Sony X-Series laptop review

The Sony X-series laptop is a sleek, stylish device that delivers on both looks and performance. Pity about the high price...

Sony's PS3 enjoys late jump in sales

Since the company revealed that it had sold 3.8m of the games consoles worldwide in the final five weeks of 2009, a bulky price cut and a new model PlayStation3 appeared to have paid off for Sony. This is a 76% increase on last year and the best holiday sales the PS3 has had.

Sony said that its PlayStation Network, the online gaming service that can be accessed from the PS3, PlayStation Portable or by personal computer, now has 38m registered accounts. The message comes a day after rival Nintendo said that it had sold more than 3m Wii consoles in the US in December, a 40% increase on the earlier year. The sales figures alleviated doubts that games console companies were set for a lackluster Christmas as the console market matures.

Sony's figures repeated research from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, the UK industry body, which found that the PS3 console was the star performer of 2009, increasing unit sales in the UK by 2%.

The PS3 which was launched in November 2006 had been slow to build sales, in part because it was priced much higher than its rivals. Though, last August, Sony unveiled a new, slimmer version of the games machine, priced 25 % lower than the original. The price is below the crucial $300 level in the US, €300 in Europe and £249 in the UK to make it more reasonable for a mass market.

"On the back of the PS2 Sony has built up huge brand equity and there are a lot of people out there saying they would love a PS3 but it's been just too expensive," alleged Ed Barton, analyst at Screen Digest. "Now we are hitting the threshold of the mass market."

The PS3 is now closer to the $199 price of an entry-level Microsoft Xbox 360 and the $199 Nintendo Wii.

Nevertheless, the PS3 has further to go to catch up with sales of its rivals.

The Wii had sold more than 56m units by last September, while the Xbox 360 had sold 34m units by October. The PS3 had sales of 27m to the end of September.

Sony has also added a number of online features to the console, including a video downloading service and links to internet television platforms such as the BBC's iPlayer, in order to increase the appeal of the device.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Sony repeated plans to upgrade the PS3 consoles so that 3D games and films could be played.

It also plans to introduce a new motion controller for the console, a move aimed at countering the threat from Microsoft, which is this year planning to put huge resources behind the launch of its Natal system, which lets gamers control a console through gestures and voice commands alone.

"Of all the console makers, Sony appears to have the best momentum now, but the biggest threat might be the launch of Microsoft's Natal," Mr Barton said.

New Sony Ericsson Kanna Phone leaked

The phone-terrain now gets one more drop in its pail. Now it appears that Sony Ericsson failed to hide from view its brand-new phone from a spark of camera for so long. According to FoneArena, in the past days there was a Sony Ericsson phone that was leaked for everybody to feast eyes on.

Tagged as ‘Kanna’, the eye-catching device runs on Symbian S60 5th Edition OS and comes equipped with a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, a highly impressive 8.1-megapixel camera and Wi-Fi connectivity, reveals FoneArena.

Seemingly, other leaked details of the new Sony Ericsson Kanna include 360 x 640 pixels resolution, QWERTY keyboard, microUSB port, and that weighty 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus.

It seems that, the satiny phone is a sister of Kurara. The compelling camera further lends support to 720p HD video recording and also features a 3.4mm audio jack.

The newest offering from Sony Ericsson is likely to be announced at the Mobile World Congress, on February 14, 2010.

Sony Ericsson W395 review

The Sony Ericsson W395 is a budget music phone that channels the music playing skills of the outfit’s Japanese parent, and stuffs them into a cheery handset with a low pricetag. But is it low enough? Read on and find out in our full Sony Ericsson W395 review.

If you’re in the market for a simple Sony Ericsson phone which will double up for your music on the commute, you’ll be right at home with the Sony Ericsson W395. Build wise, it’s a fun little phone to pop in your pocket. The slide is smooth and snappy, the keypad is quick for firing off SMS missiles, and the two megapixel camera is borderline passable for slapping on a PC screen. There’s no 3G though.

We love how the Sony Ericsson W395 echoes the look of Sony’s Walkman line more than any other phone from the mobile spin off, from the curved edges to the central track controls and dedicated Walkman button. The speaker is surprisingly good too, and the battery will go for more than a few days before needing a top up.

Beyond this though, there’s little new on the software front. There’s no Google Maps and there’s not even Facebook – all you can do is send pictures to Blogger.

You can probably guess what our main problem with the music oriented Sony Ericsson W395 is though. In fact, the only people who can’t are the design team at Sony Ericsson, who, even after eight long years have still not learned to put a 3.5mm audio port in, so you can use your own headphones.

The bundled buds don’t sound too bad, but are horribly plasticky, and come with a call answering toggle so high up the cord, it may well tug one of your buds out of your head. Oh, and needless to say, the memory card slot is Sony’s Memory Stick Micro format, so you can’t just swap out the microSD card on your current phone.

We’re tired of moaning about Sony Ericsson’s persistent design flaws now. There’s little wrong with what the Sony Ericsson W395 tries to do, but that limited feature set doesn’t quite cut it any more. If you’re already on a low end Sony Ericsson phone, there’s little impetus to upgrade here.

Sony's PlayStation 3 Got Sales Boost From Final Fantasy XIII

Sony's PlayStation 3 got a boost from last week's launch of "Final Fantasy XIII" as Japanese consumers snapped up special-edition consoles to give the PS3 its best week since a relaunch several months ago, according to data released on Friday.
Sales of the PS3 totaled 237,086 units in the week of Dec. 14 of which about 92,000 units were a "Final Fantasy XIII" special edition offered by Sony, said Media Create. "Final Fantasy XIII," the latest installment in the long-running Final Fantasy series, launched on Dec. 17 so the figures cover its first four days on sale.
The weekly sales easily outpace those of recent weeks and are higher than those of early September when Sony relaunched the PlayStation 3 in a slimmer case and with a lower price tag. The PS3 sold 152,000 units during its relaunch week, according to Media Create.
The relaunch helped breath new life into the PlayStation 3 platform and push sales higher in the last three months. The PlayStation business remains a money loser for Sony but the company has targeted 2010 as the year it will return its gaming operations to profitability. The launch of games like "Final Fantasy XIII" plays an important role in this plan.
The "Final Fantasy XIII" software scored a major success for Square Enix with sales of just over 1.5 million copies over its first four days, said Media Create.
Sony is also attempting to widen the console's appeal.
Services such as movie rentals are being added to the PlayStation 3 and will be expanded next year with the addition of TV shows and other content. Sony has also pledged to offer a software update that will bring the capability to play back 3D content on Blu-ray Disc.
Sony's chief rival in the Japanese market, Nintendo, scored second place for the week. In the software chart its "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" ranked with 567,890 copies sold while the Wii console chalked up sales of 191,915 units, said Media Create.
Media Create estimates game software and hardware sales from point-of-sales system data gathered from around 3,000 retailers across the country.

Sony X-Series laptop review

TWe’ve admired the thin and light MacBook Air before, and come to terms with our disappointment that Windows users didn’t have a comparable equivalent. The recent Nokia Booklet 3G comes close, but if you want something more powerful and with a screen approaching the Air’s 13-incher, this new and beautifully designed machine from Sony has a lot going for it.

No surprise that such a stylish machine would come from Sony’s stable – the company has a history of making great-looking computers which few other manufacturers can match. So it’s certainly a laptop that will look great in your CEO’s possession, as it’s casually plonked onto to the boardroom table or the desk in the First Class lounge.

It’s spectacularly slim and in certain configurations qualifies for shouting out that it’s the World’s Lightest Laptop from behind its demure gloss-black casing. But does it do the business? Pretty much, yes. The 11.1-inch screen is bright and pin-sharp with HD resolution despite its modest size. The keyboard is expertly spaced so that it’s easy to type on even for longer documents. Small laptops traditionally have poor mouse pads, but the one here is highly usable.
Onboard memory is not outstanding at 2GB, but nippy enough to work well and at speed, even when multitasking. The hard drive (choose from 128GB or 256GB capacities) is also fast and responsive as it’s the light flash memory kind. And if you’re not in a wireless hotspot, the sim card slot hidden under the battery means you can connect through the 3G phone network, too.
This is a really excellent laptop, delivering classy looks and performance. It is absolutely unbeatable for portability. But the high price, though good value given the components, just denies it a fifth star. Even for your CEO.