Sony has unveiled a new member of its Xperia lineup, the Sony Xperia S — that’s right, no more ‘Ericsson’ to be seen. The Xperia S is the Nozomi which we’ve seen leaked around the internet the past and the specs are exactly what we were expecting.
- 4.3-inch 1280×720 342ppi (HD) Reality Display
- 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Dual-Core CPU
- Android 2.3 (4.0 coming during the second quarter)
- HSPA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
- 1GB RAM, 16/32GB Interal Storage
- 12MP Rear Camera / 1.3MP HD Front Camera
- Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, NFC
Sony says that the Xperia S is the start of a new line of phones called Xperia NXT which will bring the “Iconic Identity” back to Sony that will be instantly recognisable. So any future releases of Xperia devices from Sony will have a similar look to the Xperia S — something we’re 100% okay with. The Xperia S is also fully PlayStation Certified so you have full access to Sony’s PlayStation games.
The thin white/see-through band below the screen houses the antenna and lights for notifications and the three buttons — back, home, menu. The Xperia S will also come in white, which is the colour the previously leaked device was. As for a release date, Sony says it will launch globally during the first quarter of this year, so we’ll certainly see a launch here and we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.
when it says globally first quarter hmmm australia if lucky could c a release date sometime around march which is wat im hoping for
Can someone pls sell the Acro HD, I want to watch tv on my phone.
my current contract ends on my bday which is august so getting this phone when the contract expires cant wait
Happy Birthday for August! Am so excited!
thank you i think optus can allow me to finish my contract 1 month or 2 early hopefully it comes out around april or may
that wallpaper looks hot! where can i get it?
anyway i’m not upgrading to any phone that’s a version behind because i know 100% that it’ll take at least 6-12 months to get the current version.
Haha, I can’t believe phone manufacturers are still releasing products with gingerbread.
Ice Cream Sandwich source code was released mid November. Many phones now have fairly well functioning unofficial ports, made by hobbiests, there is absolutely no excuse for a manufacturer with all the proprietary hardware driver sources and resources to release new devices using the new OS.
Let’s put this in perspective. We’re talking about a company that launched a device with Android 1.6 and said it was a market leader. For them to launch 1 version behind and promise an update in the near future is step up for them.
In comparison to other companies launching with Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s a crap effort.
It’s interesting. The stats are impressive, but I’ll stick with my Samsung Galaxy II.
What is that dual core Qualcomm SoC? If it’s the old MDM8260 or similar, It’s already passe. However if it is the new Krait-based 8960, that should easily be the fastest SoC on the market right now, even faster than the Tegra 3.
Really interested to know the detail.
http://dl-www.sonyericsson.com/cws/download/1/105/035/2/1326096543/Xperia_S_WP_1.pdf
“Processor 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Dual Core”
Ah! So Sony continues with the tradition of using year-old Qualcomm processors in its flagship smartphones. Good one Sony! I’m sorry, but the 8260 is the same SoC that came out in the HTC EVO 3D and HTC Sensation, phones that came out nearly 8 months ago. By the time the Xperia S comes to market, it would be a year old technology. What’s more, Qualcomm is just about to release its brand newly designed Snapdragon S4 8960. This processor sports the new Krait architecture which is a lot faster than the old 2009-designed Scorpion, has built-in LTE and as… Read more »
I agree 110% with you there. It makes me wonder if Sony are trying to push their profit margin up — those SoCs can’t be costing them all that much. Once Mobile World Congress has come and everyone is given a chance to show off their wares, that’s when I’ll pass judgement on it all. Sony may have something up their sleeve, but then again, so will Samsung (Galaxy S III) and that’s where HTC launch their European devices. Both HTC and Samsung will be pushing those brand new SoCs — Sammy might even jump in with their quad-core Exynos.… Read more »
I also agree with all you’ve said, except for the need for a quad-core Exynos. Most apps are not that well multi-threaded, the advantage of having an extra core diminishes quickly beyond 2. I’m pretty sure a dual-core Cortex A9 running at higher frequencies is faster in nearly all “normal usage scenarios” than say a Tegra 3 (quad-core Cortex-A9 running at 1.3Ghz). I think the only reason NVIDIA has gone with quad-core is the marketing power of calling it “quad core”. Otherwise, an dual core OMAP 4470 running at 1.8 Ghz should beat Tegra 3 easily. Oh well… now I’ve… Read more »
But quad-core helps enormously with multi-tasking. For example one core can run the background programs, another the foreground, another the Android OS and a 4th core for marketing 😀
Multi-threading is not really needed except for the high end games, but with more cores the load is spread out better and leads to overall better speeds and battery from what i can garner
I don’t believe quad-core is needed, I just think Sammy might put it in their device just for bragging rights, “we did it first” kinda thing.
@Rohan – Ok, I’ll admit I burst out laughing at the ‘4th core for marketing’. XD
Neat, looks the part, think I may have found the successor to my x10
To be frank, anything would be an upgrade from the X10. The Xperia S is a worthy successor in comparison.
well i spoke too soon about being this as my successor to the x10.. which i have done everything to aside from unlocking the boot loader.. Ended up snapping up a galaxy s2… wait for it the t989 model (us version) sporting a 1.5ghz dual core processor.. brand new and unlocked for about $525 off ebay..
Beautiful looking hardware design – something that Sony does well. With the 3 dots at the bottom of the display being capacitive keys it’s gonna feel like it’s an old design fairly quickly, but that probably won’t bother heaps of people.
Meh.. I prefer physical keys but Google are pushing software / capacitive buttons.
What’s really meh is back, home, menu & search being in different places on different devices. What we have now is a standard going forward. The recently used apps button is more useful on ICS than it is on HC – dismissing apps completely kills them which can be useful.
But the best thing is the consistency of the UI that so many people complain about – hopefully Google will leave the 3 buttons as they are for at least 12-24 mths.