Sony Xperia S Starts Shipping Globally

Wake-up Sony fans, if the Xperia S caught your attention when it was first unveiled at CES earlier this year, you will be pleased to learn that according to Sony, the Android powered smartphone is now shipping globally which means that it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing it available on the shelves.

For those unfamiliar, the Xperia S is the first phone to be branded under the “Sony” moniker after the company bought out Ericsson in their Sony Ericsson partnership. The device features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3” HD 1280×720 display, a 12MP rear-facing camera capable of 1080p Full HD video capture, a 720p HD 1.3MP front-facing camera, DLNA, NFC, HDMI and will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on board.

The good news is that Sony has promised that the Xperia S will be seeing an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the future, but at the moment no specific dates have been mentioned. No word on pricing just yet, but we’re guessing that the Xperia S will be priced differently depending on which country it is launched in.

Sony Xperia S Review:

Sony’s Quad Core Smartphones Not Coming Until 2013?

A number of manufacturers showed off quad core smartphones at this years Mobile World Congress, Sony didn’t show off any new quad core devices and now it appears that we may have to wait until 2013 to see quad core smartphones from Sony.

Cnet Asia recently spoke to Stephen Sneeden, who is the product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, and he indicated that Sony wont release any quad core smartphones until next year. We’re going to join quad-core when we feel that the performance matches the battery efficiency. Because right now we don’t feel that is there. What we are going to be doing in the second-half of the year is moving to the Cortex A15 architecture, which we feel outperforms the current quad-core architecture.

You’ll see in 2013, as we’re evaluating the quad-core performance where it makes sense, where you’re not suffering in quality and the performance truly is there, and there really is something that demanding applications need. That’s when we make the right move to quad-core. Sony recently announced a range of new dual core smartphones so it looks like we may have to wait until next year to see some quad core ones from the company.

Quad-Core Smartphones & Tablets:

Sony announces new 8 and 13MP sensors with HDR video support

Today, Sony announced that it's working on a couple of new image sensors for use in smartphones and other portable devices.

The sensors use a new RGBW matrix, which adds a white pixel to the usual RGB layout, aiming to improve light sensitivity and, in turn, low-light performance. Sony says that while the addition of white pixel normally has a degrading effect on image quality, here they have found a workaround with their new processing algorithms.

The new Sony sensors enable the creation of movies with High Dynamic Range (HDR). That would allow you to capture higher quality footage in high contrast situations, as demonstrated in the following video.

Sony plans to release three mobile sensors, utilizing this new technology this year. An 8 megapixel one, measuring 1/4" in diagonal is planned to start sampling in March, but that one won't have the HDR movie support.

The first proper RGBW Sony sensor should measure 1/3.06" and should come in June. Its effective resolution will be 13 megapixels.

Finally, an 8 megapixel 1/4" sensor with the HDR movie support will be developed by August this year.

So, we probably won't see actual smartphones with the new sensors by the end of the year, but here's hoping that the waiting will be worth it.