Sony has launched its smartphone, tablet and smartwatch salvos after Samsung’s major smartphone launch, just days before the latest iPhones are unveiled, packing in a serious set of compelling features designed to offer clear competitive differences in the hope of swaying new customers to Sony’s side, with the event able to be watched online here.
Flagship smartphones are always packed with great new features, with Sony’s new Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact proving no exception.
The Z3 offers a 5.2-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080P) screen in a 7.3mm slim package, Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU, 16 or 32GB storage, microSDXC slot that can take 128GB cards, 3GB RAM, 20.7 megapixel rear camera, 2.2 megapixel front camera, high-res audio, digital noise cancelling, audio upscaling tech to improve non hi-res sound, the highest level of waterproofing for a 2014 smartphone, Sony’s best ever battery life and power saving technologies, a very bright screen that can be read in daylight at just 152 grams and from November, the ability to use PS4 Remote Play capabilities. The Z3 Compact has effectively identical hardware specs specs, save for a smaller 4.6-inch 720P HD screen, slightly less RAM at 2GB, slightly thicker at 8.64mm thin and slightly higher at 129g in weight, with the same long battery life, PS4 Remote Play, vivid bright screen, hi-res audio and the rest, with top water and dust proofing to boot.
Peter McKeon, MD of Sony Mobile Oceania said: “Australians demand and deserve greatness from their smartphone – in design, camera, battery life and entertainment experiences. That’s precisely what we have delivered with Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact, while driving leading innovations in our unique Sony camera experiences and, for the first time, PS4 Remote Play. Size does matter and Australians also deserve choice, which is why we’ve brought the best of Sony to the large screen Xperia Z3 for immersive entertainment, as well as the smaller, lighter Xperia Z3 Compact that doesn’t compromise on features.”
Inbuilt NFC compatibility in both models means it’s “even easier to connect devices and share with more than 160 Sony One-touch enabled products – such as headphones, TVs and SmartWear including the new SmartBand Talk SWR30. The Z3 will be available via Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin, while the Z3 Compact will come to Telstra and Optus first, with further updates on pricing and ranging still to be released for the Australian market.
Next up is the Xperia Z3 Compact tablet, billed as “the world’s slimmest and lightest compact tablet” at 6.4mm thin weighing just 270g, with an 8-inch Full HD vivid display, PS4 Remote Play capability, Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz processor, 3GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU, 8.1 megapixel rear camera, 2.2 megapixel front camera, large battery with 13 hours of video playback and more to shake up the compact tablet market.
Then there are two new Sony SmartWear Experience watches – the SmartBand Talk and the SmartWatch 3, focusing on 3 Sony wearable tech principles: “lifelogging” capability, flexible style and intelligent notifications. The SmartBank Talk is billed as a “powerful lifelogger” that brings call handling and HD voice control to and from your wrist, with an always-on curved 1.4-inch E-paper display, while the SmartWatch 3 is “the first smartwatch specifically designed for the latest Android Wear updates”.
Mr McKeon added that: “Life is a journey, and journeys are made up of stories and experiences that define you – this is the underlying principle for Lifelog, the Android app at the heart of our SmartWear Experience. We’re going beyond mere fitness tracking and number crunching, to help you log and preserve those moments that matter. As a pioneer of smart and wearable technology, SmartBand Talk, SmartWatch 3 and Lifelog don’t merely affirm Sony’s leadership in the space, but as the innovators who dare to be different by bringing the world choice through products and services no-one else can, or will.”
The SmartBand Talk’s lifelogging feature lets you track your daily activity for fitness purposes to see how active you’ve been in different scenarios in a fully water and sweat proof design, set to come in black and white colours at first and more vibrant colours later in the year.
SmartWatch 3 was developed in collaboration with Google to enable the latest Android Wear updates for Google delivered info at a glance. Promising “impressive standalone activity”, it also has lifelogging features, a built-in microphone, accelerometer, compass, gyro and GPS with a 1.6″ 320×320 TFT LCD Transflective display for visibility in bright sunlight while charging from a standard microUSB port – and it’s also waterproof to the IP68 rating.
Both watches talk to a range of Android smartphones via Bluetooth and NFC, with Sony to open up an API for its partners “to integrate services with Lifelog or build completely fresh experiences.”
The Australian launch, ranging and pricing details of the SmartBand Talk and SmartWatch 3 will be announced at a future date.
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