Sony

Sony Ericsson W51S Mobile Phone
Sony Ericsson in Japan is launching the snazzy new W51S phone which comes in a striking clamshell package.
The no-fuss, flip out design is pleasantly understated, featuring a textured matt black front with just three icons for notifying the user of an incoming email, call or alarm/reminder.
The Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) icons look rather dandy to our weary eyes, although work-shirkers probably won’t like not being able to see who’s actually calling before flipping open the phone and getting an irate boss on the line.
Once opened, the phone sports a 2.7-inch display with a 16:9 widescreen which (apparently) employs RealityMAX technology to “enhance picture quality.”
Also bundled on board the phone is a 2-megapixel camera backed up by a fairly healthy 120MB of internal memory and IrDA. As ever, Sony are persisting with their love of all things Memory Stuck, burdening the W51S with a Pro Duo expansion slot.
The W51S measures up at 105 × 48 × 19.3 mm, with talk time quoted at 210 minutes, with a standby time of 270 hours. For the security conscious, there’s also a feature letting users remotely lock and delete data on the handset over the web (Palm Treo users have been able to do this for years via excellent software like Warden)
The phone will be available in black, silver or pink, but there’s been ne’er a whisper from the Sony head honchos about pricing, release dates or even if this funky number will be getting it into the greasy paws of Britlanders.
[ From MobileWhack ]
5 February, 2007
Sony W880i Ai: Tuesday Euro Launch?
Sony Ericsson have let it be known via press invites that there’s a number of new handsets being released in Europe next Tuesday.
What they are and where it’s going on is currently being held close to the chest, but there’s rumours going around that one of them might be the W880i Ai.
There’s some shots purporting to be it floating around on a Swedish site called Mobil.
If the shots are to be believed, it looks mighty svelte, appearing only just bigger than a Bic lighter and as thin as you like.
It’s understood that it feels really solid, with a covering of metal conveying a feeling of quality.
We think it looks pretty hot, but the only thing that holds us back from near-total lust is the size and make up of the numeric keys, that have more than a passing similarity to a 1970’s calculator. Without having our hands on it, it’s unclear how friendly it will be to texting at high speed.
Specs are unclear, but it looks like two cameras, one facing forward, the other, a 2mpx facing back. Walkman branding makes it pretty clear it has music-ness included.
It looks like it’s 3G, which makes it all the more remarkable that it’s so tiny.
We’re really interested in its almost-neon-type interface.
Last, but not least, it looks like it’s heading to the US, as it’s got FCC approval.
Tune in next Tuesday for more details following the press launch, until then have a look at Mobil for more shots of it – and get a handkerchief to catch the drool.
The official I Want My W880 site.
Well done to those at Mobil for the photo scoop and Thanks to Hugo for the pointer.
2 February, 2007
220,000 PS3’s At UK Launch
Sony Computer Entertainment UK’s managing director, Ray Maguire, has put a figure on the number of PlayStation 3 machines (PS3) that will be available at its UK launch, on 23 March.
Towards the end of an interview with SPOnG (the Super Players On-line Gamebase), he revealed his estimation to be 220,000 units, with the hope of getting a few more units if, “he goes down on bended knee.”
His rough maths to get to this figure is based on one million units being delivered to Europe as a whole for launch, and the UK having a 22% slice of that, making it the single largest market in Europe.
Maguire was keen to point out that it will be the largest launch the games industry has had to date, “Probably over four times PlayStation One, and close to double the amount of PS2s. So, it’s going to be a logistical nightmare – that’s a lot of trucks to get around.”
PS3 fanboys will also be excited to hear that, “Product is already on its way, on ships, at the moment, and there is more being generated every single day.”
The other point of interest will be the confirmation that the UK price for the 60Gb will be £425, despite the wails from prospective UK owners. There will be no lesser model (20Gb) sold in the UK, as there are in other places around the world.
The success of the PS3 is not a done deal however. The xBox 360 has been selling well for over a year and the Nintendo Wii has done pretty well too. Our observations at the GameOn exhibition recently saw much of the public interest directed towards the Wii rather than the PS3.
1 February, 2007
Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email now on Sony Ericsson M600 and P990
Nokia are extending their relationship with Sony Ericsson as they take their Intellisync Wireless Email to two more Sony Ericsson devices, the M600 and P990.
Nokia’s Intellisync Wireless Email is their counter to RIM’s Blackberry and Microsoft’s mobile email service, covering wireless email, synchronization for calendars, contacts, files, data and applications.
Where as the competition only works with their own devices, Nokia claims that theirs works with any device and any backend system. This extended deal with Sony Ericsson makes this real.
This solution is primarily aimed at business users, but as people become dependent on digital communications, it’s highly likely that every man (and woman) and his (or her) dog (or cat) will be wanting this kind of thing.
Around the Digital-Lifestyles office we are not big email fans, given that it’s laden with so much junk these days. We, like many others use IM to communicate.
16 January, 2007
Sony Unleash A Cavalcade Of Camcorders
Electronics colossus Sony has unveiled a flotilla of new camcorders, all offering a super long-life 9 hour InfoLithium battery life and dual-layer recording.
Clearly, Sony’s Memorable Product Name Division were all on an extended tea-break during development, with the new camcorders all bearing fiddly and instantly forgettable names: DCR-DVD106E, DCR-DVD109E, DCR-DVD306E, DCR-DVD406E and DCR-DVD506E.
Prices are yet to be confirmed, but all the models offer Sony’s Memory Stick DUO storage for recording still images, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity to a PC for whizzing the footage on to your home PC, and compatibility with DVD-R / -RW / +RW / +R DL media.
Dual layer recording gives the potential for hardcore holiday video fans to bore their friends and families for up to 110 minutes in a single recording, with the ‘shoot-eject-play’ feature making it possible to record straight to disk and slam it straight into a DVD player for playback.
With the exception of the cheapo DVD106E, all of the cams come with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound recording and the tried and trusted Carl Zeiss optics.
The upmarket DVD406E and DVD506E models also offer ClearVid CMOS Sensor technology for sharper images, with the topdog DVD506E 6.1MP cam sporting a hefty 6.1 MP still camera and Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilisation
All models are available from February 2007 with prices to be confirmed.
Update: HD (1080i) Handycam models announced
Sony has also announced the Febriary release of two new HDV Handycam models, the HDR-HC7E and HDR-HC5E, both featuring
ClearVid CMOS Sensor technology and tha ability to capture hi-def 1080i format footage onto miniDV tape.
Other features include a 2.7-inch flip-out LCD screen employing Clear Photo LCD plus technology, Dual Rec for capturing still and moving images simultaneously and a slew of manual controls for fiddling about with focus, exposure, shutter speed and white balance.
Pricing is also still to be confirmed.
Also: Sony unveils DCR-SR32E, DCR-SR52E, DCR-SR72E, DCR-SR190E and DCR-SR290E Handycam models
[From Tech Digest]
Sony
11 January, 2007
Xbox 360 outsells Wii And PS3 in US Over Xmas
It truly was a battle of the consoles this Christmas, with big-hitters Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all looking to set the Yuletide cash tills ringing.

According to analysts at the US research firm NPD, Santa’s bags were mostly straining with Xbox 360’s over the festive period, closely followed by the Nintendo Wii, with the PS3 trailing in third place.
Preliminary findings from NPD revealed that the Xbox 360 outsold both the Wii and the PS3 in the US, with around 2 million Xbox 360s shifted between the start of November 2006 and Christmas.

Not far behind was the eagerly awaited Nintendo Wii which registered 1.8 million sales, while the PS3 could only muster a mere 750,000 Stateside sales.
According to NPD, these figures represent a huge leap from November’s figures which saw 511,000 Xbox 360s, 476,000 Wiis and 197,000 PS3s flying out of the stores.
It’s worth noting that Nintendo’s Wii didn’t launch in the US until 19th November – nearly three weeks behind the Xbox 360 – with the first batch of stock reported as selling out in hours.
It was a similar situation in the UK, with Nintendo Wii’s near-impossible to find in the shops (yes, we were looking too and someone’s still waiting for their Christmas present!).
One of PC World’s flagship stores in the West End told Digital Lifestyles that their consignment of Wii consoles went almost as soon as they came through the door, although we noted no shortage of XBox 360s in the store.
NPD is expected to release the complete figures for December later this month.
NPD
3 January, 2007

New Memory Stick PRO-HG From Sony And SanDisk

New Memory Stick PRO-HG From Sony And SanDisk Sony are expanding their range of Memory Sticks further by adding the “Memory Stick PRO-HG.”

In a further collaboration with SanDisk, they’re increasing the available speed of transfer to a theoretical 480Mb/s, a significant step up from the previous 160Mb/s of the Duo. It’s no coincidence that 480Mb/s is the theoretical top speed of USB2.

The technical key to this, is the expansion of the interface from 4-bit to 8-bit and the increase of internal clock frequency from 40MHz to 60MHz.

The thinking behind the increase of transfer speeds is the consumer demand for media and that media itself is growing in size as its resolution increases. As with all technology, the consumer is impatient for speed, so not waiting for data to be written to the memory card is key. With this increase in transfer speed, a couple of gigabytes of data should be transfered pretty rapidly.

They plan for the PRO-HG to have a capacity of 32Gb, but there’s a slight caveat with this one. While the design will allow for this, Sony says that it does “not guarantee that Memory Stick PRO-HG 32 GB media will be introduced to the market.” Depends on the demand and price of production, we assume.

The PRO-HG will be compatible with Memory Stick PRO devices, although transfer speeds will be stepped down to the PRO.

Unsurprisingly the PRO-HG will feature content protection, which it’s not surprising to hear will continue to be MagicGate, Sony’s previous incarnation.

While the range of Memory Sticks has lived longer than many competing formats (it was initially announced in 1998), many consumers feel confused by the number of differently named products – Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo and Memory Stick Micro (M2). The addition of another type will only add to the muddle. While this may be the case, it clearly hasn’t held people back in buying them, as they’ve shipped over 200 million of the little blighters.

Sony expect to launch it in 2007 – pretty vague huh? One reason for the vagueness is Sony is only starting to license the development of compliant host devices from January 2007.

Memory Stick PRO-HG Specification.

Major Specifications of Memory Stick PRO-HG

Dimensions	Duo size (31 x 20 x 1.6) mm
Connector Pin	14-pin
Capacity	32GB (format maximum) *4
Max. Data Transfer Rate	480 Mbps (theoretical)
Min. Write Speed	120 Mbps 1 (As of 8-bit parallel transfer) 40 Mbps 1 (As of 4-bit parallel transfer)
Operating Voltage	2.7 to 3.6 V
Interface	8-bit / 4-bit parallel I/F and Serial I/F
Max. Clock frequency	60MHz *5
Copyright Protection Technology	MagicGate

12 December, 2006

Play PS3 and Wii Now At The Science Museum (Podcast)

Play PS3 and Wii Now At The Science Museum (Podcast) The organisers of Game On, clearly have amazing contacts with the games industry having been running the exhibition for the last four years around 11 venues around the world. It’s contacts like this that has led to them getting hold of Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo before it’s launched in the UK – four months in the case of the PS3.

The Science Museum is currently the only place in the UK where Joe Public can play the PS3. There’s a couple of places around where the PS3 can be seen, but like the venue off Brick Lane, they’re invite only.

Even if you could get to see the PS3, not other venue has the PS3 right next to the Wii, so you can compare them.

So what are they like?
The PS3 is playing Motor Storm and it looks stunning, with amazing photo realism. The action is intense and it’s very clear that this is a major leap forward in gaming. The controller can be set in a mode where its physical movements control the action of the onscreen action. Being used to playing the PS controller without this, it take a little while to get used to the sensitivity on the movements needed to control it.

The Wii clearly has the movement sensors built-in (it’s the big selling point of the whole console). Playing with them is near-instantly understandable – feeling natural to wave your arms around to control a tennis racket or box the hell out of your opponent. The graphics are far simpler, delivered in the normal Nintendo cartoon style.

It is of note that the PS3 has a significant number of venting holes in its casing and a large fan under nearth to cool it – it draws 350w. The Wii doesn’t have any venting.

Play PS3 and Wii Now At The Science Museum (Podcast) Who’s going to win?
If sales are going to reflect the public interest here at the Science Museum today, Sony need to look out, because the Interest in the Wii far outweighed that in the PS3. This could be down to the affordable price of the Wii, or indeed that the public actually have a chance of own it this side of xmas.

Speaking to the punters here, the feeling was that the Wii would give far more of a gaming experience, not just the gloss that the PS3 gives.

It’s no exaggeration to say that some people were literally running into the exhibition hall, shouting, “is it here, is it here?” as the made their way to the Wii. I had thought it would have been the other way around, with the PS3 being the big draw.

The rest of the exhibition is well worth the visit alone – charting the history of video games from the start, and put together with a lot of intelligence. With the Wii and PS3 added to it, you can expect large queues at the weekend.

We had a chat to the event organiser, Gaetan Lee to get an overview of how he got the hold of the Wii and PS3 before their UK release and the background to the Game On exhibition.

Click below to play the interview …
[audio:https://digital-lifestyles.info/media/audio/Wii-PS3-game-on.mp3]

Game On – Science Museum

29 November, 2006

Get Ready To Play PS3 And Wii At The Science Museum

Play PS3 and Wii At Science Museum The Nintendo Wii and Sony’s Playstation3 (PS3) will be available for play at the Game On exhibition at the Science Museum from Wednesday. Expect queues.

Don’t bother flying to the USA and queueing for three days to be the first to get your PS3, or splashing out £1,000 to buy one from eBay, that may, or may not actually turn up. If you live in the UK, it couldn’t be simpler – just get yourself down there when the doors open at 11am to get your hands on the first publicly available PS3 in the UK and the attention-attracting Wii.

The PS3 is scheduled for launch in March in the UK, while it’s emerging that only around 150,000 were shipped at the recent US launch. The Wii’s UK launch is much closer – 8th December, having had its US launch already.

Play PS3 and Wii At Science Museum The two new boys will be alongside the current exhibition, which cover the history of video games, starting back in the early 1960’s.

We went to the first Game On exhibition when it was at the Barbican in 2002 and were highly impressed with it. Not just the number of games and platforms covered, but the sheer depth of the knowledge on show.

We’ve spoken to the organisers and hear that quite a few of the exhibits have changed from the early days, including items that have been picked up over the years as the show has travelled over the world.

Play PS3 and Wii At Science Museum When you get bored of all the new stuff, by way of a stark contrast, you’ll be able to play the world’s first computer game, Spacewar!, from 1962 as well.

To book tickets or find out further details contact 0870 906 3890 or take a look at the site. The exhibition ends Feb.07. Ticket prices Adults £8.50; Children and concessions £6.50

Science Museum Game On Exhibition
The Original Game On Exhibition

28 November, 2006

PSone Games For PSP: Pricing Announced

PSone Games For PSP: Pricing Announced The pricing of PSone games to be played on the Sony PSP have been announced.

They’ll range between $6 (€4.60, £3.10) and $11 (€8.40, £5.70). With pricing at this level it’s highly likely that people will impulse purchase them.

The titles for the US service have yet to be confirmed, but the Japanese site is currently carrying Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Tekken 2 and Arc the Lad.

If you haven’t heard of this offering before, here’s how it will work once the online shops are up and running. Browsing through the Playstation Store via a PS3, games can be selected and then downloaded to the PS3’s hard drive. The initial set of games will be between 140Mb and 550Mb downloads. Once they are safely ensconced on the PS3 drive, they can be transfered over to the Memory Stick, to be loaded on to the PSP. It’s unclear if transfer via WiFi will also be offered.

PSone Games For PSP: Pricing Announced It was initially envisaged that Sony would give access to the Playstation Store through the PSP using its WiFi connection. We can see one advantage of not doing this – people wanting to use the service will need to buy a PS3!

Not only will the games that are downloaded play on the PSP, it’s expected that an emulator will be released for the PS3 that will play the games from the same downloaded file. Quite if anyone will use their hugely powerful PS3 to play games that will look frankly, a bit pony, is anyones guess.

For software developers this could be quite a boon. If the games will run on the PSP without much engineering modification, they’ll get the benefit of extending the sales of product that long ago stopped drawing income.

(via)

24 November, 2006