This morning Sony has launched the Xperia X series of Android smartphones, the first couple of which, the Sony Xperia X and Xperia XA, places them firmly in the mid-range. And there’s something for everyone: A regular Xperia X, the side bezel-free Xperia XA and speed-boosted Xperia X Performance.
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The Xperia X meanwhile is a more traditional Sony smartphone, and has more of an Xperia Z3 look and feel to it. On the inside, the Xperia X gets a bump to the familiar 23-megapixel camera from last year’s Xperia Z5 line and it features a more powerful Snapdragon 650 under-the-hood along with 3GB of RAM (versus the Xperia XA’s 2GB).
Following big announcements from competitors including Samsung, LG and Huawei overnight, the pressure was on Sony to respond, and the Xperia X does look promising.
For those who need to be at the cutting edge of smartphones, the Xperia X Performance takes the X’s design, display, camera and form factor and augments it with a Snapdragon 820 processor and water resistance capabilities.
Sony says that the Xperia Ear’s battery life, of three-and-a-half-hours of active use, should be enough for most people on most days. Also at 5-inch display Sony has saved: It shows only a maximum of 1080 × 720 instead of Full-HD and only the sRGB colour space.
The irony is immediately evident as soon as you hear a mobile exec asking us if we have any idea how many times we check the screen on a phone per day.
The Xperia X and XA will be available in White, Graphite Black, Lime Gold and Rose Gold.
The Xperia Ear is a wireless ear-piece that offers useful information such as schedule, weather and the latest news to keep a user up-to-date on the go.
Revealed here at MWC 2016, it uses Sony’s proprietary voice technology – you can ask it to make a call, perform an internet search, dictate a message or navigate to a certain location. All three phones include microSD support so you can add up to 200 GB of extra storage.
The Xperia Eye is a compact camera, equipped with wide-angle lenses that can be worn around the neck or attached to clothing via a clip. It features a 360-degree spherical lens for a natural field of view. Needless to say, since it comes under the Sony umbrella, it will be powered by Sony’s voice technology and will be able to respond to a range of commands, while sporting an integrated camera and projector display for projecting content onto surfaces.
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The Xperia Projector is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, allowing users to control the device with touch, voice and hand gestures just as you would with your regular smartphone screen.
