Sony Updates its Walkman, Movies, and Album Apps for Android (video)

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 7, 2013 | 3 comments
Sohrab Osati

Sony Android 4.2 Walkman Album Movie App

It’s only  been a few days since Sony rolled out a new update for their Socialife app for Android and Windows 8 with a free new look and functionality and the company is already rolling out another series of updates. This time, exclusive to their Android fleet, Sony is updating their Walkman, Movies, and Album apps with better integration of your media that resides in the cloud. Lets talk details.

WALKMAN

  • Sony’s Music Unlimited integration – with universal search across local and cloud content
  • New social features making it easy to discover, play and share tunes on your social channels
  • Gapless, smooth playback

Besides its social features, the biggest upgrade to the Walkman app is the ability to search for your music which may be stored on your device or in the cloud through Music Unlimited.

Movies

  • Seamless access to Sony’s Video Unlimited
  • A revamped UI with a banner video function for trailers and recently played videos

In addition to UI tweaks, Sony’s Video Unlimited service will now be built into the movie app to help make discovery and purchase of content easier. This will also likely introduce the service to millions who own Sony Android smartphones but have had no idea of Sony’s media services.

Album

  • PlayMemories Online integration – ability to upload to, access, browse your PlayMemories library in the cloud
  • Recall Playback, that intelligently displays and reminds you of memories, occasions and events
  • Favourites – let’s you *star* your best snaps, for easy viewing later

Lastly, the Albums is getting Sony’s PlayMemories Online built in which previously required another app. This means that, again, users will be aware of features that Sony offers (think Photo Stream from iCloud) that they previously might not have otherwise known about. Good moves all around. If enabled, the added functionality appears in the same photos and music that previously lacked those features.

According to Sony:

 The update will be available for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z (& Xperia Z Ultra) users running JB 4.2 – you’ll receive a notification when it’s available, and following that, you’ll be able to download/install over-the-air via Update Center, from which you’ll also be able to launch the new apps straight away. 

Sony has just begun upgrading its fleet of new devices to Android 4.2.

Discuss:

What other improvements would you like to see come to Sony’s native media apps?

[Via Sony]