Here is a round-up of Sony’s electronic gadgets for 2012, as released during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 in Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
Sony's line-up for 2012 as announced during CES 2012.
The CES is a chance for consumers to get a glimpse of the gadgets lining up to hit the market in the near to mid-term future.
Sony’s line-up for 2012 includes the new Handycam range; the Cyber-shot W-Series and S-Series; the NWZ-Z1000 series (Sony’s first ever Walkman powered by Android); and a new line-up of BRAVIA televisions.
Here’s a list of these new products.
Handycam
Sony HDR-PJ760VE Full HD Flash Memory camcorder
HDR-TD20VE Double Full HD 3D Flash Memory camcorder
HDR-PJ760VE Full HD Flash Memory camcorder
New camcorder accessories
RDP-CA1 Portable Speaker
HVL-LE1 Battery Video Light
VCT-MP1 ‘Multipod’
22MB/s SDHC Class 10 media cards
World’s first Balanced Optical SteadyShot for even more stable images while walking/zooming (HDR-PJ760VE)
Increased built-in projector models led by the HDR-PJ760VE capable of displaying 100-inch screen size (diagonal)
The world’s smallest and lightest 3D Handycam® (HDR-TD20VE)
Clearer dialogue with Auto Wind Noise Reduction and Closer Voice (both models)
By Pixel Super Resolution processing for high-resolution still images and Extended Zoom (both models
Cyber-shot
Cyber-shot compact digital cameras
1. W-Series
W670
W650
W630
W620
W610
2. S-Series
S5000
All-round images with new 360 Sweep Panorama
SteadyShot image stabilisation for clearer handheld shots
Intelligent Auto mode recognises up to 33 scene settings for great results automatically
Picture Effect modes for easy in-camera effects
Walkman
Sony Walkman NWZ-Z1000 series
NWZ-Z1000 series
First ever Walkman® powered by Android™
Unique ergonomic body design
Features the new S-Master MX digital amplifier which greatly reduces noise and distortion level in your music
A new distinctive W.BUTTON allows one to launch the unique W.Control app; allowing one to explore their music collection in an intuitive manner
Available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities
BRAVIA
SonyBRAVIA EX650-series LED LCD HDTV
HX855-series LED LCD HDTV with 3D
HX750-series LED LCD HDTV with 3D
EX650-series LED LCD HDTV
Two distinct series –the flagship HX and the mid-level EX
Brilliant Full HD (1080p) picture quality with Dynamic Edge LED backlight
Picture qualities further enhanced with Sony’s X-Reality PRO and X-Reality digital video processors
They are Skype™ embedded, where users can enjoy free widescreen Skype-to-Skype video calls. Users can also make voice calls while simultaneously watching TV.
Sony’s HX855 carries forward Sony’s distinctive Monolithic design incorporating Gorilla® Glass by Corning®, allowing for thinner, lighter and stronger screen material.
Complete with X-Reality PRO and Motionflow XR 960, the HX850 is a fully Internet-connected television with built-in 3D, delivering a premium viewing experience when on, and a stunning addition to home décor even when off.
Google has extended its search results by tapping into the data, photos, information and relationships in your Google+ and Picasa account — as long as you’re logged onto your Google account.
Google launched this extension to its existing search engine earlier this week. This opt-out integration will be gradually rolled out over the coming days for users using Google Search in English.
Prior to this extension, Google returned results based on its indexing engine of the public information available on the Internet and listed them in order of relevancy based on its Page Rank algorithm.
With Search Plus Your World – if you’re logged into your Google account – henever you do a search, Google Search will add three types of information to the search process and results listings:
Personal Results. Photos and posts, related to your search term, from Google+ and Picasa — both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
Profiles in Search. Helps you find people within your Google+ network or circles — both in autocomplete (as you type in the search term) and results listings;
People and Pages. Helps you find people’s profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest — not just in your social circles, and enables you to follow them with just a few clicks. This is available even if you’re not logged into Google.
To me, this feature is an enhancement. Information is drawn from my own account, to which I have permission to access anyway. The information is not available to anyone else doing a similar search on Google as long as he is not logged into my account.
Screenshot from Google showing addition of personal results, photos and switch to turn off the feature.
It makes my search more relevant and it’s easier to do a comprehensive search that includes my Google+ and Picasa accounts (and perhaps other assets in the future).
The only problem is that it is now much easier for an intruder too, should my account ever be compromised or if I forget to log out of my account.
Note to self: Log out even if you’re stepping away for a coffee. What would have taken hours to consolidate across your different accounts can now be searched in one fell swoop while you’re raiding the fridge.
My wish? A truly interoperable search landscape which is non-exclusive will be the best case for users in the street.
Is it too unrealistic to hope that one day, my data in my Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (and any of the other mushrooming social networks out there) will be available to me only and those I’ve specifically allowed access and available when I do a search in ANY search engine?
I hope not.
I share many people’s laments that this extension of search into my own social networks is limited to my Google+ account and Google assets — and not my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Both Twitter and Facebook have disallowed Google from crawling their content.
Facebook is keeping mum for the moment, but Twitter is crying foul — claiming that Google is leveraging unfair advantage by using its predominant Search presence to help its nascent Google+ network against other social networks. Two thirds of search in the US goes through Google Search.
Twitter used to allow Google to tap its data until recently, when it stopped the arrangement with Google but continued the partnership with Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
Search Plus Your World can be toggled on and off but it is default on at the start of every session. You need to go to Settings to permanently turn it off.
It’s beyond the man in the street to know if it was Twitter deliberately keeping Google out or whether it’s Google who preferred to be kept out so it’s Search Plus Your World is now “unfortunately” constrained to only Google+.
Only an investigation by the FTC can ascertain the posturing and vested interests involved, and organisations like the Electronic Privacy Information Center are already considering filing a anti-competitive complaint to the FTC regarding this.
The Huawei Ascend P1 S is the slimmest smartphone in the world in the 4.3” smartphone class, measuring just 6.68mm at its slimmest point; while the Huawei Ascend P1 measures at 7.69mm thin.
The Huawei Ascend P1 and Huawei Ascend P1 S was announced during CES 2012.
Huawei announced the Huawei Ascend P1 and Huawei Ascend P1 S at CES 2012.
With the Ascend series of smartphones, Huawei promises fast multi-tasking, video replay and gaming experience for consumers
Ascend P1 S, the world's slimmest smartphone from Huawei, measuring just 6.68mm at the slimmest.
The smartphones in the series will boast SUPER AMOLED screen with Corning Gorilla Glass and will ship with Android 4.0 upon availability.
They will be powered with a dual core 1.5GHz Texas Instrument OMAP 4460 Cortext-A9 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB ROM.
Both will be equipped with an 8-megapixel BSI rear-facing and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, with the ability to capture 1080p HD videos.
The camera comes with dual flash LED and HDR effect optimization.
The Huaweil Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S have the same tech specs except for the thickness and battery rating.
The Huawei Ascend P1 has a 1670mAh battery while the Huawei Ascend P1 S features a whopping 1800mAh battery.
Both smartphones utilise a PPVD back cover coating that evenly distributes heat, and sport a strong metallic, three-dimensional design with a delicate texture.
Huawei Ascend series: three colours to choose from.
The Ascend P1/P1 S is available in metallic black, ceramic white and cherry-blossom pink with more colors to come.
The Huawei Ascend P1/P1 S will be available in Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, Australia, Middle East, and China from April 2012.
The 10.1-inch tablet sports the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the newest NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-core mobile processor. Prices within.
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201, world's first tablet with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-core mobile processor.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is housed in an ultra slim 8.3mm metallic spun finish chassis that weighs only 586g.
Super IPS+ screen for vivid wide-angle viewing.
The Eee Pad Transformer already boasts a wide 178° viewing angle IPS display, with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.
Now the Transformer Prime goes further, upgraded with a brighter Super IPS+ screen that enhances the brightness of the screen for a better outdoor reading experience.
It has a 1.2 megapixel front camera for video conferencing and an 8 megapixel rear auto-focus camera with LED flash.
Asus Transformer Prime in Amethyst Gray colour.
The rear-camera boasts a large aperture of F/2.4 and a back-illuminated CMOS sensor, touch-to-focus depth of field and low light noise reduction.
A first for any tablet, the 8 megapixel camera also has the ability to take full 1080p HD video.
Battery life of the pad alone is 12 hours, with an additional six hours when combined with the mobile dock.
The tablet itself has a micro SD card slot, 3.5mm combo audio jack and micro HDMI port for sharing.
The docking station comes with keyboard and touchpad, additional ports and 6 more hours of battery life.
The S$199 mobile dock contains a keyboard and touchpad, as well as a USB port and SD card slot.
The other available colour is Champagne Gold.
The preinstalled SuperNote application is able to take, draw or record notes.
Polaris Office gives users the ability to read and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint (MS Office 97-2007 version compatible) files.
In addition, ASUS is offering 8GB of free cloud storage for life via ASUS WebStorage, so users have access to their files via the cloud no matter where they are.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was launched yesterday evening and goes on sale today.
The usual prices for the tablet with and without the dock is S$1,098 and S$899 respectively; although the introductory prices are S$899 and S$759 respectively.
All prices include GST.
The main technical specifications for the Transformer Prime is tabulated below.
The latest version of the TomTom App (V1.10) integrates TomTom navigation with Facebook and Twitter allowing users to navigate to friends, places and events more easily.
The new TomTom App will be available within Q1 2012. Customers who already have the App (V1.9) will be able to download the new features for free.
TomTom App for iPhone/iPad integrates with Twitter and Facebook.
The TomTom app uses social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation.
The TomTom App for iPhone and iPad will be the first to use social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation.
It can automatically plan routes based on information from Facebook events, places and friends.
Drivers can also use the App to share their destination and arrival time on Twitter, Facebook, by email and SMS text.
The current TomTom App for iPhone/iPad (V1.9) already offers drivers:
The updated and accurate maps with no need for a mobile signal or data plan.
Free daily map changes from the TomTom community through Map Share.
Reliable arrival times at all times of day with IQ Routes.
Real-time camera alerts via TomTom Speed Cameras.
A powerful search with Google and Facebook.
Clear turn-by-turn guidance while on the phone thanks to iOS Multitasking support.
Seamless integration with contacts, photos, music, email and calendar.
The world’s first Android 4.0 tablet has been launched in Singapore. The 10.1-inch slate is also the first in the world to sport the new NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was launched in Singapore on 11 January 2012.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime comes in Amethyst Gray or Champagne Gold and the 32GB version will be available from tomorrow at introductory prices at S$899 (with dock) and S$759 (without dock). All prices include GST.
The predecessor of the Transformer Prime in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Attending the launch event for the Transformer Prime brought back pleasant memories of our family holiday in Germany last year, when we had the opportunity to bring along the newly-launched Transformer.
The predecessor to the Transformer Prime was already a powerful performer and proved really useful for the parents and entertaining for the kids during our two-week drive down the castle route from Frankfurt in Germany to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Singapore is the third destination after Taiwan and Hong Kong to launch the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which has been nominated as a CES 2012 Innovations Honoree.
The new tablet boasts the latest operating system, an extremely powerful processor, highly spec-ed camera and quality music.
The 10.1" tablet comes with a mobile dock with keyboad and touch pad, additional ports and 6 more hours of battery life.
100 units of the tablet were put up for pre-order on Facebook last week and all were snapped up within two hours on 4 January.
The Transformer Prime is the world's first Android 4.0 tablet.
Another 200 units will be put up for sale on-the-spot today after the launch.
These pre-launch units come with Android 3.2 Honeycomb but will be upgraded over the air to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tomorrow.
NVIDIA claims that the new Tegra 3 processor is up to five times as fast as its predecessor, the Tegra 2.
Although the Tegra 3 is named a quad-core processor, NVIDIA says there are actually five processors.
The pad is 8.3mm thin while the mobile dock is 10.4mm thin.
A companion processor handles most of the work until additional processing power is needed, at which time the remaining four processors begin kicking in one at a time.
The Transformer Prime is the world's first tablet to run on Tegra 3 Quad-core mobile processor.
A demo showed how the increased processing power of the Tegra 3 and its 12-core GeForce GPU rendered a smoother and better quality output when playing videos and graphics intensive games, when compared with competing tablets.
The Transformer Prime also boasts enhanced audio performance that is powered by ASUS SonicMaster technology, which is known for its crisp and acoustically accurate audio reproduction.
Nokia and AT&T announced the Nokia Lumia 900 at the 2012 International Consumer Electronic’s Show (CES) – the first Windows Phone 7 smartphone from Nokia to feature high speed LTE connectivity.
Large screen, large bandwidth and “large” camera – Lumia 900 will be larger than life.
Nokia Lumia 900 unveiled during CES 2012 on 9 January.
With Nokia’s largest display, the Nokia Lumia 900 delivers a rich content experience from a phone that still fits easily in your hand.
The Nokia Lumia 900 has a 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack Display, for rich, bright images both indoors and out in the sun.
The Nokia Lumia 900 has a large 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack Display.
However, resolution is only 800×480 pixels.
Cutting edge 4G LTE technology enables faster connection speeds of up to 50Mbps on AT&T’s 4G LTE network.
The Lumia 900 is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055 + MDM9200 processor, with a long- lasting battery with 1830mAH for 7 hrs talk-time and up to 300 hrs on standby.
Nokia’s third Lumia smartphone (after the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710), the Nokia Lumia 900 builds on Lumia’s head-turning design on the outside and a rich social and Internet experience on the inside.
People Hub is the quickest way to connect with friends using Live Tiles for real-time updates and a fast Web browsing experience with Internet Explorer Mobile.
The Nokia Lumia 900 is designed for the US and comes with 4G LTE.
The camera will put greater pressure on compact cameras. The 8-megapixel camera comes with a large aperture of f/2.2 and wide angle at 28mm. Add to this a Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash, it will the owner greater impetus to leave the compact camera at home.
Video is so-so, with hi-res video capture at 720p/30fps. A second, front-facing 1-megapixel camera for video calls has an f/2.4 lens and 30fps capture.
Here’s a quick round-up of smartphones announced prior to the four-day CES 2012 (10-13 January 2012) being held in Nevada, Las Vegas. Offerings from LG, Huawei, Nokia and Sony.
Sony Xperia S with 4.3-inch 720p screen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 12-megapixel camera.
LG from Korea has unveiled the Spectrum, which runs on Android 2.3 (upgradeable to 4.0) and has a 4.5” full HD display, a 1.5 Ghz processor and an 8-megapixel camera.
Huawei from China has announced the Android 4.0 Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S, which will be available in Asia Pacific in April 2012.
Ascend P1 S, the world's slimmest smartphone from Huawei, measuring just 6.68mm at the slimmest.
The Huawei Ascend P1 S is the slimmest smartphone in the world in the 4.3” smartphone class, measuring just 6.68mm at its slimmest point; while the Huawei Ascend P1 measures at 7.69mm thin.
Both have Super AMOLED screen with Corning Gorilla Glass.
Sony from Japan has announced Xperia S, its first next generation smartphone from the new Xperia NXT series, after it bought over Ericsson’s 50% stake in the former Sony-Ericsson joint venture.
The Xperia S has a 4.3-inch 1280×720 screen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 12-megapixel camera.
It will be available globally from Q1 2012 with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It will be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in Q2 2012.
Nokia from Finland has announced the Lumia 900 for the US market. It will basically be another Lumia 800 but with a bigger screen and battery, as well as LTE.
That’s all for now, will add on as more smartphones are unveiled in CES 2012 over the next few days.
The four-day CES 2012 (10-13 January 2012) is being held in Nevada, Las Vegas. A flurry of pre-show conferences and announcements gave a hint of what is to come this year. Here’s a quick round-up of televisions – a dynamic gadget frontier this year.
They will come smarter, bigger but thinner.
LG's stunning 55" OLED EM9600 measures only 4mm thick, thinner than a smartphone.
The most impressive offerings come from LG. It has unveiled its 55″ EM9600 measuring just 4mm thick – that’s thinner than a smartphone.
The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) system offers a ‘refresh-rate’ that is 1,000 times faster than most current sets – this means that moving images will appear much smoother.
The TV weights only 7.5kg.
LG will also be launching an 84” TV with ultra definition, as well as voice control remote controls, and a 3D gesture-control interface like that of Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect.
Samsung is pushing its 55" Super OLED TV, the ES 8000.
It’s Korean rivals, Samsung, is offering its flagship Super OLED TV – the ES8000.
It comes with an integrated camera for video conferencing and “smart interaction”; content from its GALAXY smartphone platform including Angry Birds; as well as 3D, voice, gestures, facial recognition.
Powered by a dual-core processor, users can surf the web while using or downloading multiple apps simultaneously
During the three major SMRT disruptions in December 2011, Singaporeans flocked to online sites to share updates, find news and exchange views.
Experian Hitwise has released data about Singapore Internet users during that period.
Top search terms containing SMRT (Comparison between 24 rolling weeks ending 10 December and 24 December)
Experian Hitwise found that top search variations used by Singaporeans include SMRT breakdown, SMRT twitter, SMRT CEO, SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa, SMRT news, SMRT Facebook and SMRT disruption.
Variations for the word “SMRT” on all search engines in Singapore saw an increase of 38% in related search clicks on week ending 24 December, the week after the disruption of train services.
“SMRT” remained the key search term used by Singaporeans within the two weeks. Fast moving event-related search terms from the two periods include specific person searches, SMRT CEO and SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa.
Websites receiving traffic from SMRT CEO related terms over 24 rolling weeks ending 24 December.
Ex-SMRT CEO, Saw Phaik Hwa, was widely discussed during the crisis.
Search terms around her name generated high online traffic in several social media websites and community forums including Facebook (17.98%) and Singapore HardwareZone Community (10.11%).
Top websites receiving traffic from terms in SMRT Disruption Period (Comparison between 24 rolling weeks ending 10 December and 24 December).
SMRT’s corporate site remained the top website receiving traffic from the search terms during and after the incident despite a 20% decline of search clicks share over the course.
However, traffic on social media and news websites increased the most over the course.
