“I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success,” Stringer said in a prepared statement.

Sony has its fingers in nearly every electronics pie out there including TVs, laptops, phones, gaming machines, tablets, Walkmen and more but it’s been struggling recently. Sony was long considered the high-end brand in many electronics but Apple has taken that mantle in many areas, particularly in computers and with the iPod.

That’s why the move to buy out Sony Ericsson and bring it under the Sony brand could be very important for its future, as the smartphone and tablet spaces are definitely the hottest in consumer electronics and some consistently great products in these categories could help Sony regain that high-end reputation. Unlike some of the other Android tablet makers, Sony has a strong content ecosystem of its own that it can offer with its devices.

It will be a while before Hirai’s impact is fully felt throughout Sony, so you can be sure we’ll keep an eye on this one.

[Via Reuters, image]

Big transactions like these are always a subject to regulatory approval to protect the competition. Sony Ericsson is far from dominating the market, which at the moment sees such companies as Samsung, HTC, LG and Motorola competing for the users’ hearts, minds and ultimately wallets.

The first Sony-branded Android smartphones were announced at this year’s CES in Las Vegas – Xperia ion and Xperia S…

[Via: xperiablog]

We have to applaud Sony Ericsson here since they’re the one company in the mobile industry that recognizes that there’s a market for small smartphones. It all started with the Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro, both of which launched in early 2010 and had a minuscule 2.55 inch screen. Besides the screen being too small, the device was also underpowered, but the potential was most certainly there. Next year, in early 2011, we saw the successor the the X10 Mini family announced, aptly called the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro. The screen size jumped to 3 inches, as did the processing power under the hood, and those two devices proved to be a huge success. Just a few months ago, in October, we also saw the Xperia Ray hit the market. It features a 3.3 inch screen and for all intents and purposes it’s a no compromise Android smartphone. The Xperia U with its 3.5 inch screen looks to continue the trend of giving people a smartphone without forcing them to use something with a massive display, and we can’t wait to play with one!

It’s a bit hard to really try to figure out what’s going on with Sony and the future of the Play. To say that the Xperia Play was a little underwhelming is a lot of an understatement, as the world was expecting something great. All we got a was an underpowered handset that was supposed to change the way we game. That didn’t happen, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean it’s Game Over, so to speak.

If Sony wants to breathe some life into the Play line, it needs to ship a phone with PS Vita-like specifications. Not only is it very possible, it makes more sense than buying a Vita to begin with. The Play 2 could be the phone we were waiting for all along and hopefully Sony recognizes this. Obviously, Sony doesn’t want cut into its portable gaming market but mobile gaming is getting stronger and it’s something that shouldn’t be ignored by the company. (Remember when Tegra 2 devices were supposed to get the full Playstation Suite? What happened to that?)

Complaints aside, this ad is one of the more funny ones we’ve seen in a while. This is obviously due to Schaal being in it but we’re also glad that it’s not the semi-awkward ad where the “inner gamer” comes out to play.

At this point, it’s hard to ask if any of these odd ads would make you want to by the handset being advertised, so we’ll just ask about Schaal’s legs.

The main appeal of the new back-illuminated CMOS image sensors is that it will be able to fit into even thinner form factors. With devices like the Droid Razr pushing the limit on how thin smartphones can be, we’ll definitely be needing CMOS image sensors which can fit into thinner devices. Sony also pointed out a few other features of the new CMOS image sensors:

• Large-scale signal processing circuits required for higher image quality and better functionality are built-in

• More compact image sensor chip size
• Even higher image quality of the pixel section by adopting manufacturing processes specialized for superior image quality
• Faster speeds and lower power consumption by adopting the leading process for the circuit section

[Via 9to5Mac, Sony, image via Shutterstock, Anna Omelchenko]

This begs the question, has Android growth stalled? Well, yes and no. Benedict Evans, an independent analyst who we’re big fans of, recently tweeted the chart that you see above. See all that pink? That’s Samsung blowing up. See everyone under Samsung? Those are companies that depend on Android to sell their devices. So no, you can’t say Android growth has stalled since Samsung can’t make Android devices fast enough to feed demand. But at the same time you can say that yes, Android growth has pretty much stopped because the rest of the players in the Android ecosystem can’t seem to get their act together.

We’ll be able to draw some more concrete conclusions about the market once everyone posts their numbers, but we’re predicting to see a general slowdown in smartphone adoption. Americans may be picking up smartphones in droves, but it’s a different story in Europe and Asia. Blame the economy more than anything else for that.

As you can see from the video below, the Sony Xperia S has a unique design in that there’s a clear strip at the base of the phone underneath the standard Android buttons. I’m not sure how clearly it came out in the video below but if take a look at the right angles, you’ll notice a grid pattern. That’s actually the antenna for the device and we like the little bit of design flair.

You also have a 4.3-inch 720p HD screen and it features some of that Bravia magic that Sony is known for. While we didn’t get to do extensive side-by-side comparisons with other 720p-screen devices, I found the Xperia S to have a bright and beautiful screen where colors really popped out. Seriously, take a look at it when you can.

Inside, the Xperia S has a 1.5 GHz SnapDragon processor, a 12-megapixel rear camera which can record in 1080p HD and the front-facing camera will get up to 720p HD videos. This phone won’t be hitting the United States outside of those who like to buy unlocked phones but we’ll still get a chance to review it sooner or later. It will launch in the next couple of months with Android 2.3 but Ice Cream Sandwich can’t be too far away.

The Xperia Ion hits all the major check boxes for a high-end smartphone. You want a 4.6-inch, 720p HD screen? It has that. A 12-megapixel camera with a super-fast shutter lag? Check. It also has the capability to utilize AT&T’s blazing-fast 4G LTE network and this really changes the way you think about your mobile data.

Inside, the Xperia Ion sports a 1.5 GHz SnapDragon processor and all the other radios you’d expect including GPS and Bluetooth. There’s a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera that can record at 720p HD and the rear camera gives you all the 1080p goodness you’d want. There’s DLNA and the handset integrates with Sony televisions in exciting ways.

There’s no clear word on pricing or an exact release date, we’re not sure how AT&T’s 4G LTE will impact the battery life and it launching with Android 2.3 Gingerbread is kind of weak in an Ice Cream Sandwich world but the Sony Xperia Ion looks to be a killer device. No official word on pricing or a firm release date but let’s keep an eye on this thing.

Check out the video below and the gallery with some shots of the Sony branded Ion, as well as the HDMI dock and Bluetooth Smart Watch.

As you may know, Sony is buying out Sony Ericsson to make mobile devices a bigger part of its brand and we already heard about the Xperia ion earlier this morning. Coming exclusively to AT&T, this is the first LTE smartphone from Sony and it has a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, a 4.6-inch 1280 x 720 screen, HDMI-out support, a 12-megapixel camera that can record in HD (720p). The only thing we can fault it for is launching with Gingerbread but Sony promises that an Ice Cream Sandwich update will be coming soon.

The Xperia S (pictured above) looks to be a solid handset as well, as it rocks a 4.3-inch Reality Display with 1280 x 720 resolution. Sony’s TVs produce amazing pictures, so it’s taking some of that BRAVIA knowhow and bringing it to the mobile space. This also has a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 12-megapixel rear camera, front-facing camera and all the goodies you’d expect from a smartphone of this class (doesn’t look like it will have LTE though). Look for the Xperia S to land in the second quarter of 2012 and it will also launch with Android 2.3 with an update to Ice Cream Sandwich coming soon.

Not a bad showing from Sony and we’ll have hands-on photos and videos for you as soon as humanly possible. Ok, so we have the Lumia 900, the Titan II, the new Xperia phones, the Droid Maxx and the Samsung 4G LTE devices – What phone are you most excited about?

• Sony Xperia Ion: a high-end handset that’ll launch in Q2 2012
• Samsung Skyrocket HD: another high-end handset in the Galaxy S2 lineup
• Samsung Galaxy Note, the phone-tablet with a custom stylus/pen. The Note will be available in blue or white.
• Pantech Element: a budget 4G tablet.
• Pantech Burst: Available for less than $50.
• Samsung Exhilarate: a sustainable handset that’ll retail for less than $50.

For a limited time, customers can get the Pantech Element tablet and the Burst handset for $249 with a two-year customer agreement. We will have hands-on and detailed information on this group of Android devices, so please check back soon.

In any case, we do look forward to see Sony Ericsson announcing its first smartphone with dual-core processor and also its first device with 720p screen. Moreover, we hope major carriers will notice their efforts to make an awesome device, helping the company increase its market share in the U.S.

We’re definitely looking forward to play with a smartphone as powerful as the Xperia Arc HD (according to earlier rumors) and will most certainly get back to you with our thoughts. Stay tuned in the meantime, k?

[Via: Unwired View]