A few days ago we reported that Sony Mobile had ceased development of its Xperia Home launcher, with the app entering a maintenance phase and that the Beta community would soon close.
Now we don’t know why Sony couldn’t have mentioned this earlier, but the reason for stopping development on the current version of the Xperia Home launcher is because Sony is working on a new Xperia Home app. This was confirmed by Erika Prymus, one of the Xperia Home dev team. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile Taiwan officially announced the Xperia XZ2 Premium at a press event earlier today. The dual-camera toting Xperia XZ2 Premium will see a selective launch globally, particularly focused on Asian markets – there is no word whether we will see the handset appear across Europe right now. In today’s conference, Sony confirmed that the handset will hit retail in late July 2018, with pricing details appearing closer to launch.
ePrice was at the launch event and managed to get hands-on with the Xperia XZ2 Premium, as well as comparing it with the Xperia XZ2. While both devices have what appear to be similar sized displays – 5.8-inch for the XZ2 Premium and 5.7-inch for the XZ2 – the different aspect ratios (16:9 for XZ2 Premium and 2:1 for XZ2) means that the XZ2 Premium is wider in the hand, despite the similar length. [read more…]
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Google announced the Android Enterprise Recommended Program back in February, designed to highlight which Android devices are suitable for business. Devices added to the program must follow certain parameters, such as updating to the latest Android security patches within 90 days, and providing these updates for at least 3 years.
These devices also need to have at least one major operating system update. In addition, there are a number of hardware requirements, which you can read more about here. The advantage of being on this list is that it gives enterprise a Google-approved list of Android devices from which to deploy across their businesses. [read more…]
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Sony is on a roll at the moment in terms of updating their handsets to the latest June 2018 security patches. Today, we are seeing an update to the Xperia X and X Compact, which moves the build number from 34.4.A.2.70 to 34.4.A.2.85.
The latest budget smartphone from Sony, the Xperia L2, has also seen an update roll with June 2018 security patches, moving the build number from 49.0.A.4.55 to 49.0.A.5.70. Let us know your impressions of either update in the comments below. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile is likely to announce new Xperia hardware at the IFA 2018 tradeshow in Berlin, at the end of August. That’s not a surprise, as it has been that way for a number years. Well some pictures have been doing the rounds, purported to that of a prototype of the next Xperia flagship – the Xperia XZ3.
Now don’t go expecting a departure on the design front – the handset looks very similar to the Xperia XZ2, while the rear shows the use of a dual camera lens and sensors in a similar configuration to that of the Xperia XZ2 Premium. There’s no change to the placement of the fingerprint sensor either, and it may prove to be too far down for some. [read more…]
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The next in Sony’s roster of Xperia smartphones to be updated to the latest 1 June 2018 Android security patches are the Xperia XZ, Xperia XZs and Xperia X Performance. This follows on from a similar for the Xperia XZ1 and XZ2 families in the last few days.
The new update moves the build number from 41.3.A.2.128 to version 41.3.A.2.149, and keeps the phone on Android 8.0.0 Oreo. If you have updated, please let us know what changes you’ve noticed. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile has updated the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact flagships with a new firmware update with build number 51.1.A.4.225. This latest update adds the 1 June 2018 Android security patches, with a number of users also reporting of performance improvements too. If you have updated, please let us know your impressions below. [read more…]
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The Sony Mobile developers behind Xperia Home have today confirmed that they will no longer be actively developing the home launcher going forward. This news follows a similar fate that befell the Xperia Weather app. It’s certainly a shame how Sony is shuttering so many apps/services for the Xperia range.
The devs said that a “business decision has been taken that our current launcher, Xperia Home should enter maintenance phase”. So do not expect any more new features – the maintenance phase will continue for “as long as deemed necessary” according to the devs. Due to this news the Xperia Home beta community will also be shutdown in a few weeks. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile is pushing a new firmware update for the Xperia XZ1, Xperia XZ1 Compact and Xperia XZ Premium. The update moves the build number from 47.1.A.12.179 to version 47.1.A.12.205, and adds the 1 June 2018 Android security patches. If you’ve noticed any other changes, please let us know in the comments below. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile has ended new development of the Xperia Weather application. While the app will still be around for a while, do not expect any new features. This was confirmed in a recent post on the Xperia Weather Beta Google+ team, which said that “investments for new development on Xperia Weather has been cut” following a management decision.
One last new beta release is still planned, which should improve the features under the hood. Apart from that, the app will continue “in a maintenance phase” going forward, focused on bug fixes. It’s not clear if support will end completely for the app, but the devs anticipate that the app will continue to support Android Q next year under the maintenance phase. Are you an Xperia Weather user? Are you disappointed by the news? Let us know in the comments below. [read more…]
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Sony Mobile has updated the firmware for its Xperia XA1 range of smartphones, moving them to build number 48.1.A.2.21 which adds 5 May 2018 Android security patches. This update is now live for the Xperia XA1, Xperia XA1 Plus and Xperia XA1 Ultra.
In addition, we also recently saw an update for the Xperia L1, which moves the build number to 43.0.A.7.55, adding the 5 April 2018 security patches in the process. Let us know if you’ve noticed any more tangible changes with this latest firmware below. [read more…]
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