Following its Japanese launch late last year, the Sony Walkman Z-series is due to arrive in Europe and the U.S. from next month. The NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered personal media player comes in 8, 16 and 32GB flavors, and supports HDMI, DLNA and Wifi connectivity. Besides that, you get all the benefits of Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 4.3-inch screen, albeit without cellular connectivity or any cameras.

According to the Sony Store pre-order page, U.S. prices will range from $249.99 for the 8GB model up to $329.99 for the 32GB version. We've got the full presser from Sony after the break.

Source: Sony; More: Sony Store

Motorola continues to iterate with every new device, and the Motorola Motoluxe is no exception. It's got a 4-inch display and is rocking Android 2.3 (lame, but not surprising), has the usual Motorola UI improvements and sports an 8MP camera with autofocus and flash.

Picking it up, you'll be struck by the weight -- or lack thereof -- and the cool little quick-launch apps widget that's planted on the homescreen. (There's a similar widget for your favorite contacts.)

And save for a VGA front-facing camera and 1400 mAh battery, that's about it. Not to say that it's a bad phone -- it's a solid mid-level device, which is what Motorola was aiming for. This is definitely one you folks in Greater China, Europe and Latin America will want to check out when it's released in February.

We've got a full hands-on after the break.

No longer can you complain about Android devices not having proper cameras. Polaroid has taken care of that with the SC1630. It's a proper-looking digital camera with an honest to goodness 3x optical zoom, 16MP sensor and Android user interface. The short version is that it's a digital camera with an Android back end. 

The slightly longer version is that you've got a digital camera with an Android 2.x.x back end and a 3.2-inch display. It's got a monster amount of storage -- the unit we played with had about 54GB on board. There's no doubt that you're using Android -- Polaroid hasn't done much to skin it. It's got full access to the Android Market, so you can get in a game of Angry birds before worrying about aperatures. And, yes, it's got Wifi for all the photo sharing you can muster, and cell versions certainly are possible.

It's also got a bevy of camera features, including various scene modes, face detection and a number of sharing options. That, obviously, is where the Android back end comes into play. You get to the camera side of the equation with a little button on top of the device. The lens extends in a couple seconds, and then you hit the giant red shutter to get down to business.

Speaking of getting down to business, we've got our full hands-on after the break. Check 'er out.

Just as we saw yesterday with the NPR Android app, the Tunein Radio app joins the growing list of applications that are compatible with Ford SYNC AppLink.  The TuneIn application allows people listen to more than 50,000 AM, FM, HD and Internet radio stations as well as more than 1 million on-demand programs.  All hands-free via Ford SYNC AppLink.  This is the future, folks.  No word on exactly when the Android app will be updated, but the iTunes app should go live soon, and we expect the Android app to follow shortly.  Hit the break for the full press release.

One of the more exciting pieces of mobile news for 2012 -- Intel's introduction into the Android ecosystem -- is also one of the more difficult ones to show you. Well, that's not entirely true; we got a nice look at Intel's CES booth with the new Medfield reference phone. And we got ourselves a pretty cool look at some of the early graphics capabilities.

But that's just it. We've seen great graphics before. We've seen smooth graphics before. We've seen mobile graphics that have made our heads spin. That graphics are going to become smoother and faster and more realistic every year is a given.

So when you watch our early hands-on with the Intel platform, keep in mind that we're still a little ways away from actual phones hitting actual hands. Don't worry a whole lot about the look of the device. You're not going to see the Intel Droid RAZR III XL in stores anytime soon. But the bottom line is that Intel's ready to power smartphones and tablets, apps are ready to work out of the box, and we've now got a whole new world of horsepower to explore. Will Intel be the battery life saviour we're all desperately wanting? Dunno yet. But one way or another, with Intel now in the mobile game, it's going to be an exciting year.  See the video after the break

One of the more interesting things to come out of Samsung's CES 2012 press conference was a quick glimpse at this Android app which would connect to one of their smart washing machines and notify you when your load was done. Details were skimpy, but I got the impression that you would be able to a bunch of other tasks on the washing machine remotely with the app. 

The running theme for big electronics manufacturers like Samsung has been tying up all of their various businesses into one another, and though there are some really obvious synergies between, say, TVs and tablets, utilities like this washing machine Android app are much more unexpected and interesting. LG's thinking very much the same thing; during their press conference, LG showed a fridge which could shunt your grocery list to your phone.

My big worry is that these manufacturers will close themselves off so that unless you're an all-LG house or an all-Samsung house, you won't be able to enjoy a fully-connected home. A washing machine is a big purchase, so if you buy it for this Android utility, then you're more or less locked-in to buying Samsung phones for the indefinite future, right?

CES "officially" starts today, but that doesn't mean that we haven't already seen a ton of new Android stuff.  Traditionally, hardware vendors and other companies showing off their gear at CES take a day to have press conferences and presentations with all the media outlets in attendance, and it's always full of good stuff.  We saw phones, tablets, televisions, heck even a refrigerator or two.  Here's a quick list in case you missed any of it

Smartphone news

• The three colors of the Droid RAZR
• Verizon and Moto announce the Droid RAZR MAXX
• Hands-on with the Droid RAZR MAXX
• Motorola announces the Droid 4
• Motorola Droid 4 hands-on
• Sprint Galaxy Nexus gets all official-like
• AT&T announces the Xperia Ion
• Sony announces the Xperia S
• Sony announces the Acro HD and Xperia NX
• Hands-on with the Pantech Burst
• Video hands-on with the Pantech Burst
• AT&T video of the Pantech Burst
• Samsung announces three LTE Android phones for AT&T
• Hands-on with the Galaxy Note for AT&T
• Video hands-on with the Galaxy Note for AT&T
• Huawei introduces the Ascend P1/PS1
• Hands-on with the Huawei Ascend P1/P1S
• LG Viper 4G coming to Sprint
• LG Spectrum announced for Verizon

Tablet news

• Hands-on with the Galaxy Tab 7.7
• Video hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
• ASUS' new 7-inch tablet
• Hands-on with the Pantech Element
• Video: The Pantech Element gets wet
• AT&T video of the Pantech Element
• ASUS announces the MeMO ME171 and Transformer Prime TF700T

Other news

• iOnRoad's AR driving assistant
• AT&T announces six new LTE devices
• Intel gives a brief Android tease

In the middle of all the CES excitement, it's sometimes hard to forget about the regular Android world for a while. Fortunately the good folks over at XDA Developers never forget, and the latest goody bag to emerge from them is a leaked Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the Xperia Play. 

The tweaked 4.0.3 ROM has all the look and feel of stock ICS, and takes advantage of the Trebuchet launcher. As usual with such leaks there are things that don't work, one of which seems to be the camera. But if you can live without that and fancy giving it a shot, hit the source link for the download links and instructions. A walkthrough video can be found after the break.

Source: XDA Developers

Following last night's Sony Xperia S announcement, the first information on where you'll be able to get hold of the device in the UK has started to emerge. So far Three and O2 have confirmed that they'll be carrying the phone when it arrives this March. In related news, retail chain Phones4U has announced that it's secured nationwide exclusivity of the white Xperia S in the UK.

We've got Phones4U's press release after the jump.

Source: Three UK, O2 UK on Google+

Take the best Android smartphone and put it next to the best Windows Phone. Know what you get? A couple of big-ass phones. Hit the break for a quick look at the Samsung Galaxy Nexus against the Nokia Lumia 900.