns out this device can detect your finger's presence up to 20mm away from the screen, allowing users to highlight links, but only from within the browser. Apart from that neat touch, which in practice, is a bit awkward to properly use, the phone functions exactly as it should for the low-to-mid range it occupies. Performance is appreciably quick and pages loaded up in the browser in just about 30 seconds time.

There's still no word on whether the sola will ever make it stateside, but if you're keen to see that hovering functionality in action, head past the break for a video demo and check out our gallery below.

Gallery: Sony Xperia Sola hands-on

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Continue reading Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on)

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Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia J approved, torn down by FCC in first 24 hours of its official existence

Posted on 30/08/2012 by Brad Molen

Of Sony's trio of Xperia phones announced yesterday at IFA 2012, we've now seen the smallest and most budget-friendly model -- the Xperia J -- make it through the mounds of red tape and federal approval. Fortunately for us, Sony didn't bother requesting confidentiality on the various teardown photos that typically are kept away from prying public eyes. As always, it's important to withhold any assumptions that this particular device will make it to any US carrier; FCC approvals never offer any guarantee, and the J's lack of LTE isn't going to help matters. Still, this seems like an ideal device for a prepaid operator to pick up, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, gaze upon the full teardown in the gallery below.

Gallery: Sony Xperia J FCC teardown photos

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Sony Xperia J approved, torn down by FCC in first 24 hours of its official existence originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s Xperia J arrives in style and on budget, we go hands-on

Posted on 29/08/2012 by Brian Heater

The Xperia T may have been Sony's flagship phone for this year's IFA, but the company's promised some style for a tighter budget in the form of the Xperia J -- what exactly "budget" means in this case, we're not exactly sure. The style thing we get, however -- the J's a pretty nice-looking phone and clearly in the aesthetic vein of its Sony Xperia brethren. The 4-inch FWVGA display is nice and bright (we had to turn it down a bit, even with that white Sony tablecloth in the background) and fairly shiny, offset by a matte black back.

At 9.2mm thick, Sony's talking up the handset's svelte design. And it's certainly slimmer than a lot of handsets we've seen -- though not even close to the slimmest. It's also not the most powerful handset we've seen by any stretch with a 1GHz single-core processor inside, but it does a zippy enough job with the Ice Cream Sandwich it's rocking. All in all, the J seems like a fairly solid choice for those who don't want to shell out an arm and a leg on its bigger brother -- although we'll hold off full judgement until we figure out exactly what "budget" means. Check out our hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Sony Xperia J

Continue reading Sony's Xperia J arrives in style and on budget, we go hands-on

Sony's Xperia J arrives in style and on budget, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia Tablet S hands-on (video)

Posted on 29/08/2012 by Mat Smith

Sony Xperia Tablet S handson video

Sony officially launched its new tablet here at IFA -- and it's keeping that folded-over profile. Happily, it's running Android ICS. We've just spent some time with the Xperia Tablet S here in Berlin and it's looking like Sony wants this to be the center of your media-consuming world. The new tablet pals up with the company's range of phones, bearing that familiar Xperia branding on a freshly hewn metal slab. Yes, the new tablet sidesteps the plastic build of Sony's last two tablets going for a solid metal build. Fortunately, it feels just as light in the hand, while that folded design also remains well-balanced. We're particularly pleased with the tactile finish on the folded-over surface of the tablet -- it's very grippable. Internally, we're dealing with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, while a 10-inch 1,280 x 800 IPS display will be showing off all that media and gaming content. Browse our gallery of images below and check out our hands-on video and first impressions after the break.

Gallery: Sony Xperia S tablet