sony

Sony Ericsson's Walkman line has always been great but also relatively expensive. Except for a couple like the W810i and the W600i, most Walkman phones never make it to a U.S. carrier, and as such never enjoy carrier subsidies. But at CES this year, Samsung shook things up a bit with the introduction of the Sony Ericsson W200i Walkman. Even without a carrier it will cost just $179, and with a carrier it will dip low as $79. Though Sony Ericsson wouldn't confirm if a carrier is imminent, we wouldn't be surprised if this phone ended … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Can Sony finally bring itself out of the analog century? Howard Stringer thinks so.

"We are pushing Sony faster into the digital world," Sony's CEO told a smattering of journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show here. The company that brought you the now long-dethroned Walkman and, for all too brief a stay, the Aibo robo-mutt was long divided into fiefdoms that didn't get along so well. Now it's learning how to more tightly integrate hardware, software and content for the benefit of its future product lines.

"Two years ago, you were all muttering … Read more

After the huge launch of the PlayStation 3 in November, Sony seems to be relaxing on the gaming front. In a press conference last night, the company announced that it sold a million PS3s. Unfortunately, that's about all the news Sony had.

The Sony booth at CES had a nice handful of PS3s set up, but they were playing the same selection of Resistance: Fall of Man and whatever sports and racing games they had on hand. Sony did have a playable demo of the dragon-riding game Lair set up, but that was the most interesting thing at the … Read more

Not exactly new, but perhaps new to you: Sony's VAIO UX ultramobile PC garnered a lot of attention last year for its cool palm-size design, but even though it contained a fully fledged Intel Core Solo CPU and ran Windows XP, it fell somewhat short as a usable mobile computer.

The latest update, which sounds very promising, is the UX Premium Micro PC. This version has a 32GB solid state hard drive, which means no moving parts, better battery life, less heat, and faster access to your data (or at least 32GB worth of your data).

Flash memory-based hard … Read more

Sony today unveiled the Bravia Internet Video Link, a small accessory designed to deliver online video to compatible Bravia flat-screen HDTVs. The device is scheduled to be released in mid-2007; pricing has not yet been set. It will only work with compatible Bravia LCD TVs that are scheduled to be released later in 2007.

The Bravia Internet Video Link is a small device about the size of a VHS tape that's designed to snap onto the back of the TV. In addition to the Ethernet port (which interfaces to your home network), the Video Link box includes USB and … Read more

At $1,600, Sony's new Vaio TP1 Living Room PC, announced today, might be a little pricey for some of you, especially considering that it doesn't have an HD optical drive. Still, we suspect that its Roomba-like design might be charming enough to help it find a way into many living rooms. It does include an HDMI-out, so you can at least hook it up to your HDTV. It will be powered by Windows Vista Home Premium and an Intel Core 2 Duo laptop chip (which model is unspecified). Other specs include built-in Wi-Fi networking, a standard-definition, … Read more

At a press event last summer, a Sony product manager told me that some consumers still find hard-drive camcorders confusing and prefer DVD camcorders instead. Of course, that didn't stop Sony from introducing five new hard-drive camcorders at CES this year: the DCR-SR200, DCR-SR300, DCR-SR42, DCR-SR62, DCR-SR82. Wasting no time, Sony will start accepting preorders for these models on its Web site starting Monday and expects them to start shipping in March.

Topping the line is the DCR-SR300, with its 40GB hard drive, 3-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor, 2.7-inch Clear Photo 16:9 touchscreen LCD, and 10x optical Carl … Read more

If you've got $33,000 earmarked for a new television, then Sony's main CES announcement might pique your interest. If you don't, you'll have to wait until the company's February show to hear anything official about the company's 2007 products. Eschewing CES for significant product news is nothing new for the company, but the price point of its new flagship HDTV still represents a certain kind of bravado. At least Sony knows how to capture headlines from the mainstream press.

The $33,000 KDL-70XBR3 (did I mention it costs $33,000?) happens to be … Read more

Despite the emergence of DVD, hard-drive, and flash-based camcorders, Mini DV models still sell like hotcakes. That probably has to do with the fact that they offer so much for the money. Sony announced three new Mini DV camcorders at CES this year: the DCR-HC28, DCR- HC38, and DCR- HC48.

The Handycam DCR-HC28 has a 680,000-pixel sensor, 20x optical zoom lens, 2.5-inch, 123,000-pixel touchscreen LCD, and a 123,000-pixel viewfinder. As the entry-level model in the line, it doesn't sport many of the fancy features it's pricier siblings offer, but it does include Sony's … Read more