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Sony at Mobile World Congress 2012

Sony broadened its Xperia selection during MWC 2012 with a few new phones and some market expansions. The Xperia Ion was announced for worldwide distribution, and the previously-announced Xperia S was released. Sony also announced the Xperia P and Xperia U, both of which are smaller versions of the Xperia S.

  • Chris Ziegler

    Feb 28, 2012

    Chris Ziegler

    Sony: Android 'doesn't eliminate us from examining other opportunities'

    Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia U hands-on pictures
    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.

    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 the platform, and from there, it's a relatively short leap to build out a full-fledged handset. Sony chief Kaz Hirai himself has hinted that porting the Vita's OS to phones and tablets could be a compelling proposition, which — if implemented correctly — could short-circuit many concerns about the death of the dedicated portable gaming market.

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  • Ross Miller

    Feb 26, 2012

    Ross Miller

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

    Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia U hands-on pictures
    Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia U hands-on pictures

    Performance seems decent enough — no obvious lagging in the time we had. The Sony rep couldn't give us a price, except to say that it will launch as the most affordable Xperia phone — and depending on that price, we could see it holding up pretty well in that tier.

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  • Nilay Patel

    Feb 26, 2012

    Nilay Patel

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

    xperiap
    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 says it'll deliver an Android 4.0 update in the middle of Q2. Obviously that's disappointing, but there's still some interesting stuff going on: integration with all of Sony's content services, and a zero-lag camera that can go from "sleep to snap" in just a second. There's also the SmartDock with TV Launcher app, which mirrors the phone's display on a TV over HDMI. Output is at 1080p, and you can control the phone with your TV remote over HDMI-CEC. If you've got an older TV, the dock has two USB ports, so you can plug in a wireless keyboard and mouse and control the phone that way. It's all a little clunky and weird since the TV Launcher UI is just a bunch of shortcuts to regular Android apps that look silly on a TV, but it works.

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  • Nathan Ingraham

    Feb 26, 2012

    Nathan Ingraham

    Sony introduces Xperia P SmartDock for a 'full PC experience'

    Gallery Photo: Xperia P SmartDock with TV launcher hands-on
    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 SmartDock includes USB ports and for hooking up your peripherals with cables — we're checking to see if Bluetooth works as well.

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  • Jamie Keene

    Feb 26, 2012

    Jamie Keene

    Sony Xperia Ion launching worldwide this summer

    Gallery Photo: Xperia ion hands on pictures
    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 software adds only a couple of light customizations over the stock Android 2.3.7 experience.

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  • Adi Robertson

    Feb 26, 2012

    Adi Robertson

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

    Xperia U
    Xperia U

    It will come to the market globally in the middle of Q2 2012; T-Mobile UK has just confirmed that they plan to carry the phone and launch it during that timeframe.

    Be sure to check out our hands on!

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Feb 26, 2012

    Dante D'Orazio

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

    Gallery Photo: Sony Xperia S hands-on
    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 smartphone from CES and our product database for more details, and we'll let you know when Sony lets us know how much the Xperia S will cost you.

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