sony

LAS VEGAS--If the company's CES announcements are anything to go by, Sony doesn't seem to have gotten the message that camcorders are dying. While Canon has cut back its consumer and midrange line to about four products, Sony has introduced 10 models at the show ranging from its $250 entry-level model to a $1,500 everything-but-the-kitchen-sink model. Sony's also expanded its projector-camcorder lineup to six models from five last year, and the 3D model has gotten cheaper, but with only one (and a half) feature exception I don't see anything here that merits waiting for a … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sony is holding most of its home theater announcements for its line show in the spring, but the company did announce its new lineup of Blu-ray players at CES 2013.

Sony's 2013 line of Blu-ray players comprises three new models, the BDP-S1100, BDP-S3100, and BDP-S5100. All three models have a fully encased optical drive, which Sony claims reduces internal dust. The two higher-end models include built-in Wi-Fi and all three can access Sony's full suite of streaming-media services, which includes Netflix, Pandora, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Crackle, and YouTube. That's a step up from most manufacturers, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--One of the big problems with 4K TVs right now, aside from the fact that it's tough to discern any benefit from their extra resolution, is lack of content. Sony, alone among TV or content providers so far, actually aims to tackle that issue around the same time it launches its full line of 4K TVs later this year.

This summer the company will set up a dedicated video distribution service to deliver 4K content to the home, complete with a hardware 4K Video Player that can feed the TVs directly.

Currently buyers who pony up $25K for … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Last year we reviewed nearly every Sony TV, so I feel confident in guessing that the 2013 KDL-W802A series will perform about the same as the 2012 KDL-HX750 series. In other words, not so great. But judging from the picture above, it does look cooler.

The HX750's real Achilles' heel was value, however, so until Sony announces pricing on the KDL-W802A (and until we, you know, test the dang thing), there's no telling how its final rating will shake out.

In terms of picture specifications, the HX750 and W802A are very similar, both sporting edge-lit LED backlights … Read more

Sony is among the first major TV makers to announce it will sell 4K, aka Ultra High Definition (UHD), televisions in sizes less than 84 inches. The XBR-X900 series, which currently counts a $25,000 84-incher as its sole member, now includes 65-inch and 55-inch sizes, which will sell for $4,999 and $6,999 respectively. They'll be available beginning April 21.

UHD/4K in this TV's (and most other's) case means a pixel count of 3,840x2,160 -- four times as many pixels as today'… Read more

Sony hopes its Xperia Z smartphone goes under water. Literally.

The Xperia Z has all of the standard bells and whistles of a high-end smartphone: 5-inch high-definition display with 443 pixels per inch, a 13-megapixel camera, a high-end quad-core Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, ability to pair with devices via near-field communication. Also, it's waterproof.

More to the point, Sony aims to brand its new phone -- and its smaller brother, the Xperia ZL -- as its first true attempt at marshaling the company's considerable resources in ways it's never managed to pull off before. To that end, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sony isn't showing off a ton of new portable audio products at the show, but one new product it's officially launching here is a new Walkman Sports MP3 player (NWZ-270), a $99.99 waterproof, all-in-one digital music player.

This model is the successor to the W-Series NWZ-W262 Walkman, and it's been upgraded with a lighter design, more intuitive controls, as well as total waterproofing -- yes, you can actually take this one underwater and swim with it.

The NWZ-270 includes 4GB of integrated memory and offers drag-drop DRM-free music file transfers from iTunes for Mac or … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Go big, add touch. Sony's subdued CES formula in a nutshell.

Sony's latest Vaio T Series 15 is a new, larger ultrabook with 1080p, sporting a 10-finger multitouch display. It joins the fray of a seemingly endless run of touch-enabled laptops at this year's CES that continue to be announced with knee-jerk predictability. Sony's also adding a touch-screen option to the Vaio T 14 that's already on sale.

Yes, having touch on a Windows 8 laptop is better than not having touch, but it's hard to get excited at all about its presence … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Though Sony announced five new Cyber-shot camera models at CES 2013, none of them are jaw-droppers.

However, one of them, the DSC-WX80, does give you a look at some features coming to Sony's higher-end Exmor R CMOS sensor-based cameras this year.

The $199 WX80 is the entry model with an Exmor R sensor, in this case 16 megapixels. That sensor gets you features like multishot shooting modes for improved low-light and backlit photos, 1080/60i AVCHD movie capture, 10fps burst shooting, and high-resolution, 360-degree panoramas.

New for 2013, these models get faster autofocus speeds and improved optical image … Read more