Xperia S Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update now rolling out

There was some disappointment when Sony’s 2012 flagship handset, the Xperia S, shipped with Gingerbread on board instead of Ice Cream Sandwich. The company did promise an update, and true to its word, Ice Cream Sandwich is now rolling out to the Xperia S, bringing with it a bevy of new features. Sony has tweaked some of the entertainment apps such as Walkman, Movies, and Album, and you’ll get all the functionality that Ice Cream Sandwich brings to the table too.

Xperia S & Xperia Ion announced

Sony has just announced two new handsets at CES, namely the Xperia S and Xperia Ion.

Key Features for Xperia S

- 4.3 inch Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine with HD resolution screen (1280 x 720), as well as front (720p) and back (1080p) cameras for HD recording.
- 1.5GHz dual-core processor for fast browsing and content download, which can be stored on the internal 32GB flash storage.

- 12MP back camera with Sony Exmor R™ for mobile along with Fastest Capture to take shots in just 1.5 seconds directly from standby mode.
- NFC (Near Field Communications) enabled to access growing range of NFC applications and services as well as Xperia SmartTags.

- With HD sharing through DLNA, HDMI and using BRAVIA Sync for controlling your Xperia S with your TV remote control when connected to the TV, Xperia S delivers a full HD experience on TV.

Xperia Ion will be the first LTE handset by Sony, exclusively for AT&T.

Key Features for Xperia ion:

- 4.6-inch HD Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine with HD resolution screen (1280 x 720), as well as rear (1080p) and front (720p) cameras for HD recording.
- 1.5GHz dual-core processor for fast browsing and content download, which can be stored on the internal 16GB flash storage.

- 12MP rear camera with Sony Exmor R™ for mobile with fast-capture to go from standby to first shot in less than two seconds.
- HD sharing through DLNA, HDMI and BRAVIA Sync to quickly and easily stream content on other screens.

Sony Ericsson gearing up for CES

It's no secret that Sony Ericsson will announce new handset(s) at CES, Monday 9th January? So as a promotion, they've uploaded a couple of pics, inviting fans to take part in a contest as well, just to spice things up as the day nears. 

We all know the Nozomi is coming, with another device ( Aoba was cancelled, another device has taken its place, with supposedly similar specs) also in the fray.

All new devices will launch with ICS, so they'll be launched about the same time existing devices get the ICS update.

Thanks to Unknown13x

Sony Ericsson’s upcoming 13MP behemoth

If you thought the Nozomi was SE's attempt at upping the ante, you'll have to think again ;) 

A Bluetooth End Product List has revealed that the Sony Ericsson LT28at (heading to AT&T) is the largest 2012 Xperia leaked so far. It will be armed with a 4.55-inch Reality display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. It will be LTE enabled and come with a whopping 13MP back-illuminated camera sensor with LED flash and a 720p front facing camera.

Given the display size and camera megapixel count, this is likely to be an entirely different device. It is also possible that the Sony Ericsson LT28at will be unveiled during CES in early January.

And here are a couple of camera samples to keep you going, courtesy xperiablog! Remember to click for a bigger image.

Nozomi Screenshot leaks

A screenshot of the upcoming Xperia Nozomi has been leaked and it reaffirms the belief that the Xperia Nozomi will have a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, given away by the image resolution.

Sony Ericsson has redesigned some elements of its Android Gingerbread UI and it will launch prior to the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update in first half of 2012. The image shows the Android home screen using a new font for the clock widget. The small rectangles at the top of the screen on current firmware, showing which of the five home screens you are on, have been replaced by circles. Also the border around the four sticky icons at the bottom has been removed.

Xperia Nozomi pics leaked

GsmArena just managed to get their hands on a few live pics of Sony Ericsson's upcoming smartphone. The smartphone codenamed Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi will come with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread at launch and will be built around a 4.3" LCD display of HD resolution (1280 x 720 pixels). It will also sport a 12 megapixel camera with FullHD video recording and a LED flash.

The device will, in all probability be powered by the MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset featuring a couple of 1.5GHz Scorpion cores and the Adreno 220 GPU. A HDMI port has also been thrown into the fray. It will also have 1GB of RAM so multitasking shouldn't be an issue.

Now for a few negatives. There wont be a MicroSD slot but the device will have 16GB/32GB internal memory depending on the variant you select. Also, the handset uses a microSIM slot and the battery is non-removable.

It should be launched at CES in Jan 2012. Stay tuned for more!

Sony Ericsson preps 4.7 inches of 3D smartphone goodness

Sony Ericsson has promised to improve their commitment to the Android platform. Devices like the Xperia Arc, Pro and Play are definitely much better than last years itinerary. Just how much is Sony Ericsson working on their Android smartphones, though?

Rumors indicate Sony Ericsson is working on a 3D (glasses-free) device to compete with phones like the HTC EVO 3D and the LG Optimus 3D. Sony Ericsson’s secret smartphone is no pipsqueak, though. This guy is rumored to have a massive 4.7-inch display, blurring the line between a tablet and a smartphone. But size isn’t all that matters; the resolution on this 3D device should also be quite stunning: 1280×720p. And a pixel density of 312 ppi just short of the iPhone 4's 314ppi. There’s not much more you could ask in a 4.7-inch display.

Could Sony Ericsson be looking to rain on Apple's party by launching a new range of super smartphones including a 3D model? I wouldn't bet against it.

‘Be The Master of Games’ on the Xperia Play

Beginning today, the company will launch what it claims is India’s biggest mobile gaming tournament across 11 cities. Over the next four weeks, users will get to play its recently-launched Xperia PLAY — the world’s first PlayStation-certified smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s (Snapdragon) mobile processor, “bringing console quality gaming experience to end users”. Christened ‘Be The Master of Games’, the corporate gaming championship, according to Prasun Kumar, Marketing Head, Sony Ericsson India, hopes to reach out to more than 100 organisations.

The tournament will run across 44 Zapak Gameplexes in 11 cities. Indian gamers will come together to compete for the title of ‘Best Gamer,’ and will have the opportunity to use Sony Ericsson’s Xperia PLAY smartphone. The Xperia model has over 100 game titles and “offers a broad range of games that appeal to all types of gamers”.

While Sony Ericsson India has collaborated with India’s largest gaming company Zapak to create experiences around the Xperia PLAY, it has also partnered with Qualcomm which powers the Xperia PLAY with the Snapdragon mobile processor which “works to power the high-performance, console quality game experience on the Xperia PLAY with extended hours of game-play between charges”, according to Sandeep Sibal, vice president of Business Development for Qualcomm India and South Asia.

Sony Ericsson India has also tied up with Tata Docomo which will provide the event participants free data service (3GB) for three months. “Gaming is incomplete without data play. Here’s where Tata Docomo fits in. It will help them service high ARPU potential customers,” explains Kumar.

In India, Nokia is the leader with around 49 per cent share followed by Samsung (17 per cent), LG and Blackberry (5 per cent each), Micromax (4 per cent) and Apple and HTC (1 per cent each), according to Deloitte figures. Sony Ericsson has a market share of about 7%.

To strengthen its brand and give an impetus to its phones based on the Android (Google’s operating system for cellphones) platform in India, Sony Ericsson has also appointed P Balaji as managing director for its Indian operations. He will take charge on July 1 this year.

Xperia Ray and Xperia Active announced

Besides the txt, Sony Ericsson Announced two Android powered Xperia smartphones, the Ray and the Active.

The Sony Ericsson Ray sports a scratch resistant 3.3 inch screen with reality display. It runs android 2.3 powered by a  1Ghz processor. Its just 9.4mm thick, which does remind one of the Arc. It will also have a 8 megapixel camera with an Exmor sensor, Timescape UI and is rumoured to be built with premium materials such as Aluminium. It weighs just 100 grams and will be available in four colors, black, gold, white and pink.

The Xperia Active is designed for people with an active lifestyle. Remember the Motorola Defy? Well, its on similar lines, so we this one's water (under 1m of water for up to 30 minutes)and dust resistant too.It comes with a 3 inch scratch resistant display,(320x480 pixels) It also  features ANT+, wet finger tracking (accurately track your wet fingers),GPS, barometer, pedometer, pulse meter, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording (720p) and runs on Android 2.3 with a 1GHz processor.
The handset comes with a wrist strap, an arm case, and replaceable back covers to change the phone's back color to white. Otherwise the Xperia active will come in orange or white with a black back cover.

The Xperia ray and Xperia active will be available in Q3 2011 for selected markets, though Sony Ericsson has disclosed that the Xperia ray will definitely be available in Japan.

Xperia Duo surfaces

Photos of what could be the Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo have been posted online, hinting at a dual-core Android handset.
The pictures show a handset with a huge edge-to-edge (near enough) display and three physical buttons at the bottom of the screen – menu, home and back, presumably.
Sony Ericsson trademarked the 'Xperia Duo' name along with the Xperia Arc, Neo and Play at the tail-end of last year.

Based on the image, it can be concluded that it has got a screen probably measuring  4.3-inches or 4.5 inches. The navigational Android buttons are in the form of a thin line like other models of Xperia. The weather widget appears to be modified. Short-cut to media controls can be seen under the main dock icons.

Also, the name of the model is written in small letters, something typical of the new Xperia models like Neo or Arc. The handset is expected to come with Exmor R , 16 mp with full hd record 1080p. 

Sony Ericsson Selects NXP's NFC Solution for Its Android-Based Smartphones

NXP Semiconductors announced that its world leading near field communication (NFC) technology has been selected by Sony Ericsson for inclusion in its Android-based smartphones.

Specifically, Sony Ericsson will be implementing NXP’s NXP PN65 NFC solution for its upcoming Android-based handhelds intended for featuring mobile payments support. That NFC option will also include a radio controller, the typical NFC software and embedded security measures such as advanced cryptography.

However, neither Sony Ericsson nor Google have announced specific smartphone models that will sport this NFC power. It also has not been announced when we could expect to see these Android-based Sony Ericsson mobile devices ready to make purchases via Google Wallet.

Music Unlimited Qriocity Android App Announced

Music Unlimited’s service is based on Qriocity and is initially intended for users with Sony Ericsson Xperia phones, such as the Xperia Arc,neo, Mini, Pro,Play. Apart from Xperia smartphones, Music Unlimited will work with select third-party devices. The app is a free download from Android Market, so compatible phones can easily take advantage of the service.

Music Unlimited is powered by Qriocity and can stream music and multimedia content to devices like compatible Sony Bravia television, Sony Blu-ray player, PlayStation 3 and PSP. The service is offering a six month basic account free trial to PS3 users, which can be activated if you download the app onto your PSP.

The service contains tracks from the big music labels, including Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI, as well as independent publishers.

Sony Ericsson Urushi ST18i leaked

Sony Ericsson's upcoming smartphone dubbed as Urushi has recently appeared online in leaked images. This mobile phone has model number ST18i and is codenamed 'Urushi'.

Urushi, which could be a compact variant of its famous handset Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, is sporting a 3.2-inch touchscreen display supporting 16 million colours with a resolution of 854x480 pixels. This new handset will also pack the same BRAVIA Mobile engine technology and will support the Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) version of OS, other than some typical customizations.

The device may sport a 8-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording and a LED flash.Other specs include 335MB of RAM, a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor and an Adreno 205 CPU.

Via: GsmArena

What's new with Facebook integration

Sony Ericsson just announced they plan to bump up the Facebook integration on their XPERIA phones to a whole new level. Beyond the obvious single sign-on and contacts and calendar sync, Facebook will now show its face at numerous places throughout the Xperia user interface.

So what's new:

• There's a Like button in the music player, so you can share the tracks you like.
• The photos shared by your friends on Facebook now have a dedicated tab in the Timescape UI.
• Facebook notifications now appear alongside your mised calls and text messages on your lockscreen.
• The Android image gallery now integrates your photo albums from Facebook besides the Picasa web albums.
• A new Media discovery widget will automatically show you the videos and music shared by your friends.
• Besides getting synced with Facebook, contacts now have new tabs full of their likes, interests, wall activity, and photos and videos.

The new Facebook integration will come standard issue on the new Xperia pro and pro mini, but it will be implemented on the entire 2011 Xperia lineup via an update by Q2. 

Xperia mini and mini pro announced

It was about time now, wasn't it? Sony Ericsson finally unveiled the successors to its minis.
The Xperia mini and the Xperia mini pro, touted as the smallest HD smartphones in the world. The two Mini devices feature Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA display engine and Sony Ericsson’s custom four-corner Android UI with Timescape.

Both the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro get their power kick from 512MB RAM and 1GHz Snapdragon processors (QSD8255 for the Xperia mini and the MSM8255 for the Xperia mini pro). They also share the same 3-inch TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 480x320 pixels.
The two Minis brag the same 5 megapixel snapper with LED flash at the back. Plus, their cameras are capable of shooting 720p HD video.

In addition to these decent specifications, the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini measures at 88 x 52 x 16mm and weighs in at just 99 grams. The phone also comes with 320MB of internal storage expandable up to 32GB with a microSD card.

What makes the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro different is the sliding QWERTY keyboard as well as a scratch resistant mineral glass screen. As a result it weighs 136 grams and packs 400MB of internal memory. But don’t worry, microSD card support is still present.

Both phones come in variety of colors, Black, White and Pink. The Xperia Mini has a special Blue color version, while the Mini Pro has a Turquoise one. The Xperia mini and mini pro share the same 1200mAh battery. The devices are expected to hit the market in August this year

W8 Walkman Android phone announced

Sony Ericsson has just announced its first phone from the Walkman series to run Android. Just like its brother, the X8, the Sony Ericsson W8 sports a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a 3.2MP camera. Under the hood there's a 600MHz single-core processor ticking, with 168MB of RAM.
The W8 will run Android 2.1, which is a bit unfortunate, as most Droids on the market are now running Froyo or even Gingerbread. Nevertheless, this is the first Walkman phone to run the Google mobile OS, which will be covered by the Timescape UI. It will be bundled with the MH 410.

It will be available in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam starting from Q2 2011 in a choice of colors - Azure Blue, Metallic Red, and Iconic Orange

Xperia Play and Arc hit India

Officially launched in some European and Asian markets on April 1, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (the world’s first PlayStation certified smartphone) is now available in India too.

Indian customers can buy the Xperia Play for Rs 29,995/-

Another device that's available now is the Xperia Arc. You can make it yours for Rs 26995/-

As far as the Neo is concerned, you'll have to wait for the end of the month

Xperia Play outed, mad rush begins

Today, XPERIA Play hit the world in many markets - UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With a number of optimized games and Playstation 1 games included in the Android Market and Playstation Pocket to help the Play to a great start.
The amount of games, available for the XPERIA Play is more than 60, and they will all be downloadable in the first week. Playstation 2 games will be arriving shortly.

Four new Xperia smartphones coming

Sony Ericsson expects to launch the Xperia arc, Xperia Play and Xperia Neo during Q1, whilst the Xperia Pro will launch at some point in Q2. However, Sony Ericsson’s Chief Executive, Bert Nordberg, has revealed that in addition to these, the company plans to announce at least four new handsets by the end of the year. Whilst no details were given, he confirmed that all eight devices will be made available in the US.

Nordberg expects that new handset launches will increasingly be sold in the US first in an effort to increase market share. The US currently represents 45% of the Android market currently. He is targeting a long-term global Android market share of 25 percent, up from 14 percent currently.

The market has changed. We see a lot of our products being rolled out in the U.S. first, or in parallel when we roll it out on the global market, which is a change for this company. It has always come later in the U.S. previously. That’s a change which required us to invest,” Nordberg said.

To build market share the company is investing heavily in software developers both in the US and China. The company has tripled development staff in California to 300 in the past year whilst those in Beijing are now at 1,600, up by 60 percent.

He also went on to confirm that the Xperia Play will launch in April in the US, whilst the Chinese launch will follow three months later. All eight devices are expected to be available in China through the W-CDMA network of China United Network Communications during 2011.

Businessweek

XPERIA X10 to get Gingerbread in Q2

Whoa! Now this was a pleasant surprise, wasn't it?

Rikard Skogberg at the Sony Ericsson Product Blog today confirmed that the Sony Ericsson X10 will receive a Gingerbread update . The update will be available in the end of Q2 / early Q3 this year. Only X10 will receive the 2.3 update, not the minis or X8.

Skogberg wrote that the reason behind this upcoming update is that Sony Ericsson listens to its clients requests. On the changes that Gingerbread would bring, Mr. Skogberg had this to say: "In short, we plan to bring similar software and functionality to Xperia X10 as we have in our new 2011 Xperia smartphones. Our ambition is to provide the majority of functionality of the Gingerbread platform, as well as the Sony Ericsson specific User Experience and features."
Also some current software functions will disappear. The camera app will get the standard Gingerbread UI, Mediascape will be replaced by the newest Sony Ericsson Android media widgets, included in the Arc, Neo and Play. The Sony Ericsson Backup and Restore app will be lost since Gingerbread doesn't support it.

Source