Urban.Tech.Life

There are a lot of big name companies showing off their goods this year at CES.  None, however are as big as Sony.  The tech and media juggernaut showed off some pretty interesting technology at their keynote.  Everything from $25,000, 4K video projectors to Crystal LED TVs that lefts show participants amazed after viewing them.  Surprisingly however, their mobile phone offerings were among the most impressive displayed at the show.  In the past, the companies previous mobile exploits with Ericsson haven’t always caught the attention of consumers with their lackluster design and functionality.  They pretty much became an afterthought in the crowded mobile landscape.  This year the company looks to change that by buying out their remaining interest in the Sony Ericsson venture, and offering a very strong lineup of phones and accessories that they hope will connect with consumers in 2012.

As I said before, Sony’s Xperia line of Android based phones were not very popular.  I talked to a friend yesterday about the phones displayed at CES by Sony, and she didn’t even know they made phones.  What’s worse is she works for a mobile carrier!  The company hopes that the new additions to the Xperia lineup will change that.  Enter the Xperia Ion.  It’s a well designed device with an amazing 12 megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, and 16 or 32 GB or onboard memory.  Built in is the Bravia display engine, the very same engine in their Bravia TV line.  That addition makes for a pretty impressive display, which comes in at 4.6 inches.  Add in a HDMI port, and 4G LTE speeds provided by AT&T, and the Ion looks like it could hold it’s own as far as Android devices go.

Next up is the Ion’s sibling, the Xperia S.  Some of the specs on the S are pretty similar to the Ion, both have 12 megapixels cameras, dual-core processors, plus more than enough on board memory for all your stuff.  Sony also announced that both devices will be Playstation Certified as well, making tons of Playstation content available for download and play on day one.  The real sell with the Xperia S however, is the beautiful, minimalist design of the device.  In a word, it’s stunning!  The typical Android menu buttons, often not even thought of by other manufactures, are completely translucent.  This adds elegance to the phone, and is sure to be a conversation starter for some tech enthusiast.  No pricing has been released as of yet, but expect the Ion and the Xperia S to be available this spring packing Android Gingerbread 2.3, and awaiting their Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades.

SmartWatch

Along with the announcement of the the Xperia phones, Sony also introduced a pretty intriguing accessory for, not only their phones, but all Android phones.  That’s the SmartWatch.  This looks really cool!  It’s a watch that you clip on to the included wristband, that connects the device to your Android phone via Bluetooth.  This allows you to control basic features of the phone right from your wrist.  It even allows you to remotely view the camera feed from the phone on your watch.  I’m not really sure if it will catch hold with consumers for everyday use, but it’s cool nonetheless.  the SmartWatch will cost roughly $150, and should be in stores very soon.

All in all, a pretty powerful step into the extremely crowded Android smartphone war.  Will the Sony name recognition, coupled with some really impressive specs, be enough to make Sony a heavyweight in the mobile world?  We’ll all know by this summer.