Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- Sony showed off its new Xperia Ion smartphone in the middle of its massive booth at CES here, drawing attention to its multimedia features and sleek styling.
The Xperia Ion is the first LTE smartphone from Sony, and will be sold exclusively by AT&T in the U.S. starting in the second quarter.
The phone on display at CES was labeled Sony Ericsson, though Ericsson is no longer part of the company. The label is expected to be changed to simply "Sony" once it receives regulatory approval, a booth agent said.
Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research, said he liked the phone --"because it's just Sony now."
Many industry observers have said the Sony Ericsson partnership failed in some product areas, such as smartphones. There's been a feeling among some analysts that Sony has a strong reputation for its historic connection to music, movies and TV that will work better without Ericsson.
The new Xperia Ion pushes those multimedia capabilities with home screen controls of music and video. A 4.6-in. high definition display (1280 x 720 pixels) offers 720p video play. A 12 megapixel rear-facing still camera puts it in the upper range of what new smartphones offer, and Sony has made the rear-facing video capture 1080p, with the front camera at 720p.
All of those video capabilities should be well served by the faster AT&T LTE network, with the possibility of 10 Mbps downloads, and the phone's 1.5 Ghz dual core processor. An HDMI port will allow users to play the phone's movies, photos and video on a TV.
In the hand, the phone feels sleek. An aluminum back to the phone gives it durability and distinguishes it from many new multimedia-centric phones on the market that have a plastic composite back. One potential drawback is that there's no removable battery, something that Sony seems to have adopted from the iPhone.
The phone will launch with Android 2.3, but there's been no word on upgrade possibilities to Android 4.0, also called Ice Cream Sandwich, or pricing. By comparison, Verizon Wireless sells the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus which runs Android 4.0 for $300 with a contract.
(computerworld.com)
Jumat, 13 Januari 2012
HP TouchPad Ice Cream Sandwich CM9 port gets video tease
HP TouchPad owner but webOS 3.0.5 not doing it for you? A delicious, dripping Ice Cream Sandwich may be on its way to you sooner rather than later, with news – and a video demo after the cut – that the CyanogenMod team has managed to get custom Android 4.0-based ROM CM9 running on the short-lived slate.
“We are well on our way in terms of progress” the team says, and “hope to give you something to play with soon.” Right now there are only two main outstanding issues to overcome: the camera doesn’t work, and video playback isn’t supported. Work on the latter is apparently ongoing.
That still means there’s plenty to see today, including Angry Birds and some smooth animated fish rendering. Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth – are both supported and functional, but the CM team still isn’t giving a fixed estimate on when TouchPad owners might be able to actually download the new ROM.
(slashgear.com)
“We are well on our way in terms of progress” the team says, and “hope to give you something to play with soon.” Right now there are only two main outstanding issues to overcome: the camera doesn’t work, and video playback isn’t supported. Work on the latter is apparently ongoing.
That still means there’s plenty to see today, including Angry Birds and some smooth animated fish rendering. Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth – are both supported and functional, but the CM team still isn’t giving a fixed estimate on when TouchPad owners might be able to actually download the new ROM.
(slashgear.com)
AT&T Lumia 900 due March tips Nokia newsletter
The AT&T Nokia Lumia 900 will launch in March, according to Nokia’s Developer Newsletter, which revealed the release schedule for the LTE Windows Phone despite both carrier and company staying mum about details this week at CES. “[Lumia 900] will become available exclusively through AT&T in March” the coder-targeted newsletter confirmed, far more specific than “the next few months” as Microsoft, Nokia and AT&T have committed to.
It’s obviously in Microsoft’s best interest to give developers as much notice as possible as to the new LTE Lumia’s launch, as that gives them the opportunity to get new US-centric apps ready for its arrival. AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia are expected to spend in the region of $200m to market and promote the smartphone.
Similar to the existing Lumia 800 which has been on sale for some time now, the Lumia 900 has a larger, 4.3-inch display and packs 4G connectivity, as well as an 8-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording. Different from the Lumia 800, however, is the front-facing camera, though both handsets use Nokia’s milled polycarbonate construction.
(slashgear.com)
It’s obviously in Microsoft’s best interest to give developers as much notice as possible as to the new LTE Lumia’s launch, as that gives them the opportunity to get new US-centric apps ready for its arrival. AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia are expected to spend in the region of $200m to market and promote the smartphone.
Similar to the existing Lumia 800 which has been on sale for some time now, the Lumia 900 has a larger, 4.3-inch display and packs 4G connectivity, as well as an 8-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording. Different from the Lumia 800, however, is the front-facing camera, though both handsets use Nokia’s milled polycarbonate construction.
(slashgear.com)
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