In early June, we reported on the Sony SCR30 Style Cover Window for the Xperia Z3+ (aka Z4). The case, which follows in the footsteps of other similar and fairly popular cases in the Android world due to the way notifications are displayed, is finally available for purchase for Sony’s latest flagship smartphone.
More details after the jump.
Hiroki Totoki has already discussed at length about the future of mobile and how Sony Mobile fits in it, and has even addressed the persistent rumors that Sony may exit the mobile business. Of course, the reason these conversations come up in the first place, and the elephant in the room, is the competition and how Sony has dealt with them. After the jump, Totoki talks about Sony Mobile and their competition.
Sony Mobile CEO and President Hiroki Totoki has already discussed how his division will return to profitability in 2016 and that Sony has no plans to drop out of the mobile category. Compared to ten years ago, the term mobile has greatly changed where then, it only meant portables like laptops.
Since that time and more so in the last five years, our definition for mobile has once again changed where the term now generally reflects smartphones and tables. With Totoki talking about mobile, you can either take it that Sony is looking to stick to smartphones in hopes of making progress or that he’s talking about mobile as a whole which is once again starting to change.
Today’s mobile is no longer limited to just smartphones and instead encompasses other devices like wearables, something that Sony already offers quite a few of. Under Totoki, Sony is looking to aggressively expand their wearable products and in turn, ensure that they’re not left behind when a new hot product emerges. His statements after the jump.
In the past two years, there’s been a lot of talk about Sony’s exit from the mobile space. Despite having only purchased their stake from Ericsson in 2012 which finally allowed Sony to take their mobile operations in house and truly control their own destiny, the division has yet to be profitable and in fact has been losing momentum.
Famously, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said that no division within Sony is safe, referencing that that he’s not afraid to get rid of divisions that aren’t working and will not keep them around for legacy’s sake. This alone signaled to many that mobile and television could be the next to go.
Not so fast, says Hiroki Totoki, CEO and President of Sony Mobile. His statements after the jump.
It’s not news that Sony, while showing positive signs with PlayStation and their digital imaging, has continued to struggle against its competitors. While the 2000’s were drowned in headlines about Sony’s inability to compete in televisions and the transition to LCD, the last 5 years has been about Sony Mobile and its inability to pull consumers’ end. As part of a new strategy to help the struggling division, Hiroki Totoki was named as CEO and President of Sony Mobile.
Since he took the job 9 months ago, Totoki has been on a mission to reduce costs and overheard with aims of turning the division profitable in 2016. With time under his belt, Totoki is ready to reflect on where the company is and where they’ll be going.
If you’ve been itching to buy a new flagship Sony smartphone and you live in the UK, then listen up. The SIM-free Sony Xperia Z3+ is officially on sale for £499.00 and comes in four colors: aqua-green, copper, white, and black. Previously, some colors of the Z3+ were exclusive to certain retailers though with the phone’s full rollout, you can now purchase any of the four colors directly from Sony and take it to your carrier of choice.
If you’ve been wondering about what makes the Sony Xperia Z3+ worthy of a flagship device, wonder no more – or, at least, not from Sony’s viewpoint. Featuring a healthy dose of specs like Octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and a 20-.7 megapixel camera, the Z3+ has a lot going for it. Wrap that all in a waterproof and dust-tight body with a 5.2-inch display and you’ve got yourself a flagship device.
If you want to know more about the Xperia Z3+, Sony would be happy to share more details about the phone in a new video which can be found after the jump.
Sony’s latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z3+, Z4, or Z4v (yes, they are all more or less the same unit), has begun its worldwide rollout (to some lackluster results, it seems). With the phone set to go live in more countries in the coming weeks, it’s time for Sony to begin focusing on what’s next and if past trends hold, it will be a smaller version; perhaps the Sony Xperia Z4 Compact? Those details after the jump.
The launch of any device, especially a flagship unit like the Sony Xperia Z4, is the culmination of months of planning, if not years. Building up to its release and for some time to follow, you can expect a certain kind of fanfare like television spots, promotional billboards, celebrity endorsements, and of course a full social media push. None of this is cheap as it tends to cost a company in the millions but the hope is always that with an extravagant launch comes some extravagant sales.
The Sony Xperia Z4 is no different where it launched in Japan last week to the exact scenario as I just described and just as expected, if not hoped for, the unit landed on top of the charts as the number 1 and number 2 smartphones in Japan under carriers NTT DoCoMo and au (KDDI). What followed, however, is likely the exact opposite of what Sony had planned or hoped for.
While this likely doesn’t affect a great many people out there, Sony has decided to drop support for the Dualshock 3 controller on the Xperia Z3+ and Xperia Z4 Tablet, their two new flagship devices. Previously, you could use the PS3 controller to play mobile games but that no longer seems to be the case. Curiously, older Xperia Z devices still provide support for the Dualshock 3 though it could be only a matter of time before Sony removes support on them as well.
However, all is not lost for your gaming habits. Those details after the jump.
Excuse the mouthful title as there is no easy way around it. The Sony Stainless Steel Smartwatch 3 Wrist Strap SWR510 is now available for purchase, giving a more elegant feel and design to the Sony Smartwatch 3. Thanks to Sony’s modular Smartwatch design, owners are able to pop out the main core and place them in different wrist straps.
Till now, only other plastic straps have been available in pink, black, and white. More details on this upscale wrist strap after the jump.
Sony and T-Mobile are starting to feel like high schoolers dating who are on again and off again every other week. In early April, T-Mobile would pull the Sony Xperia Z3, only to offer it for sale nearly a month later. Since before that that time, T-Mobile has also given vague assurances that Android 5.0 Lollipop would come to the Sony Xperia Z3 and Z1s with the former having finally received the latest Android build earlier this month.
After having just introduced Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Xperia Z3, T-Mobile has now pulled the phone from their online store.
Like the year before, Verizon is getting its hands on a new flagship smartphone, the Sony Xperia Z4v. This is a good sign for Sony, who has been struggling to gain any marketshare it can, seeing as Verizon is the largest carrier in the US. If the phone above looks slightly different than the Xperia Z3+ (Xperia Z4 in Japan), that’s because again like last year, the Verizon version is getting a few extra tweaks.
We’ve already covered the Sony Smart Bluetooth Speaker BSP60 fairly in depth. As a quick recap, the small portable speaker is capable of being an alarm clock, your personal assistant via voice control, and yes, it can even play music. Earlier, Sony had shown a quick video that showcased the more fun side of the BSP60 which included it dancing along with music which basically makes it a modern Sony Rolly.
Now after the jump, you can see a more practical application of the BSP60 in a new video promo that shows how the Bluetooth speaker can be incorporated in your daily routine.
It’s hard to say at this point who leaks more Sony products: the FCC, which tends to let product specs leak, like the newly revealed PS4 models, or Sony, who routinely launches website leaks and apps with information pertaining to products they’ve yet to reveal. For today, it’s a bit of a double whammy as the FCC first revealed information about the Sony SmartBand 2 SWR12 in April. Not to be outdone, Sony accidentally released a SmartBand 2 companion app with screenshots of the device and the functionalities we can expect.
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