Sony today announced that the Lollipop update is now rolling out for a variety of Xperia smartphones. The company also touched on what handsets will be receiving the update next week. According to today's announcement, owners of the Xperia Z3 Dual, Xperia Z1, Zperia Z1 Compact and Xperia Z Ultra should receive Lollipop update notifications from today. For next week, Sony will unlock...
The Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact are upon us, with both devices now available in parts of Europe, and at least one of them likely to hit American shores next month. Sony's rapid-fire release cycle for high-end Android phones results in each generation of phones being the sum of many iterative updates upon the last. That's true of the Z3 series — both phones take their...
Water resistance has been a key selling point for Sony smartphones for the past couple of years, and now the company is highlighting its phones' underwater credentials with a series of quirky new apps. Sony's underwater collection, available in the U.S. on Google Play, showcases ways in which the company's waterproof phones can detect when they're subjected to varying levels of water —...
The unlocked version of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is now for sale on Sony's US website. The device (see our review) is available in black, white and pink and comes with a hefty $549.99 price tag. The unlocked U.S. model seems to be the same as the internationally available D5503, and according to the listed specifications has LTE band support for bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 20....
While Sony continues to struggle to get its Xperia phones directly into U.S. carrier stores, there's good news for American Sony fans wanting to pick up GSM unlocked versions of the company's latest Xperia Z2. Engadget reports that the Japanese firm has confirmed its intention to sell the Z2 on its online store in the U.S. at some point "in the near future." The move would be a...
Since Sony's Xperia Z1, Z1 Compact and Z Ultra started receiving their Android 4.4 KitKat updates a couple of weeks back, some Xperia owners have been reporting audio glitches on their devices. Specifically, a troublesome bug would sometimes cause notifications and calls to be played through the internal speaker rather than the external speaker, making them almost impossible to hear....
Sony fans in the UK have a new option if they want a smaller handset: the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is now available on Three. Launching today both in stores and online, the Xperia Z1 Compact can be had for £29-a-month on a contract plan, or upfront for a relatively affordable £359.99 if you go for the pre-paid option. Overall, we'd call ourselves fans of the Xperia Z1 Compact. It brings...
Major software update for Z1 series devices also brings new Sony UI Sony has announced the rollout of Android 4.4 KitKat for the Xperia Z1, Z1 Compact and Z Ultra, starting today. The new firmware also includes updated Sony apps, such as Walkman, Album and Movies, and a refreshed UI — likely similar to what we've seen on the Xperia Z2. That's in addition to standard KitKat features...
Iterative improvements across the board add up to a sleeker, more capable Xperia phone Sony likes to release two flagship phones each year. We've bemoaned the fact before, but the Japanese electronics giant continues to persue an aggressive timetable of half-yearly replacements for its high-end "Z" series. Back in September at IFA, we met the Xperia Z1; just six months later we're...
Sony's downsized Z1 might just be the best small Android phone you can buy For the past several years, high-end Android phones have followed the mantra of "go big or go home." Five-plus-inch displays, once considered comically large, are now the standard for top-level Android handsets. And big screens definitely have their advantages, giving us more room to browse the web, play games...
Sony's miniature marvel delivers almost everything that made the Z1 great, in more hand and pocket-friendly design The Sony Xperia Z1 is a great phone. It's also a big, blocky phone with enormous bezels and an unashamedly chunky design. So we gave a warm welcome to its smaller sibling, the Xperia Z1 Compact, when we first saw it at CES 2014. The Compact, as we'll call it, incorporates...
Other changes include improvements to Wifi, Bluetooth streaming and the stock email app Just a month after the Sony Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra were updated to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, there's a second 4.3-based firmware rolling out to both handsets. Sony has confirmed via Twitter that the update is rolling out in stages starting today, with "display, BT [Bluetooth] music streaming, email,...
After three months and a succession of software updates, what do we really think of Sony’s Xperia Z1? The past year has been a pivotal one for Sony Mobile. After meandering through 2012 with a less than memorable product lineup, Sony introduced some of its strongest devices in 2013, along with a revamped design language. Among these was the company’s most impressive phone to date, the...
Sony and T-Mobile's Xperia Z1s is a breath of fresh air amid an increasingly stale smartphone market It was the Xperia Z, released early last summer as a T-Mobile exclusive, that drew my attention to Sony. It was the company’s first high-profile smartphone to hit US shelves, and it was radically different from its competitors — with Sony’s exciting and fresh design language, polished...
Sony and T-Mobile have paired to bring another great phone to the U.S. market Sony was firing on all cylinders last week at CES, and one of its most impressive new products already is available here in the United States. Meet the Xperia Z1s, the North American answer to Sony’s Xperia Z1 flagship and T-Mobile’s exclusive follow up to last summer’s Xperia Z. It’s available now online (...
First smartphone with PlayStation app preinstalled Sony also announced a special treat for T-Mobile customers here in the US this evening, the Xperia Z1s. Toting the "best" camera in any waterproof phone, this Z1 variant will offer special background defocusing for the camera, 32GB of internal storage, and a great entertainment offer consisting of six movie downloads from Sony, a 60-...
Miniature Xperia Z1 hits Docomo amid rumors of upcoming international version As expected, today's the day the Sony Xperia Z1 f hits store shelves in Japan. The Docomo-branded phone is effectively a shrunk-down version of the Xperia Z1, Sony's current high-end handset. However unlike many "mini" versions of flagship smartphones, the Z1 f retains the high-end internals of its big brother...
Build differences, 32GB internal storage and TD-LTE support for Chinese variant Sony's latest Android flagship, the Xperia Z1, has today landed on China's largest carrier, the state-owned China Mobile. The Chinese Z1 looks much the same as its international cousin — from a distance, at least — and sports a similar spec sheet to its global counterpart. There's a 2.2GHz Qualcomm...
Miniature Xperia Z1 scheduled for pre-holiday arrival on Docomo We've known for a while that Sony's dinky Xperia Z1 f was due to arrive on NTT Docomo in Japan this month, but now we have a firm date — Thursday, Dec. 19. An update to the carrier's online store reveals that the pint-sized version of the Xperia Z1 will launch in black, white, lime and pink just in time for the holidays,...
International version of Japan's Xperia Z1 f inbound? Ever since Japan's NTT Docomo got the Xperia Z1 f — a 4.3-inch version of the Xperia Z1, with all the juicy specs left intact — we've been hoping for news of a wider international launch. Now there's the first sign that such a device might be headed our way, as the usually reliable @evleaks has published images of a Sony "Xperia Z1S...