Sony at CES 2012: Xperia Ion for AT&T, Google TV, Walkman Z1000, Xperia S, and more
Sony's having a huge CES 2012, with everything from LTE smartphones to Google TV devices to an Android-based Walkman for the US. We've got all the news right here!
CES 2012
Sony's new MirrorLink-enabled car head units put your smartphone in the dashboard (hands-on)
Sony's announced a number of new products this week at CES, including two car entertainment systems with MirrorLink smartphone integration. Sony's XAV-701HD and XAV-601BT feature 7-inch and 6.1-inch WVGA touchscreens, respectively, along with Bluetooth connectivity and the expected assortment of car stereo features. Where things get interesting is how they interact with your phone.
If you're not familiar, MirrorLink is an industry standard backed by various car manufacturers, as well as...
CES 2012
Sony's RDH-GTK33iP iPod dock turns your bedroom into a disco dance party
Sony is showing off a new iPhone and iPod dock here at CES that's turning quite a few heads. The RDH-GTK33iP is a 420-watt boombox with a heavy-duty design that is more reminiscent of a stage monitor than a traditional dock — and it also puts on a light show to accompany your favorite tunes. You plug in your iPhone or iPod via the included 30-pin dock connector, or hook up a memory stick or other source via the USB port, and the dock's twin speaker lights pulse through a variety of colors...
Gaming
PlayStation Vita plays augmented reality soccer (hands-on video)
Earlier today, we saw Sony's PlayStation Vita show off its AT&T cellular chops with Unit 13, and now we've got the quad-core handheld demonstrating another augmented reality title. In case you're unaware, the US and European versions of the PlayStation Vita will come with six AR cards when they go on sale this February, and you can download a bunch of games: This one is Table Football, which turns the cards into goals, grandstands and a scoreboard. You can place them however you like,...
HD & Home
Sony still working on OLED display tech, developing Crystal LED 'in parallel'
LG and Samsung are showing off crazy next-gen OLED TV prototypes here at CES, but Sony went another way with its Crystal LED prototype — it's extremely impressive, with nearly 90-degree viewing angles, but it's also prompted a lot of rumors that Sony's abandoning OLED TVs for the consumer market. We asked for clarification and it seems the truth is a little different: Sony says that Crystal LED will be developed in "parallel" to OLED for future consumer and professional applications. We...
Gaming
PlayStation Vita 3G for AT&T hands-on demo with Unit 13 (video)
There's not much left to learn about the PlayStation Vita that launched in Japan — find our full review right here — but we just got our hands on a Vita connected to AT&T's 3G HSPA network, and playing Unit 13. It's a third-person shooter from Zipper Interactive, best known for the SOCOM games, where you run from cover to cover though a series of shooting-and-sneaking missions trying for a high score. The game has actual multiplayer over Wi-Fi, but the 3G functionality allows for the...
Microsoft
Sony VAIO ultrabook prototype shown behind glass
Sony doesn't technically have an ultrabook — the VAIO Z or VAIO SB doesn't really count — but it seems Sony's planning to look at the category sometime in the future. Labeled as a "future ultrabook concept," Sony's displaying a laptop that looks a lot like its current VAIO Z. Unfortunately, it's behind glass, but from what I can tell it has a different touchpad than the current VAIO Z and is a bit thicker. That's all I could really glean from the chassis trapped behind glass, but it seems...
Sony Smart Watch (aka Sony Ericsson LiveView 2) hands-on
Last night we spotted what looked like the successor to Sony Ericsson's LiveView auxiliary display, and it's true: this is the Sony Ericsson Smart Watch. Well, it'll probably just be the Sony Smart Watch soon, given how the company recently swallowed its joint Sony Ericsson venture and has already begun rebranding. Note the lack of an "Ericsson" in that logo? Sony Ericsson reps tell us it can store 255 widgets, most of which will interact with your Android 2.1+ Sony smartphone (some work with...
Microsoft
Sony displays VAIO tablet prototypes; future Windows 8 hardware?
If you blinked while watching our Sony live blog, you likely missed Kazuo Hirai teasing of a few prototype VAIO laptop and tablets. Well, luckily, Sony's displaying them behind glass at its booth. To me, the most interesting of the two is the tablet that slides over a detachable keyboard. It's a lot like the Series 7 Slider Samsung showed last year (it never came to market), but the tablet separates from the base and also has a stylus. There's a short video of it behind glass below, but if I...
Apple
Sony iPad-compatible Wireless speaker docks hands-on photos
Despite launching its own PMP, Sony is still supporting the iOS ecosystem with three new iPad-compatible speaker docks that feature either Bluetooth audio or Airplay streaming. The RDP-200iP supports wireless Bluetooth streaming and is priced at $199. The RDP-XF300iP is unique in that it is the only new model with a built-in rechargable battery; it supports Bluetooth audio as well and also includes an FM tuner and a retractable speaker dock. The RDP-XF300iP will retail for $249.
The...
HD & Home
Sony Crystal LED Display prototype pictures, videos, and impressions
It's the viewing angles, really. Sony's 55-inch Crystal LED display prototype is an impressive piece, but being able to view clearly from near-90 degree angles, color intact, is quite a spectacle in person. We did our best to recapture it that from the showfloor of Sony's CES 2012 booth, which you can view in the gallery below. We spent some time watching a series of slides and video clips on the device, both in bright light and in a more cavernous unit next to an LCD TV. The colors were more...
HD & Home
Sony Google TV-powered NSZ-GP9, NSZ-GS7, and motion remote hands-on video and pictures
Sony's just announced its second stab at Google TV products with the NSZ-GP9 Blu-ray player and the NSZ-GS7 streamer. We just snuck a look at a few of them during the press conference and even lived to put The Verge up on a 55-inch HDTV.
So the remote isn't exactly what you'd expect. It's a little lighter than it looks, the entire trackpad is a button, and the keyboard is made of rubber — there's sort of a springy feel to the whole thing. Sony's done a little additional work smoothing out...
Mobile
Netflix coming to PlayStation Vita
At CES 2012, Sony has just announced Netflix is coming to the PlayStation Vita, bringing the big red streaming service to the portable device's 5-inch OLED screen. That's at a resolution of 960x544, at around 220ppi. We hope the service will work with AT&T's 3G plans when the Vita launches on February 22nd.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Ion hands-on photos and video
We just snagged some hands-on with with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ion, the company's first LTE smartphone for AT&T. It's running Android 2.3.7 with Sony Ericsson's custom skin on top, which is relatively lighter than it has been in years past, limited to a custom app launcher and the ability to pinch the homescreen to view all your widgets.
From a hardware perspective, the Ion felt solid with a evenly-curved back and didn't feel especially heavy in the hand, despite (or because of?) the...
Android
Sony Walkman Z1000 media player hands-on photos and first impressions
We got a chance to quickly take a look at the just-announced Sony Walkman Z1000 at Sony's press conference. It's running a custom Android 2.3 skin and feels quite light despite the large 4.3-inch screen. Between the bezel and space for the capacitive buttons on the bottom, it does feel large in the hand, though, despite the light weight. The 800 x 480 screen looked nice and sharp, with deep blacks and a decent viewing angle. As for the software, the skin wasn't the most appealing thing we've...
Sony Xperia Ion coming this spring on AT&T: LTE, 4.6-inch 720p display, 12MP camera
After launching the Xperia Play in September, AT&T is back with the Sony Xperia Ion, one of the first Xperia devices to drop the Ericsson name. If you can look past the fact that it's launching on Android 2.3, you'll notice that this is one of the most muscular phones ever to hit the market thanks to a 4.6-inch 720p display, a 12-megapixel Exmor R primary camera that's advertised to go from standby to ready in 1.5 seconds, NFC, and LTE — a first for Sony's line. It comes housed in an...
HD & Home
Sony SA-N310 and SA-N410 HomeShare wireless speakers bring AirPlay and DLNA to CES 2012
Sony's CES 2012 blast continues with the introduction of two new HomeShare Network speakers. Both of the new SA-N310 and SA-N410 AirPlay speakers promise 360-degrees of "room filling sound" via AirPlay or DLNA sources just like the company's flagship $399 SA-NS500 HomeShare rechargeable speaker. That means you can stream and control music from your iOS devices over AirPlay, from PCs and some Android devices over DLNA, and from direct music streams from services like Slacker and Pandora....
CES 2012
Sony BDP-S70 Blu-ray player upscales to 4k resolution, supports Skype webcams
Sony just announced its 2012 line of smart Blu-ray players at CES, and the highlight is the BDP-S790, which can upscale "any content" to 4K. We're don't know exactly how that'll look, but we're guessing it'll be a lot like scaling DVD to 1080p — so probably just good enough to hold you over until true 4K content becomes more readily available. The S70 also features built-in Wi-Fi with the usual Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu support, but you can also connect an optional camera and use Skype,...
Mobile
Sony Ericsson's rebrand to Sony starts today
With the announcements of the Xperia S and Xperia Ion, Sony's buyout of Ericsson from their decade-old mobile joint venture enters a new phase: these are the first phones to be announced with Sony branding alone. The Japanese giant is quick to note that the deal isn't technically closed just yet — it's still "subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals" — but with two phones now announced featuring the Sony-only branding, confidence must be very high.
Perhaps...
Sony tries Google TV again with motion controls, voice search, and gaming
Sony just announced two new Google TV devices at CES: the NSZ-GP9 Blu-ray player and the NSZ-GS7 media streamer. Both feature a new remote with a backlit keyboard, a touchpad with gesture navigation support, and three-axis motion sensing for gaming. (We're guessing that means phone-style tilt and rotation, not full six axis control like the PS3, but we'll have to confirm that.) The Blu-ray player remote also has a built-in microphone so you can access Google voice search and find content...
Sony Walkman Z1000 media player coming this spring: Tegra 2 and Android 2.3 for $249.99
After teasing its Walkman prototype at IFA and then releasing it just in Japan, Sony's finally coming clean with all the US release details. While the Walkman NWZ-Z1000 is very clearly an iPod Touch and Galaxy Player 4.0 competitor, it has the specs of a high end smartphone, including a Tegra 2 processor, 4.3-inch, WVGA display, and Android 2.3 And we're not talking a crippled version of Gingerbread: it has access to the Market and all of Google's services. While it's definitely an Android...
Android
Sony Xperia S first hands-on
Want to know what a Sony Ericsson phone looks like without the Ericsson? Here you go: the Xperia S, presented here today at CES 2012. Oddly, the live phone still has the old-school Sony Ericsson branding, so it's hard to say what's going on here — it's entirely possible that this prototype was made prior to the Sony-only press photos we've seen today.
We just had a few brief seconds with the phone so far, but stay tuned for more shots and impressions and soon as we can get them. We've...
