Sony rolls out Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z!

Sony is rolling out an update that brings Android Jelly Bean and some of its own software modifications to the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z.

In addition to the benefits of Android 4.3, owners of these devices will get Sony’s Smart Social Camera and the company’s full collection of apps — including Messaging, MyXperia, Smart Connect, Small apps, TrackID, Sony Select and its suite of media apps.

Sony began its Jelly Bean rollout in February, and just last week the software update arrived for its Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z Ultra smartphones. The company says updates are coming to its remaining devices “soon.”

New Sony Xperia smartphone releases help company profits

The smartphone market up until recently was largely dominated by Apple and Samsung that are arguably the two major players, but there has been some movement on the Android platform with the likes of Sony and HTC getting their acts together by providing much more desirable hardware. Now it has been revealed that new Sony Xperia smartphone releases are helping company profits.

PlayStation maker Sony has just released its financial results for the second quarter of 2013 and the company revealed it has shifted 9.6 million Xperia handsets, which is an increase of 30% compared to the same period last year.

This equates to the best ever single quarter success for the company in terms of smartphone sales and has obviously been helped by the release of the Sony Xperia Z, and the Sony’s net profit came out at $35 million compared to a loss last year.

Its mobile division saw its sales rise by 36% to 3.9 billon that was led by sales of Xperia handsets as well as higher than average selling prices. This comes after the company has seen sales slide for its PlayStation 3 and previous losses in the TV market.

The company has also been helped by the weakening of the Yen making products coming out of Japan cheaper to foreign purchasers, but the company promised last year that it would launch new smartphones that would rival the competition.

This seems to be working so far and we can look forward to the next instalment in the Sony mobile revival with the release of the Xperia Honami later this year.

6.4″ Sony Xperia Z Ultra unveiled – thinnest, fastest waterproof phone comes with pencil input

Today Sony unveiled its new Sony Xperia Z Ultra 6.4-inch marvel, and this smartphone come tablet is set to turn heads with its heavy specs. This device was once known as the Togari and comes with stunning features thanks to its official announcement.

No more wondering to do now because the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is real, before we get into the specs and features we just want you to know there are two stunning videos of this device in action.

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra specs are impressive and include a 6.4-inch Triluminous 1080p resolution display with 344ppi pixel density, as well as featuring Sony’s OptiContrast and X-Reality technology, which is a step up from the usual Mobile BRAVIA tech.

Other than the screen being huge, it also comes with the super Snapdragon 800 processor, and we know that this ARM chip is the speediest ever to be put into a smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 came with a stylus, which is lovely to use, but users can use a pencil, pen or a capacitive stylus on the Sony Xperia Z Ultra and that is a nice touch. The graphics comes via the Adreno 330 GPU and the quad-core Krait 400 processor has been clocked at 2.2GHz, we cannot wait for the official benchmarks when they release and when they do we will be on top of this.

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean will be on board when you purchase as well as an 8MP Exmor-RS sensor rear camera capable of recording in 1080p video, it also supports HDR as well. It also has a 2MP 1080p@30fps front-facing camera.

The waterproof Full HD smartphone has 16GB of built-in storage, but remember 11GB of this is user-accessible, it also comes with a microSD slot for 64GB extra space. The design looks stunning and has a 6.5mm slim look, you will be happy to know it has an IP58 certification not IP57, which means it is water-resistant.

Key Features Include: 6.4” Full HD TRILUMINOS Display with by X-Reality, waterproof and dust resistant, 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 4G LTE, use anything like a pen or pencil as a stylus, HD Voice, WALKMAN player with ClearAudio+ and xLOUD enhancements, NFC and it weighs only 212 grams, and comes with a 3000 mAh battery with Battery STAMINA Mode for better battery life.

Sony announces Xperia ZR waterproof smartphone

Sony has announced the younger sibling to the Xperia Z: the Xperia ZR. The Xperia ZR includes many of the Z’s features in a smaller, more compact design.

Just like the Xperia Z, the Xperia ZR is waterproof and dust-resistant. This time, Sony is not just advertising the fact that the Xperia ZR can survive underwater but that you can actually use it there, particularly for taking 13 megapixel pictures and full HD videos with the camera and dedicated shutter button.

The Xperia ZR has a 4.55-inch, 1280 x 720 resolution LCD. Sony is using its BRAVIA Engine 2, along with something called OptiContrast panel. This basically gets rid of the extra touchscreen layer by integrating the touch sensor on the panel itself, which improves image quality and makes the display assembly thinner.

Other features include a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064, 2GB RAM, 8GB internal memory with microSD card slot and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The Sony Xperia ZR is expected to go on sale around the world in Q2, 2013.

Sony Xperia Z handsets reportedly suffering sudden death!

A number of Sony Xperia Z users have reported their devices suffering from sudden death. Apparently, Sony’s flagship has been shutting down for no apparent reason with subsequent efforts to bring it back to life proving unsuccessful, save for a hard reset in a few cases.

There is no particular reason for the occurrence. Some users have blamed low battery for the issue, but others have had their Xperia Z expire with plenty of charge left in its battery.

Sony has acknowledged the issue and promised that a fix is in the works. It will be delivered to the users via an upcoming software update.