Sony has officially unveiled the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact, bringing a new era of design to the company’s outdated hardware lineup. Everything else internally lines up with the 2018 specs we expect from other OEMs.
Expand
Expanding
Close
In line with last-minute leaks, Sony today announced its 2018 flagships at MWC in Barcelona. Continuing a design trend that began on the mid-range at CES, Sony’s newest devices finally offer a new curvy design that houses an 18:9 display, reduced bezels, and more.
In years past, Sony has used MWC to release some of its flagship smartphones. This year looks to be no different. Here’s how to watch Sony’s MWC 2018 event live.
Sony revamped its mid-range lineup at CES with the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra that notably feature rear-fingerprint sensors that work in the U.S. Now, ahead of MWC 2018, Sony’s flagship XZ2 and XZ2 Compact have leaked with the latest specs, 18:9 displays, and a new design.
Continuing the Google Assistant onslaught at CES 2018 is Sony with new Bluetooth headphones, including a truly wireless pair and neckbuds. However, what’s notable is the company retroactively adding Assistant to its older headphones through an upcoming software update.
Google Assistant finally made its debut on Android TV a few weeks back on the Nvidia Shield TV, but its expansion hasn’t continued much in the time since. Today, however, Sony has finally announced that Google Assistant is starting to roll out to its various Android TVs.
Every six months or so, Sony releases a new flagship phone to the world that looks more or less exactly like the last one. The previous Sony phone we reviewed, the Xperia XZ Premium, brought one of the first mobile 4K displays and an ultra-glossy glass design.
Conversely, the Xperia XZ1 shrinks down in display size and resolution, and instead opts for a matte aluminum design. It carries over some of the best features of the XZ Premium and improves on others, but is it enough to be worth your time and money?
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen pretty substantial leaks for both the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact. Sony took the stage at IFA in Berlin this morning to talk about some of its upcoming products for the rest of the year and beyond, and as we expected, part of the company’s press conference was dedicated to talking about Sony’s two new flagship smartphones.
Following Google Assistant’s hardware SDK from earlier this year, third-parties are finally stepping into the smart speaker game with their own hardware. Today at IFA 2017, Sony has announced its first smart speaker, and it has some, familiar attributes.
IFA 2017 is well underway, and although LG’s V30 announcement might have been the highlight for a lot of people, there are still plenty of new gadgets and product announcements to talk about. Following LG’s event earlier this morning, the next company that will be taking the stage is Sony.
IFA will officially be starting on September 1, and throughout the event, we’re anticipating a lot of new device announcements/launches. One company’s presence that we’re looking forward to seeing is Sony, and a new batch of renders for the Xperia XZ1 has us salivating over the device more than ever.
The fall smartphone season will soon be well underway, and we’re currently expecting Sony to release two new devices with the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact. Pricing details were reportedly leaked on Twitter, and if these are to be believed, Sony’s latest won’t be cheap.
Yesterday, CompareRaja partnered with OnLeaks to provide full device specifications and renders for Sony’s upcoming Xperia XZ1 flagship smartphone. Today, OnLeaks has buddied up with 91Mobiles to showcase the XZ1’s little brother, the Xperia XZ1 Compact.
One of Google Home’s best features is the ability to throw content from Netflix and YouTube to Google Cast devices, and Amazon is finally catching up in this department. After introducing Alexa control for the Fire TV last week, Sony has revealed that users will be able to use their Amazon Alexa devices to control the company’s Android TVs, something Google Home cannot yet do.
Sony has never had a strong presence in the Western smartphone market, but that doesn’t mean its phones aren’t worth your time. The Japanese company was one of the first to introduce water resistance on a smartphone, as well as a two-stage camera button (at least on the Android front), and now it’s the first and only manufacturer with a 4K phone.
These days, 1080p is still perfectly fine for the vast majority of users, and a lot of people can’t even tell the difference between 1080p and QHD on such a small screen anyway. So why is Sony cramming even more pixels into its latest superphone? Well, simply put, because it can.
As part of E3, Sony today announced it will launch a new collection of games branded “PlayLink” that will support cross-platform gameplay experiences between PS4 and mobile devices including Android devices. The games will be built with a second screen experience and group play in mind, meaning they’ll take full advantage of opportunities for touchscreen controls, cameras on mobile devices, multiple devices and more.
The games will work together with smartphones and tablets via a companion app that Sony confirmed will be available for both iOS and Android. For the most part, the games appear to use mobile devices as controllers, offering a second screen experience while playing games with others on a PS4 in the living room:
Sony tends to play it pretty safe with its smartphones, but the company is going way outside of its comfort zone with one of its latest products. The Sony Xperia Touch is a crazy Android-powered projector, and today Sony has finally revealed how much it will cost and when you can buy it.
Sony’s Android smartphones tend to fly under the radar, but some have proved quite popular in certain regions. The company’s Xperia XZ was very popular last year, and upcoming flagships look very promising. However, in an effort to refine its smartphone efforts, Sony is apparently planning to ditch some of its less popular lines which it calls “premium standard.”
Sony expanded its Xperia lineup back at MWC 2017 with a few new phones, and now one of them has gone up for sale on Amazon. It’s the Sony Xperia XZs, which, as its name suggests, is a slightly-modified version of the Sony Xperia XZ that the Japanese giant launched last year.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Android O doesn’t look all that different from Nougat on the surface, but under the hood it packs numerous enhancements. Apparently, Google didn’t decide what Android O would be on its own, with some Android partners contributing bits and pieces, including Sony…
I want to put a disclaimer at the very top of this post: I have used the Xperia XZ Premium for about twenty minutes in one of Sony‘s booths at Mobile World Congress, and everything that follows is just a brief recap of my experience combined with my quick chat with the company’s reps. It therefore isn’t meant to give a final judgement by any means — but we know that the product may be of interest for more than a few, so I’m here to tell you what my very first impressions were…
The thing that immediately struck me about the Xperia XZ Premium is… Sony’s philosophy behind it. There were other OEMs are trying to push design boundaries (like LG and most likely Samsung) or deliver overall compelling packages with a few standout features (like Huawei‘s P10 or even BlackBerry‘s KeyOne). Sony, reluctantly, is simply keeping its own path, seemingly looking at the competition uninterested, from afar.
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain has been in full gear all week, and that means almost all of the biggest Android OEMs are getting together to show off their latest phones, tablets, and other gadgets. Now that things are winding down here in the last couple days of the show floor being open, let’s take a look at all the devices that were announced by Samsung, LG, Sony, Huawei and others…
In addition to its just-announced XZ Premium flagship, Sony took on Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress to introduce three new devices that (hopefully) cover just about any performance and quality point on the road between the mid and high end.
They are the Xperia XZs, the XA1 and the XA1 Ultra. Let’s check them out…
Between all the “X” and “Z” phones released in the past year or so, we all got a little confused. Sony‘s strategy, in particular, seemed everything but clear in regards to its devices’ hierarchy. However, using Barcelona’s MWC as a platform, the Japanese firm announced what it explicitly labels as its “flagship”: the Xperia XZ Premium.
More info after the jump…
