Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray swings through FCC donning AT&T bands

We’ve known it as both the Urushi and the ST18a, but Sony Ericsson‘s latest handset was just “accepted” over at the FCC as the Xperia Ray, getting the fed green-light with a full set of photos to boot. A quick perusal of the docs confirms that the Xperia Ray will bring on quadband HSPA compatible with AT&T and global carriers, but the lack of AWS indicates we won’t see this showing up on T-Mobile shelves. Also included on the list of tested items is the ANT+ wireless tech responsible for the device’s fitness-monitoring functionality. Making it through the FCC is always a significant hurdle for a company to jump over, so we’d suspect the phone’s still on track for its planned Q3 release. In the meantime, however, check out the gallery below for the images so graciously provided to us in the documents.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray swings through FCC donning AT&T bands originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony MiniDisc Walkman to stop spinning in September (video)


Aside from with a handful of stateside early adopters (and a few million others in Japan) eager to embrace any new technology, Sony’s rather extensive line of MiniDisc Walkmans never had a chance to dominate the portable audio market. But for one reason or another, the company kept up production of the optical player / recorder combos for nearly 20 years, after the first Sony MZ1 launched in Japan in September of ’92. With a countless selection of more affordable solid-state alternatives available today, however, it’s certainly not shocking to see good ole MD go the way of the laserdisc and the cassette. Now, only one question remains: How long until we see the compact disc suffer a similar fate?

Continue reading Sony MiniDisc Walkman to stop spinning in September (video)

Sony MiniDisc Walkman to stop spinning in September (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceNikkei  | Email this | Comments

Xperia Arc hits the US unlocked and ready for action

The Xperia Arc is one the best handsets we’ve seen from Sony Ericsson, but US consumers have had to sit by and watch as the thing popped up in other markets around the world — until now, that is. The unlocked AT&T-compatible quad-band 3G handset just hit Sony’s store. The Gingerbread-packing smartphone has a 4.2-inch Reality Display, 512MB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, and will start shipping tomorrow. The Xperia Arc will run you $600 — that’s the price you pay for contractual freedom.

Xperia Arc hits the US unlocked and ready for action originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not for sale: Every PlayStation 2 game ever made, sealed and in mint condition

Did you buy Zone of the Enders just to get at the demo version of Metal Gear Solid 2? Did you summon half your street to join you in a game of TimeSplitters? Wouldn’t you have enjoyed your PlayStation 2 games much more if you’d just left them sealed on the shelf? That’s the eye-watering achievement collector Ahans76 has achieved, spending the last decade stuffing first edition (only with the Sony hologram attached) titles into a bookcase and steadfastly refusing to open them. In an interview with PlayStation Collecting (hit the source link below) he reveals much about the collection but doesn’t mention if he ever opened his PlayStation 3. That would certainly be one way of keeping your credit card secure.

Not for sale: Every PlayStation 2 game ever made, sealed and in mint condition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets pose for the cameras again, show off more angles (video)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/05/sonys-s1-and-s2-tablets-pose-for-the-cameras-again-show-off-mo/

Sony’s S1 and S2 Honeycomb tablets have been very coy in front of the cameras since their initial unveiling. Aside from two visually pleasing short films and a tease of a hands-on, we haven’t seen much of them since — or any specific release details, for that matter. The former’s changed at least, however, thanks to Notebook Italia. The site managed to handle the duo long enough in front of a lens to capture a bevy of snapshots, along with a short video of the S1 running PlayStation Suite. If you’ve been anxious to get a better look you’ll find the S1 clip past the break, and all of the photos by hitting the source link below.

Update: Niccolo from HDblog.it wrote in just as this post was going live, offering up another batch of screenshots and another hands-on video. That’s down below, enabling double your viewing pleasure, and double your fun.

[Thanks, Lau]

Continue reading Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets pose for the cameras again, show off more angles (video)

Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets pose for the cameras again, show off more angles (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony brings PSN back online in Japan, wants us to forget about all that hacking nonsense

Sony brings PSN back online in Japan, wants us to forget about all that hacking nonsense

Is it over? Is it finally all over? Sony would certainly like to think so, finally bringing its PSN service back online for gamers in its home country of Japan as expected. PlayStation players throughout most of the world have been getting their Resistance on for at least a month now, US services leading the way back in May, but the Japanese government had previously asked Sony to keep things on the DL until it was doubly, triply sure all was good. Given that it only took three days after that initial re-launch for people to find another PSN exploit, that’s looking like it was the right call.

Sony brings PSN back online in Japan, wants us to forget about all that hacking nonsense originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS4 production to begin later this year?

We’re still waiting on that globe-like PS9 (aren’t you?), but seeing as how wireless head-to-console gaming isn’t yet available or ethical, we’ll make do with PS4 rumors. Based on nothing more than a game of component-maker telephone, sources out of Taiwan are telling Digitimes to expect a brand new PlayStation 4 for launch sometime in early 2012. Reportedly on board for this latest iteration are baked-in motion controls à la Kinect and a holographic David Lynch virtual pet. We kid, but we do hope he helms those new ads. According to these anonymous insiders, Sony has a planned production run of 20 million consoles for launch — all headed straight to eBay, we imagine. It should go without saying that news of this kind should be taken with a mouthful of salt, but with the PS3 turning five this November, it’s a safe bet that there’s a successor to the “It Only Does Everything” throne on the way.

[Image credit via CNET Asia]

PS4 production to begin later this year? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon restores camera production in Japan, hints at mirrorless model in 2012


There’s no question that Canon and Nikon still dominate the interchangeable lens camera (ILC) market, but with Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, and now Pentax all launching compact, inexpensive, mirrorless models in recent years, the legacy manufacturers have some catching up to do. In an interview confirming the restoration of pre-quake production levels in Japan, Canon camera division head Masaya Maeda told Reuters that the company is “considering the technical aspects” of creating a mirrorless camera, following up by saying “we will launch an interesting product next year.” The comment doesn’t exactly make a mirrorless Canon a sure thing, but it’s as solid a commitment as we can expect for now.

One possible concern for Canon is that entry into the new ILC category would cannibalize the company’s higher-end point-and-shoot offerings, which likely offer higher margins. But if mirrorless models gain market share over traditional DSLRs and Canon doesn’t have its own cam to match, the company could find itself racing to catch up, rather than dominating the ILC category as it has done in the past. Competition from Canon isn’t likely to start a price war, since there isn’t much elasticity at this point, but it could put pressure on other manufacturers to push the limits with image quality, accessory selection, and perhaps even lead to a future lens standard — though we’re probably more likely to see a Pentax Q that can actually capture DSLR-quality images far before manufacturers decide to adopt a universal lens mount.

Canon restores camera production in Japan, hints at mirrorless model in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s new tablet teaser is just as hypnotic as the first (video)

Before stumbling back to work this morning, you might wanna take a minute to give your neurons a well-deserved massage with this new teaser for Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets. Much like last month’s spellbinding ad, this sequel features plenty of balls, levers and bizarre figurines moving together in serpentine synergy. If you look closely, you might even spot one of Sony’s Honeycomb slates. This is only the second installation in what could very well be a never-ending series — but we’d be OK with that, because these clips make our brains happy. Click play to get the ball rolling and let the symphony begin.

Continue reading Sony’s new tablet teaser is just as hypnotic as the first (video)

Sony’s new tablet teaser is just as hypnotic as the first (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony PSN ‘Welcome Back’ promotion extended… for one more day

Welcome back. Again. Chances are, anyone planning to grab those PSN freebies took their share when the promotion launched last month, but just in case you’ve been holding out, Sony’s giving you another 24 hours (from now) to download your pair of free PS3 and PSP games, 100 virtual items from PlayStation Home, and 30 days of PlayStation Plus. After then, you better be prepared to pay up for your copy of Dead Nation or LittleBigPlanet. The whole gratis shebang goes offline for good at 9AM Pacific Time tomorrow — just before the PlayStation Store is set to open for business in Japan.

Sony PSN ‘Welcome Back’ promotion extended… for one more day originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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