Sony today announced that the Sony Xperia Z3 is coming to Canada this fall. This phone is waterproof, it comes with a great camera, screen and outstanding battery life. It should be really attract a lot of attention when it hits the street. Telus has already reached out that they’ll be carrying this phone. I’ve asked them for one to review and when I get one, you can expect a review shortly thereafter.
Archive for Sony
Sony Xperia Z3 Coming To Canada This Fall
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony, Telus on October 1, 2014 by itnerdSony’s Announces Their New Hi-Res Audio Products
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony on August 23, 2014 by itnerdFrom noise cancelling headphones to wireless speakers, Sony Canada’s premium audio line-up captures the very essence of the Hi-Res audio experience, allowing music lovers to experience superior sound and hear music as it was meant to be heard.
HD Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer (HT-ST7) – $1,299.99
Sony sets the (sound) bar high with this wireless premium audio subwoofer. The HT-ST7 offers true 7.1 surround sound delivered by seven amplifiers powering nine individual speakers – all in a single bar design. Designed with the help of award-winning Hollywood sound engineers, the HT-ST7 appropriately features 450 watts of full-range Dolby TrueHD sound. Users can plug into one of the three HDMI inputs with ease, connect wirelessly with Bluetooth, or use NFC for simple one-touch streaming from an NFC-compatible tablet, phone or iOS device.
Ultra-Premium Hi-Res Bluetooth Speaker (SRSX9) – $699.99
This portable premium audio speaker looks small, but it has the power to deliver massive sound allowing users to fill the room with music, not speakers. The X9 features 154 watts, eight digital amps, seven speakers and is engineered to deliver the true Sony sound experience via pure High-Res audio bliss. Users can stream music from apps and devices via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. And together with Sony’s best sound technologies, can enjoy the lowest bass and the highest harmonics in pure 192kHz/24bit High-Res audio. The X9 can even upscale existing music to near High-Res quality.
MDR-10R Series Bluetooth Headphones – $249.99
These headphones promise to be everything great headphones should be by offering the true Sony sound experience, superior comfort and the freedom from wires – letting users enjoy Hi-Res premium audio on-the-go, anywhere they go. They bring out the most in music with wide-frequency, 40mm drivers and Beat Response Control for strong bass. With super comfortable ear pads, plus 17 hours of battery life, users won’t have to worry about missing a beat.
Check out your local Sony Store or online and hear the difference.
Sony Annouces Xperia C3… A Smartphone For Selfies…. Cue The End Of The World
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony on July 8, 2014 by itnerdThis whole selfie craze has gotten out of hand in my opinion. Exhibit A is this announcement from Sony of their new smartphone, the Xperia C3:
“Xperia C3 is a unique new smartphone from Sony, created to offer the ultimate social sharing experience with a new powerful ‘PROselfie cam’. It also presents a combination of the best of Sony, with leading digital imaging technology and brilliant specs and performance all for a mid-range price” says Calum MacDougall, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.
“The rise of selfies shows no signs of abating – its usage has increased by 17,000% since 2012 with the word officially being added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. We’re excited to offer SONY’s first ‘PROselfie Smartphone’ and play a part in this global phenomenon.”
For those of you who care about the specs, here’s what this phone is packing:
- 5.5-inch 720p display
- 8MP camera on the back
- 5MP camera on the front with an 80 degree field of view to optimize your selfie
- Built in apps to optimize your selfie habits
- A quad-core 1.2GHz processor
- 8GB internal storage with 1GB RAM
- Android 4.4 KitKat
- LTE with dual SIM capability
The phone is scheduled to start shipping in China this August. No word on when the rest of the planet descends further into selfie hell gets this phone. Below is a video that highlights the phone and many of its key features:
Sony SmartBand Available Now At Rogers
Posted in Commentary with tags Rogers, Sony on June 4, 2014 by itnerdThe Sony SmartBand SWR10 is now available at select Rogers stores, dealer locations and Rogers.com.
The SmartBand with complementary Lifelog app lets users track their fitness goals, social activities, and special life events. The wearable connects to your smartphone to let you see how active you are and how you’ve been communicating with your world. In addition, the waterproof device provides smartphone notifications (SMS, calls, alarm, etc.) and can act as a remote control for your smartphone’s music player.
New and existing Rogers customers who purchase select Android devices on an eligible 2YR Share Everything plan can purchase the SmartBand for $24.99 starting today until July 13, 2014, or while quantities last. In addition, a special limited Brazil Edition, the Official Smartphone Accessory of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, will be available exclusively through select Rogers stores while supplies last! I’ve included an image of the Brazil Edition below.
For more information on eligible devices and plans please see Rogers.com/Sony.
Sony Considers Recalling Vaio Laptops Over Battery Overheating Issue
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony on April 11, 2014 by itnerdIf you own a Sony Vaio laptop, specifically the VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC, then you need to pay attention to this. Sony posted a note on their website that suggests that you stop using these laptops because the battery can overheat and cause burns to the laptop’s case. You can see if you’re affected by checking for this model number: SVF11N13CXS. If you have this model number, I’d stop using the laptop. Now they haven’t actually recalled the laptops at the time. But they are working on a way to replace the PCs (as the batteries are built into them) or issue refunds. Details on that should be available in 2 weeks.
Sony Shutters eBook Store… Users Get Transferred To Kobo
Posted in Commentary with tags Kobo, Sony on February 6, 2014 by itnerdSony, fresh off of selling off their PC division and spinning of their TV division, announced one more thing late today. Their Reader eBook service in North America is shutting down and moving users to the Kobo ecosystem:
Sony Electronics, together with Kobo, a global leader in eReading, today announced that Kobo will provide Sony’s Reader™ and Sony’s Xperia® tablet and smartphone users in the United States and Canada with Kobo’s world-class catalogue of more than 4 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers, graphic novels, and kids content. Sony’s Reader Store customers and their current eBook libraries will transfer to the Kobo ecosystem starting in late March. Reader Store customers will be able to take advantage of Kobo’s new dedicated Kids Store and magazine experience, and have full access to purchase the most popular bestsellers.
As part of the deal, Sony will preload Kobo’s Android app on its Xperia phones and tablets, and existing Sony Reader Store customers will have the option of migrating their libraries over by late March. However, the company is warning that a “very small number of Reader Store titles” may not be available on Kobo. So, if you fall into that category, you’re encouraged to download the files for offline use.
Sony To Unload Vaio PC Business… Spin Off TV Business
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony on February 6, 2014 by itnerdHere’s a sign that the PC business isn’t what it once was. Sony has decided to sell off their PC business. Here’s the details from CNet:
The Japanese electronics giant had been in talks with investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, according to earlier reports. That deal is now official, according to Sony.
Sony “has determined that concentrating its mobile product lineup on smartphones and tablets and transferring its PC business to a new company established by [Japan Industrial Partners] is the optimal solution,” Sony said.
Sony, which plans to cut about 5,000 jobs as part of the sale, also revised its full year forecast to a loss of 110 billion yen ($1.1 billion) from a profit of 30 billion yen.
They’re not done there:
And the TV operations will be spun off into a separate unit.
“Sony has decided to split out the TV business and operate it as a wholly-owned subsidiary. The targeted timeframe for this transition is July 2014,” the company said in a statement.
Seeing as the PC business is shrinking, I’m not shocked by this. What I am shocked by is that Sony would sell off their TV business. I always thought that it was a money maker for them. I guess not. One thing does concern me. Vaio PCs aren’t exactly off the shelf. I hope there are plans to continue support. The story that I linked to does say that they will, but for how long? I’ve seen support disappear after a year or two so this is something that will have to be watched carefully.
Outside The PS4 Launch At Best Buy
Posted in Commentary with tags Sony on November 14, 2013 by itnerdAs I type this, it’s one hour before sales of the Sony Playstation 4 begin. I’ve never been to one of these launch events so I took a trip down to the Best Buy store at Yonge and Dundas in Toronto to see what it was like. Here’s what I found.
A couple of hundred people were lined up outside the store hoping to score themselves a PS4. It was a cold night so Best Buy staff were serving Starbucks hot chocolate:
Sony and Best Buy set up tents to allow those in line and passers by to try the PS4. In this case, they’re playing NBA 2K14. I thought it was a live basket ball game at first. It was that good:
Here, one individual plays Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. Visually, it looked impressive.
Meanwhile, a DJ spun some dance tracks from his MacBook to keep things lively:
And some famous Play Station Characters such as Edward Kenway (Assassin’s Creed) and BumbleBee from the Transformers:
Not to mention the God Of War and some of his friends:
And here’s what they’re lining up for. The Playstation 4. As I type this, some lucky people will be getting their hands on them.
I did have a chance to try one out briefly. All I have to say is that the system is so good that it’s reached almost movie quality. Plus the controller has been redesigned so that it’s much easier to hold and won’t fly out of your hands if your hands get sweaty. Of course that’s a quick seat of the pants impression based on limited usage. The real feedback will come from those who are lucky enough to get one tonight. If that’s you, post a comment and share your thoughts on the PS4.
Review: Sony Xperia Z1
Posted in Products with tags Sony, Telus on October 25, 2013 by itnerdHere’s one of two extra reviews that I’m adding to this epic week of reviews. This review is of the Sony Xperia Z1 smartphone provided to me by Telus. Now I did have a look at this phone a couple of weeks ago at a Sony event, and my first impressions haven’t changed. After taking it out of the box, I was impressed by the glossy back and glossy screen. It does have one downside. both sides of the phone attract fingerprints like crazy. And those fingerprints do interfere with the image on the screen. Thus you should keep a micro fibre cloth handy. You’ll need it. Having said that, the 5″ screen is great as it runs at 1080P and the quality looks as good as it would on a Sony TV. Not a shock as Sony brought its knowledge from making top shelf HDTVs to this phone. The edges of the phone have aluminium surrounding it which makes the Z1 look really classy. There are removable covers for the MicroSD card slot, SIM card slot, and the USB port. They kind of remind me of similar covers on the BlackBerry Q5, only they look more rugged than the ones on the Q5. One thing I like is the position of the power button which is on the right side of the phone. It’s a natural position and it’s placement makes sense. Now one big feature is the fact that it’s waterproof (To the IPX5 standard which states that it’s protected against low pressure water stream from any angle and the IPX8 standard which states that it is protected against continual water submersion in under water conditions) and dust resistant (To the IP5X standard). So if you like to use your phones in extreme environments, this is the phone for you. I should note that I didn’t feel brave enough to test how waterproof it was as it is not my phone.
In terms of speed, it’s got plenty as it has a 2.2 GHz processor that makes things feel snappy. Plus it comes with the usual WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, and LTE connectivity. In terms of the latter, I got an average of 20 Mbps downstream and 7Mbps upstream. Not the fastest I’ve tested, but far from being slow.
Sony has brought a customized version of Android 4.2.2 to the Z1. Some things that stand out to me about what Sony has done with this version of Android:
- A lock screen that lets you add up to six widgets that can be seen without needing to unlock the phone.
- The “Personalization” screen includes the ability to customize Quick Settings that are accessed from the notifications pull-down.
- A menu on the app drawer (activated by a swipe from the left edge of the screen) makes it easy to organize, uninstall and search for apps.
- Sony has added a number of its own apps including its Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited storefronts, as well as PlayStation Mobile which is Sony’s own app and gaming platform. Plus hooks into various types of social media.
A note about typing. The Z1 is one of a number of phones that use haptic feedback (a slight vibration) as you type to make it “feel” like you’re typing on a real keyboard. But for whatever reason, I found it to be distracting and I ended up turning it off. I’m not sure why that bothered me as it generally hasn’t on other phones with haptic feedback.
Now, Sony went the same people who do their digital cameras to get the 20MP shooter that’s in this camera. However, 20MP resolution is only available in the 4:3 aspect ratio. I shot this picture below outside of Pearson Airport in the 16:9 aspect ratio. That means that the image drops to 8MP. Not that it makes a difference in terms of the quality of the image. Click on it to see it in full size:
A couple of things to note about the camera. First, this was the last of four photos that I shot in quick succession. That makes it perfect for action or sporting events. Second, the quality of the image is top shelf. It’s clear, detailed, and crisp. That is also true of the video. Set it to full screen and 1080P to see it as I filmed it:
The sound quality is good and the image quality is good even on the windy day that I shot this video. If you want an Android phone with a great camera, this is the one for you.
In terms of battery life, it’s outstanding. I got almost a day and a half when I used it as my daily phone. That was one of the better results that I got from all the phones I’ve been testing lately.
So, here’s my bottom line. If you’re looking for a phone that’s a great jack of all trades, look at the Sony Xperia Z1. It does most things you can think of and for the most part it’s very competent at doing most things you want well enough that you won’t think that the phone is lacking in any way. It’s $199 on a two year term or $700 outright at Telus. That’s a competitive price for a very competitive phone with a great feature set. Android lovers should make sure the Sony Xperia Z1 is on their list.
Moto 360, Moto X (Bamboo) And Sony Xperia Z3 Hit Telus
Posted in Commentary with tags Motorola, Sony, Telus on October 31, 2014 by itnerdI just got an e-mail to let me know that Telus now has the The Moto 360, Moto X (Bamboo), and Sony Xperia Z3 as part of their lineup.
As the first round-faced smartwatch to reach the market, the Moto 360 is one great looking wearable. Aside from its charming appearance, it also acts as the perfect companion device to the Moto X and syncs with any other smartphone running Android 4.3 or higher.
Here a just a few ways the Moto 360 enhances your active and fashion-forward lifestyle:
Staying on the trend of stylish well-connected devices, the Moto X which comes in a beautiful bamboo finish, breaks the mold on what some might expect from today’s smartphone designs. Its genuine wood finish gives the device a sense of refinement without compromising performance.
Last but certainly not least, the Sony Xperia Z3, is another eye-catching smartphone. The Z3 goes beyond its sleek appearance by being one of the first devices to be fully water-proof. Under-water photography anyone? Or maybe you would prefer some Playstation by the pool. With the ‘Remote Play’ feature you can stream your favorite PS4 games wherever, whenever.
The Moto 360 is available at Telus for $280. For more information on Moto X and Moto 360 plans and pricing, please visit telus.com/MotoX or telus.com/Moto360.
The Sony Xperia Z3 is available at Telus for $180 on a two year plan or $680 outright. More details can be found on telus.com.
I’ve put in a request to get these devices to review so stay tuned.
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