Sony Japan has unexpectedly announced the Xperia 8, a new mid-ranger with similar design cues to that seen in the Xperia 10. This is one of Sony’s first mid-rangers that has IP65/68 dust and waterproof protection. It also has a rear dual camera with a 12MP F1.8 and a 8MP F 2.4 lens combination. The front-facing camera is 8MP.
The Xperia 8 has a 6.0-inch FHD+ (2520 × 1080) 21:9 display and comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. Other features include a 2760mah battery capacity, NFC, headphone jack and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. [read more…]
Sony Mobile is rolling a new firmware update for the Xperia 1 that moves the build number from 55.0.A.6.16 to version 55.0.A.6.56. The update adds the 1 September 2019 Android security patches, but it also adds a number of stability fixes too.
This includes camera improvements, with a more optimised camera interface and improved picture quality and zoom framing. Other changes relate to the stability of Bluetooth when connecting to headsets, as well as power management enhancements. If you recently updated, please let us know what Xperia 1 improvements you have noted in the comments below. [read more…]
Sony has announced its latest flagship smartphone in the form of the Xperia 5 (J8210, J8270, J9210). As the name suggests, this sits in the middle of its 2019 flagship Xperia 1, and the mid-range Xperia 10 devices. The Sony Xperia 5 is smaller than the Xperia 1, with a 6.1-inch 21:9 CinemaWide OLED HDR display with Full HD+ (1080 x 2520) resolution, compared to the Xperia 1 which has a 6.5-inch 21:9 OLED 4K HDR display.
Sony has been careful not to use the ‘Compact’ moniker with the Xperia 5, after all when you compare it to the 4.6-inch displays of most of Sony’s older Compact models (or even the 5-inch display of the Xperia XZ2 Compact), it’s hard to justify calling a model with 6.1-inch display as ‘Compact’. However, that hasn’t stopped Sony referring to the handset as “sleek and compact” and having a “pocket friendly design” in numerous places in its press release. We’d guess that the previous ‘Compact’ form factors aren’t making a return at any time soon – this is as close as we’ll get going forward unfortunately. [read more…]
by XB on 5th September 2019
in News
Sony is very shortly due to host its IFA 2019 press conference, due at 1pm CEST today. We are expecting Sony to announce the Xperia 5, a smaller version of the Xperia 1 flagship. You can watch the livestream below, and let us know your impressions as the event unfolds. [read more…]
Sony had a mishap earlier today when it accidentally live-broadcast the video test it was doing, ahead of its IFA press conference tomorrow. We revealed last week that Sony’s latest flagship would be a smaller version of the Xperia 1, and that it would not carry the ‘Xperia 2’ namesake. Sony has instead opted to call this handset the Xperia 5, judging by the leaked screencaps.
We’ve not often understood Sony Mobile’s smartphone naming conventions, and the same applies here, so we really hope Sony explain the rationale in their press conference which is scheduled for 1pm CEST tomorrow. Apparently pre-orders will begin next week, with a European launch scheduled for October 2019. The Xperia 5 will launch in four colours (black, white, blue and magneta). [read more…]
by XB on 2nd September 2019
in News
Sony Mobile’s operations is run out of two main offices, one in Japan and the other in Sweden. The Japanese entity is called ‘Sony Mobile Communications Inc’, while the office in Sweden is called ‘Sony Mobile Communications AB’.
Local Swedish media is reporting that the Lund office is cutting a further 60 jobs, which is on top of the 200 jobs that was announced at the end of last year. Those at risk include both engineers and support staff. This is part of the continuing savings programme where Sony Mobile is looking to halve costs by the end of March next year. [read more…]
We reported yesterday on the first pictures of Sony’s newest handset expected to launch at IFA 2019. The device will not be called the Xperia 2 – instead, you need to think of it as a smaller sibling device to the Xperia 1. This new Xperia is likely to have a 6.1-inch 21:9 display with flagship features, including a triple-camera setup, as seen in the Xperia 1.
Winfuture.de has the scoop on further leaked press images which shows off the three colours (Black, Navy and what looks like Crimson Red) across all angles. It confirms much of the detail we saw yesterday – unfortunately there’s no return of the headphone jack for those keeping their finger’s crossed. You can check out some of the images below, or check out the source link for the full gallery. [read more…]
Sony Mobile will be launching new hardware at the IFA 2019 tradeshow on 5 September at 1pm CEST (12pm BST). That shouldn’t be much of a surprise, Sony has launched new Xperia handsets at the Berlin-based tradeshow for as long as we can remember. What we are able to share are the first pics of the latest Xperia flagship.
You can see that it sports a similar 21:9 form factor as the Xperia 1, as well as a triple-camera set up – although the location of the latter has moved from the middle to the top left. Judging from the photos, Sony has kept the dedicated camera button, with other button placement similar to the Xperia 1, including the recessed fingerprint sensor. [read more…]
The Sony Xperia 1 is the company’s first smartphone to sport a triple-lens camera setup. While the phone has been out for a while now, famed camera review website DxOMark has published their verdict on Sony’s latest flagship. Would DxOMark be taken with Sony’s camera prowess, or would it instead be underwhelmed?
Well, overall the Xperia 1 garnered a score of 91 (94 for Photo; 84 for Video), with a Selfie score of 78. This places it significantly lower than its peers, more than 20 points so, and more in line with last year’s budget Xiaomi Pocophone which also scored 91. [read more…]
Sony Mobile has confirmed that the Xperia Lounge app will be decommissioned by the end of August 2019. This makes it another in a long line of Sony’s mobile apps that the company will be looking to close. Xperia Lounge was Sony’s way of rewarding its users by offering competitions, news and exclusive Xperia Themes and wallpapers back in its heyday.
Sony originally had Gold and Silver members of the app, depending on whether you bought the latest flagship or mid-ranger, but it reined back on this tiering last October. Will you be sad to see Xperia Lounge go? Let us know in the comments below. [read more…]
Sony Mobile has recently been rolling out a number of firmware updates to its smartphone portfolio, adding August 2019 Android security patches in the process. Sony has released new firmware to a number of handsets including the latest Xperia 1 flagship (55.0.A.6.16), and Xperia 10 mid-rangers (53.0.A.8.71).
Other updates with August patches include the Xperia XZ2 family (XZ2, XZ2 Compact, XZ2 Premium) and XZ3 through build number 52.0.A.8.131. The Xperia L2 also saw an update with firmware number 49.0.A.6.90. [read more…]
