Sony reveals VAIO T ultrabook in 11 and 13-inch models with Sandy Bridge processors, out this month.
Sony has announced its first true ultrabook, the VAIO T. The design
looks much the same as the prototype we saw all the way back at CES,
with a 17.8mm-thick brushed metal body that pushes right up against the
18mm limit specified by Intel. The VAIO T comes in 11-inch and 13-inch
options, with the latter coming in at 1366 x 768 — Sony makes no mention
of the 11-inch model's resolution. Inside there's an Intel Core i3
Sandy Bridge processor — no Ivy Bridge, unfortunately — 4GB RAM, and
integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics.
Storage comes by way of a solid state
drive or a hybrid system that pairs a 320GB hard drive with SSD cache
memory for faster bootup times, and Sony predicts nine hours of battery
life for the SSD-only model. The VAIO T will be out at some point this
month for an unspecified price, which we'd hope would come in some way
south of the exorbitantly-priced VAIO Z.
We have just got a news that Sony's smartwatch is finally available in the US. As expected, the SmartWatch costs $150, while those colorful (read: not black) wrist bands are priced at $20 a pop. The watch pairs with Android phones over Bluetooth, using a free app available in Google Play (if you happen to own a Sony handset, you should find that application pre-installed). Like any smartwatch, this one lets you read emails, texts and social updates on the device. Meanwhile, the list of mini apps is approaching 60 and already includes Facebook and Google Maps.
After getting hands-on, we can say the rubber strap is comfortable and the 1.3-inch OLED display responsive, though the apps are a mixed bag in terms of usefulness. A remote for your phone's camera? Using the watch to call someone in your contacts list? You'll need a Bluetooth headset for that feature to be truly handy. Other favorites include the ability to find your lost phone (even if it's set to quiet mode), as well as stream photos and other media from your phone. You can even respond to incoming text messages with a preset reply (e.g., "I'm busy. What's up?"), though good luck using that canned response a second time when your friend gets back to you 10 seconds later. In any case, is all that worth the $150?
Sony is working with American theater chain Regal Entertainment to introduce a new kind of glasses technology that can display closed captions for those with hearing problems. The new Access Glasses can show text in six different languages, which is then placed directly in the viewer's field of vision so that they don't have to constantly look at the bottom of the screen. The information is streamed wirelessly, and the location of the text can be adjusted to make things more comfortable. The glasses also include features for the blind or visually impaired, as they can be used alongside headphones to provide extra audio detail about just what's happening on screen.
Regal — the largest theater chain in the US — started rolling the Access Glasses out this month, and expects to have them available in "practically all of its fully digitized theater locations" by early 2013.
Size 320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches (~180 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Scratch-resistant glass
Sound
Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack Yes
- Sony xLOUD enhancement
Memory
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2GB included, buy memory
Internal 320MB storage, 512 MB RAM
Data
GPRS Up to 80 kbps
EDGE Up to 237 kbps
Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support
Camera
Primary 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
Features Geo-tagging, image stabilization, smile and face detection, touch focus
Video Yes, 720p, check quality
Secondary Yes, VGA
Features
OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), planned upgrade to v4.0
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
CPU 1 GHz Scorpion
GPU Adreno 205
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging
SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push email, IM
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black, White
- SNS integration
- MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player
- TrackID music recognition
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk
- Document editor
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
Stand-by Up to 350 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 14 h 15 min (2G) / Up to 6 h 42 min (3G)
Music play Up to 17 h 30 min
Misc
SAR EU 1.00 W/kg (head)
Design and Build Quality
The Live with Walkman comes dressed in a soft white colour with shiny silver buttons along the sides and a bright orange Walkman logo. It’s extremely similar in looks to the Xperia Mini and has a similar footprint to the Xperia Active.
The top consists of the Walkman button (for quick access to music), a 3.5mm jack, the Walkman light and the power ON button. The right consists of the volume rocker button and a dedicated camera button, while the microUSB connector is located on the left. The phone is quite small and in the centre slot placement for the charger. This means that when you’re charging the phone, there’s very little you can actually do on the miniscule 3.2-inch screen.
Moving on with the design, the phone comes with a VGA front camera, the proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor and the notification LED. The SIM card and microSD card are located underneath the 1200mAh battery, so there’s no hot swapping available.
The back and menu buttons are capacitive whilst the home screen button is a physical one. They’re all backlit, so if you’re a newbie with Android, you’re not going to lose your way in the dark. All the buttons have the right amount of feedback and feel to them. The phone might be slightly tiny, but it fits snugly into the hand and it’s got a weight of 115 grams, so it’s light as well. In terms of design and build, the Live with Walkman is definitely right up there against handsets in the same category.
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