Sony Xperia S, a.k.a. Nozomi, 4.3-inch 720p display 1.5GHz dual-core smartphone announced (video)

News

  • January 10, 2012 at 6:10 am

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Sony Xperia S 4.3-inch Android smartphone - black and white

We’ve been hearing about the Sony Ericsson Nozomi smartphone for a while. Well plain Sony now (yeah it’s finally officially dropped Ericsson) officially announced the Xperia S Android smartphone on Monday. We already knew that it was good looking but we now have the full confirmed specs for the device.

The Sony Xperia S has a large 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 gap-less optically laminated display and features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. The rear camera is a massive 12-megapixel Exmor R back-lit sensor affair and can shoot up to 1080p HD video; the front facing camera is 1.3-megapixels. You get all the typical Wi-Fi, GPS, HDMI ports together with NFC and DLNA support. The Xperia S will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, though there is no microSD card slot for expandable storage.
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Behind the tech: the benefits of Fujifilm’s X-Pro1 3-inch RGBW ‘WhiteMagic’ LCD panel

News

  • January 9, 2012 at 6:27 pm

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Sony WhiteMagic RGBW 3-inch LCD panel

The Fujifilm X-Pro1 interchangeable lens camera (MILC) has been announced and one of the lesser-known features is the shooter’s main 3-inch RGBW LCD panel. The ‘W’ stands for white, which is in addition to the standard red, green and blue subpixels normally found in LCD panels. Because of the extra white subpixel, the display is quoted as having 1,230k dots (640 x RGBW x 480).

While trying to find out more information on this new panel I stumbled upon a new LCD panel made by Sony, and trademarked as WhiteMagic. Sony began marketing this type of panel in October 2011, with a model number ACX432AKM, for digital cameras. From a first look I am pretty confident this is the LCD panel inside the Fujifilm X-Pro1.

What makes this RGBW WhiteMagic LCD panel special? Well the extra white subpixel makes the screen brighter and more efficient. This has two benefits. First off you can reduce the backlight’s power consumption by around 50% or in a different mode you can double the screen’s brightens for better viewing outdoors. For a digital camera, it means you can have better battery life while shooting indoors, or improve the camera’s usability outdoors.
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Fujifilm X-Pro1 vs. Panasonic GX1 vs. Sony NEX-7 vs. Olympus E-P3 comparison

The Lab

  • January 8, 2012 at 6:31 pm

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Fujifilm X-Pro 1 camera with 18mm lens

Digital mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILCs) have gone a long way since Panasonic released the first Micro Four Thirds camera over 3 years ago. During this time, we’ve seen practically all major camera manufacturers (except Canon) entering the space that was once the privilege of multi-thousand dollar Leica Rangefinders. Fujifilm showed us what they can do with a high-end compact camera in their excellent fixed-lens FinePix X100 shooter last year. Now, Fujifilm plans to release a new X-series MILC system led by their X-Pro1 camera.

Despite coming late to the party, Fujifilm intends to enter with a bang. The X-Pro1 has Leica-like controls with individual shutter speed and exposure compensation dials, while each lens has a manual aperture ring. Fujifilm has also improved on the X100’s hybrid electronic/optical viewfinder, and the second generation has found its way in the X-Pro1.

In our comparison below we have pitted the Fujifilm X-Pro1 against the best of the competition, the Panasonic GX1, the Sony NEX-7 and the Olympus E-P3. All four share the same rangefinder-style body, though not all come with a built-in viewfinder. It’s interesting to note that the X-Pro1 includes a number of technologies which are unique, including the new X-Trans CMOS sensor and hybrid viewfinder.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia Active survives decathlon of torture (video)

News

  • January 4, 2012 at 4:12 pm

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Active hit with hammer

We are suckers for rugged gadgets. Our lives are hectic enough and our minds are filled with all kinds of worries, like keeping you informed on all the latest gadgets, to have to worry about pampering our smartphones. We loved the Motorola Defy+ in our recent review, because of the convenience in having such a rugged phone.

Sony Ericsson’s rugged Android smartphone is called the Xperia Active. It’s a small 3-inch device with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Someone who either loves or hates his Sony Ericsson Xperia Active immensely, has gone to great lengths to torture-test the device. First, dunking it into a street puddle, then stubbing it with a swiss army knife, a cutter, a screwdriver and a chisel and finally hitting it with a hammer and a wrench. If that wasn’t enough to make you close your eyes and look away in pain, the last test involves driving over the Xperia Active and a potato with a Jeep Wrangler; guess which one survives! All three videos are after the break.
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Sony NEX-7 will begin shipping this month

News

  • December 8, 2011 at 1:22 pm

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Sony NEX-7 tilt LCD

The Sony NEX-7 is the most anticipated compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC). Although Sony’s current NEX shooters offer amazing image quality, as a result of their large sized APS-C sensor, their interface is better geared towards beginners. The NEX-7 changes this by offering a set of dials with a new control user interface and an amazing high-resolution OLED electronic viewfinder. It also pushes the megapixel envelope for MILCs, with a new 24-megapixel sensor, also found in the larger Alpha A77 and A65 single lens translucent cameras.

After some delay in actually releasing the camera, Sony USA has now confirmed that the NEX-7 will ship this month in limited quantities to early pre-orders. We had reported that Sony resumed production of the camera last month after the catastrophic floods in Thailand had halted production.

You might want to check out our opinion on the OLED EVF here, and our comparison of the NEX-7 against the best of the competition e.g. the Panasonic GX1, Fujifilm X100, Olympus E-P3 in our comparison here.
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Sony MDR-NC300D noise cancelling earbuds review

Reviews

  • November 20, 2011 at 3:18 pm

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Sony MDR-NC300D earbuds for monster noise cancelling performance

This review is part of our round-up of three active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones. We’ve already covered the excellent Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23 in-ear headphones here, and I recommend that you read that review as well. This review centers on the Sony MDR-NC300D noise cancelling earbuds and the final review will be of the Panasonic RP-HC55-S. As we’ve mentioned before, this group test only deals with the more portable earphone variety; if you read Stuff-Review you will know how much we appreciate portability and I wouldn’t imagine adding bulky headphones to my daily load.

You might also want to brush up on the terminology and technology behind active noise-cancelling headphones. Our primer, which can be found here, covers the different types of noise reduction implemented in consumer audio headphones and the differences between active noise cancellation and passive sound isolation.

In simple terms, sound isolation works by stopping sound from reaching your eardrum through soundproofing, while noise cancellation through special circuitry which create a noise-cancelling sound wave. I’m more in favor of the latter kind, simply because they offer the most comfortable experience and are more effective in cutting out constant frequency noise. Most ANC headphones offer noise isolation as well, and when you load-up your music, turn the ANC circuit on and cut-out the outside noise you are transported to a different world.

If you use any form of public transportation, or frequent any public place you cannot appreciate how much ambient noise there really is until you cut it out.
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Sony resumes NEX-7 and Alpha A65 production, NEX-7 release date edging closer

News

  • November 17, 2011 at 3:26 pm

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Sony NEX-7 front dramatic

We had reported about a month ago that Sony postponed the release of its NEX-7 high-end compact mirrorless camera as a result of the devastating flooding in Thailand. Production of the Alpha A65 together with some lens kits was also affected. Sony operates three plants in the country and has now moved production of the NEX and DSLT cameras from its affected Ayutthaya facility to a plant in Chonburi.

A spokesman from Sony USA has confirmed that production of the NEX-7 and the Alpha A65 has now resumed. The Sony NEX-7 was scheduled to be released this month, before it was postponed indefinitely. We are not sure yet when the official release will happen, but we hope that the high-end compact will arrive before the holidays. Note that the Sony Alpha A65 has already appeared at retailers but with limited availability.

The NEX-7 shares the same 24.3-megapixel APS-C sensor and the incredible 2359k dot OLED electronic viewfinder with Sony’s larger DSLT duo, the A77 and A65. You might want to check out our initial hands-on with the A65, for our impressions on the sensor and the OLED EVF.
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Xbox 360 successor and PS4 coming in 2012

News

  • November 17, 2011 at 11:48 am

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The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim concept art

Gaming magazine Edge just dropped a bomb. Some game developers have already abandoned work on the Xbox 360 and PS3 and are instead focusing on the next generation of game consoles from Microsoft and Sony, which should be released next year; just in time to take some of the joy away from Nintendo and its upcoming Wii U.

Some game developers are working with PCs based on the specifications for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor. The ‘target boxes’ include a custom AMD GPU which will find its way in Microsoft’s upcoming console. Ubisoft Montreal is one of the developers working on these target boxes. Developers should receive genuine devkits before Christmas and Edge is speculating that a finalized Xbox 360 successor should be released in late 2012.

Now on the PS side, it has been revealed that a Sony owned studio has shifted its focus to the successor of the PlayStation 3 and is involved in the development process for the graphics technology of the console.
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Panasonic GX1 vs. Sony NEX-7 vs. Fujifilm X100 vs. Olympus E-P3 comparison

The Lab

  • November 7, 2011 at 10:47 am

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Panasonic Lumix GX1 MFT camera black and silver side-by-side

With the successor to the GF1 finally announced, Panasonic is coming back strongly to the space it helped create. The Panasonic GX1 is the company’s new high-end rangefinder style mirorrless camera. But, as we’ve discussed in our initial in-depth coverage, unlike its predecessor it’s coming up against some very serious competition.

To put things into perspective, we’ve the GX1 against the top competitors from Sony, Fujifilm and Olympus. Our comparison includes the super-high-end NEX-7 with an APS-C sensor and the amazing OLED EVF, the excellent fixed lens APS-C Fujifilm FinePix X100 (full review here) and a fellow Micro Four Thirds camera, the Olympus E-P3. So, read on to check out how our new MILC holds up.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD (a.k.a. Nozomi) LT26i images leaked: 720p display and 1.5GHz dual-core processor

News

  • November 5, 2011 at 4:13 pm

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD (Nozomi)

Although information is still sketchy, images of a new Android smartphone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD (a.k.a. Nozomi), pegged as the Xperia Arc successor, have leaked over at iAndroid. The smartphone with model number LT26i, is sporting a 1280×720 (720p) resolution with a retina worthy 320dpi (dots-per-inch) pixel density, similar to the just announced HTC Rezound, with a 4.3-inch display.

The Nozomi or Xperia Arc HD is rumored to run on a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM. The Quadrant benchmark score in the pictures is 1,840; this is relatively low for such a processor, but would show how tasking it is for the GPU to drive the 720p resolution. Besides that, from the images we can see front and rear cameras and Xperia branding, while there is a white LED row at the back of the phone.

As with all current Android smartphones, this one is running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, though Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich might catch up with the Xperia Arc HD before it is finally released, making it the first smartphone by Sony Ericsson to run the latest and greatest version of Android. Besides, remember that 720p is the native resolution for Android 4.0.

More pictures after the break.
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Sony starts selling its ‘magical’ OLED panels, coming to a camera EVF or head-mounted display near you — hopefully

News

  • November 4, 2011 at 12:42 pm

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Sony OLED panels ECX331A and ECX332A

Sony has just reminded us of its recent accomplishments in organic EL display technology and, well, just how awesome its duo of small OLED displays is. Sony had announced its pair of high resolution OLED panels back in late August, which have since found their way into the company’s latest digital cameras and 3D head mounted display.

First you have the 0.5-inch ECX331A XGA (1024×768) panel, which has taken its place in electronic viewfinders (EVFs) and is one of the major selling points of the Sony A77 and A65 DSLT cameras and the NEX-7 mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera. The slightly larger, 0.7-inch ECX322A 720p HD (1280×720) can be found in the equally exciting Sony HMZ-T1 OLED 3D head-mounted display.

What’s so special about these OLED panels? Well, they offer a wide color gamut (90% of NTSC), high 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and fast 0.01ms response time, with 200 cd/m2 brightness. More importantly they pack an insane amount of pixels in a small area.

To put things into perspective, the 0.5″ ECX331A with a resolution of 1024×768 (RGB) has a pixel pitch of just 9.9μm. In comparison, the iPhone 4S with a 3.5″ 960×640 resolution retina display has a pixel pitch of 77.1μm. In layman terms, pixel pitch measures the size of a pixel; the smaller it is the harder it will be for your eyes to distinguish between them and the sharper and more lifelike the image. That means that each individual pixel (made up of three subpixels, Red, Green and Blue) on Sony’s OLED panel is almost 8 times smaller than that of the iPhone 4S display. This makes them ideal for applications where you need a compact design and you would put your eyes very close to the display, such as EVFs and head-mounted displays.
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Sony Alpha A65 in-camera JPEG vs. RAW high ISO image quality test

The Lab

  • October 28, 2011 at 1:45 pm

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Sony A65 ISO 800 test - RAW vs. JPEG vs. RAW with noise reduction applied

Having had the Sony Alpha A65 in our hands for a couple of days now, we are slowly getting to grips with what this 24-megapixel APS-C Exmor sensor SLT shooter is capable of. One of the first things we noticed, during our initial hands-on with the A65, was the level of noise in the images at ISO 800 and higher, but also the high level of in-camera noise reduction applied to JPEGs. I have to confess that using the Fujifilm X100 for the past few months has certainly spoiled me in terms of low-light high ISO performance and out of the camera JPEGs; but that’s another story.

A higher level of noise is expected at the camera’s full 6,000×4,000 output resolution, as is usually the case with packing more pixels in the same sensor area. A lot of this noise will become non-visible as you scale down images for print or screen uses. Starting with a higher level of noise at a higher resolution is not all that bad. However, because of this — the larger images and noise levels — we’ve found that the images from the camera benefit from some serious post processing. Note, our findings with the A65, will also apply to the A77.
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Sony Alpha SLT-A65 initial hands-on, OLED EVF and high ISO tests

The Lab

  • October 25, 2011 at 5:17 pm

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Sony Alpha SLT-A65 hands-on

Despite the ominous signs on general availability of the Sony A65, we’ve already confirmed that the camera is shipping to a few lucky individuals in the US.

Stuff-Review has managed to snatch one of the first Sony Alpha SLT-A65 DSLT cameras to ship. This is an initial hands-on with the camera, which is an actual final production unit, and we’ll be sharing some first impressions and test results. As we spend more quality time with the A65 we will update you on our finds.
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Sony HMZ-T1 OLED 3D head-mounted display lands at Harrods, London

News

  • October 23, 2011 at 11:48 am

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Sony HMZ-T1 3D headset lands at Harrods, London

If you’re passing by the UK this month, you might want to make a visit to London’s luxury department store, Harrods. The UK retailer managed to snap an exclusive on Sony’s new HMZ-T1 OLED 3D head-mounted display until it goes on general sale in the UK at the end of the month. You can get your disorientating hand-ons experience in-store and pre-order one now, if you so please, for £800 (around $1,265) with an end of October release date.

The US release is planned for November and it has been priced at $800 stateside. You might want to check-out our initial coverage, with some tasty info and product shots.
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