Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on)

Sometimes getting lost in the maze-like sprawl of the Messe can turn up unexpected surprises. In this case, we chanced upon Sony's Xperia sola hiding in plain sight at Sparhandy's booth. The petite Android handset, formerly codenamed "Pepper", was officially announced earlier this spring and even crept up in FCC filings. But until now, we'd never had quality hands-on time with the 3.7-inch Gingerbread device. For its diminutive size, the wee phone sports a 854 x 480 LCD display powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a dual-core CPU clocked at 1GHz, 5-megapixel rear shooter and NFC functionality for Smart Tag use.

As you might expect, the sola fits quite nicely into the palm of your hand, though its tiny screen can pose an issue for those with larger digits. And speaking of touch navigation, this Sony phone separates itself from the rest of the Xperia pack with the inclusion of floating touch technology -- much like the Galaxy Note 2. What's that? Well, turns out this device can detect your finger's presence up to 20mm away from the screen, allowing users to highlight links, but only from within the browser. Apart from that neat touch, which in practice, is a bit awkward to properly use, the phone functions exactly as it should for the low-to-mid range it occupies. Performance is appreciably quick and pages loaded up in the browser in just about 30 seconds time.

There's still no word on whether the sola will ever make it stateside, but if you're keen to see that hovering functionality in action, head past the break for a video demo and check out our gallery below.

Gallery: Sony Xperia Sola hands-on

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia GX makes Japan debut today

The Xperia GX passed muster at the FCC labs a few weeks back and is filling shelves of NTT DoCoMo stores starting today. If you like your smartphone screens big and high-resolution, you'll probably be very happy with the Xperia GX's 720p 4.6-inch display, wrapped in a curved frame similar to last year's Xperia Arc. There's no word on whether the phone will remain a Japan-only exclusive, but Sony is likely to have something new to show off at European trade show, IFA, in only a few weeks. Arguably more of a looker than the Xperia S, perhaps we'll see a global model -- there's a pentaband 3G radio in this iteration -- sidling up next to an Xperia tablet in Germany very soon.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Xperia GX makes Japan debut today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 04:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Xperia Tablet leaked from internal slides: Surface-style keyboard and tentative $450 price tag

Sony's next-generation tablet appears to have leaked on internal slides spotted by German news site, Mobiflip. In short, it's thinner and lighter than the Tablet S, while internal specifications also trump it, including a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, Android 4.0 ("or later"), 3G connectivity and three storage options; 16, 32 and 64GB. The whole tablet follows the same folded magazine design of Sony's existing tablet, is splashproof and houses a 6,000mAh battery that the slides suggest will manage 10 hours of WiFi-based web browsing. There's even some tentative pricing, with the different-sized models marked up at $450, $550 and $650, respectively. The pictures also cover Sony's plans to add a lightweight keyboard to its next tablet, similar to Microsoft's Surface plans, but with some Smart Cover-esque kickstand skills thrown in for good measure. We've added a shot of the keyboard cover after the break, but you can take a tour of the rest of the slides -- which include a raft of accessories and docks -- at the source link below.

Update: We've been in touch with a Sony spokesperson, who had "no comment at this stage." We may have to wait until next month, when European trade show IFA kicks off -- with Sony in attendance -- until we hear anything more concrete.

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Filed under: Tablet PCs

Sony Xperia Tablet leaked from internal slides: Surface-style keyboard and tentative $450 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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