Adobe to Introduce New Android Apps for Upcoming Sony Tablets

Adobe and Sony have announced the new ‘Adobe AIR App Challenge’ to entice developers to create and develop unique high-performance mobile applications - a precursor to their upcoming ‘Sony Tablet’ rumored to become available in the global market starting Fall 2011.

Both companies will enable tapping into native device capabilities to combine Adobe Flash technology and HTML 5 to enable a wide range of applications including media, gaming and data-driven applications. Adobe says that their Creative Suite 5.5 and their latest developer tools combined with Sony’s upcoming tablets will provide content publishers with a platform to deliver better tablet experiences. 

Sony Tablets to get taste of Adobe Air

 

Sony, as we've already reported, are developing two tablets - the S1 optimized for media and the S2 designed for mobile communication as well as entertainment. As part of the collaboration, Sony will pre-install Adobe Flash Player on ‘Sony Tablet’ devices enabling a more 'complete' Web browsing experience that includes an array of videos, games and other multimedia content.

This sounds like good news for developers as it’s relatively easy to build AIR applications with Adobe tools and deploy them as native applications via the Android Market. The new apps, it seems, will have tight device integration, including support for camera, video, microphone, multi-touch and more. Also, support for geo-location allows developers to create location-based applications and services. However, only time will tell if this new tablet with ‘new’ applications will satiate the ever-increasing needs of the consumer. 

Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo to Have 1.4GHz Dual Core processor

It has been nearly a month since the first image of the Sony Xperia Duo was seen. It now seems that an official image of Sony Ericsson’s flagship model has emerged. According to a report, the press image had surfaced through a Chinese website and with it some information of the possible specifications it may feature - a powerful NovaThor A9500 chipset that is coupled with a Dual Cortex A9 cores as well as a Mali-400 GPU. The smartphone also features a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor; so far this will be the highest capacity processor as compared to the 1.2 GHz dual-core processor seen on the SGSII and the LG Optimus 2X. The Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread running handset is also rumoured to be having a Sony Bravia Mobile engine. An official image surfaces of the Xperia Duo Other rumored specifications of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo are: 4.5-inch qHD screen (540 x 960 pixels) 12 megapixel camera 2500 mAh battery This is Sony Ericsson’s second 12 mega pixel camera the first being the Sony Ericsson Satio; however, unlike the first this Xperia Duo is aesthetically styled with its slim form factor and looks like it has been targeted at an audience who want style as well as power. These are pretty impressive specifications and a smartphone one has to surely look out for. As of now there is no word on a release date or price. But we are pretty sure the wait won’t be for too long. Hopefully, this will be the first to launch with such a high capacity processor unless someone else beats them to it.

Sony Ericsson Working on Android 2.3.4 for Select Xperia Smartphones

A week ago, Android 2.3.3 started rolling out for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. It now looks like a select range of Xperia handsets will be getting another minor tweak to Android 2.3.4. There are rumours suggesting that Sony Ericsson is working on them and it should be coming out later this year.

Better features along with 2.3.4

The update will bring a few bug fixes that the previous operating system had and a few features will be added. One of them is Sony’s audio filter technology called xLOUD. Sources say that the update will be brought for the Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, Xperia Neo and Xperia Pro. There’s no mention of the X10 mini, X10 mini pro and the X8 smartphones. Another handset – the Xperia X10 has not been mentioned although, it’s being said that the smartphone is being tested on Android 2.3.4.

These definitely look like some good developments that Sony Ericsson’s making. They weren’t very renowned when it came to providing support for their Android handsets, but by doing this, things might just change with the company.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray pops up on Carphone Warehouse, expected August

The Xperia Ray recently joined an ever-growing list of Sony Ericsson Android handsets we’ve met this year, including the Xperia Pro, Neo, Arc, Play, Mini and Mini Pro.
Three has confirmed that it’ll carry the Xperia Ray “soon”, and now the phone has popped up on The Carphone Warehouse with an expected release date of August.


Sony Ericsson promises an “irresistibly elegant Android smartphone”. We reckon “irresistible” is a bit of a stretch, but it looks ok-ish.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray has a 3.3in BRAVIA display, 1GHz processor, 8.1MP camera, 720p video recording, and rocks Gingerbread (Android 2.3). It’ll be available in gold, pink, black and white.
The Xperia Ray also claims to be one of the “slimmest, sleekest smartphones around”, with a thickness of 9.4mm.
No pricing just yet, but you can “pre-register” your interest over at The Carphone Warehouse.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray lights up fans of smaller smart phones

Mobile Phones

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray offers a glimmer of light for smart phone fans looking for a smaller handset. It's got a 3.3-inch screen packed into a 9.4mm-thick case that offers a spot of bling in black, gold, white or pink.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread software ensures you're up to date with the latest apps and games from the Android Market. With a slightly smaller than average screen, there could be a handful of games or apps that look a little hard to handle, but the 480x854-pixel resolution should be enough to keep everything looking fairly sharp.
A 1GHz processor should also help keep things snappy when running apps and games.
The Ray uses the Exmor R sensor in its camera, which impressed us with its ability to shoot in low light when we tested it on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Hopefully the same 8.1-megapixel sensor will perform equally well on the Ray.
Another feature that debuted on the Arc was the Bravia engine that cleans up video so it looks sharper, and is also found on the Ray.
Son Eric has done a good job of shrinking smart phones down to ridiculous levels with the barely visible Xperia Mini. The Mini is fairly chubby for its tiny size though. The Ray looks like a good-sized alternative to a slab of touchscreen if you're looking for a smaller phone that's still pleasingly thin.
Its price is still shrouded in darkness, but expect to see the Ray bursting through the clouds in autumn this year.

Sony's S1 and S2 Tablets Featured in a New Teaser Video

Looks like Sony is leaving nothing to chance with their upcoming tablets and have released a first in a series of videos for the S1 and S2 tablets. The first video tagged “The First Impression” is a little misleading, since we can’t really get a good look at the tablets themselves. The video is beautifully done though with the whole domino effect going on. I really like the way they’ve used the lighting and placement of power lines and trees to create a cool shadow effect. Towards the end you’ll notice both the tablets running Honeycomb but that’s about it. We’ve covered the announcement of the S1 and S2, back in April itself in depth, so you can take a look here for more information. Most likely, the features and specifications shouldn’t change much, but we’ll know soon enough. For now, enjoy the video.

Facebook Inside Xperia for the X10

That your Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will be getting a Gingerbread update is not surprising. However, the update is also said to be bringing the “Facebook inside Xperia” feature to the handset. With Facebook features incoming From what the Mobile Indian has to say, a certain Sony Ericsson spokesperson said that the Gingerbread update will be arriving to handsets in India, but they didn’t have an idea about the timing of the launch. What we know is that the update should be launching at the end of this month or maybe beginning of July. A few days back we saw SE releasing the “Facebook inside Xperia” feature for the Xperia Play and the Xperia Arc. If these features make it to the X10, that’ll just add to the happiness to the X10 users, as well. These small progresses definitely are going to earn Sony Ericsson those brownie points that they have been in need of for a while now. Let’s just wish that there’s no change of plans or anything of that sort.

Sony Ericsson ST18i Surface

We found the Xperia Arc to be quite a turn on and with news of a smaller version of the same doing the rounds, we don’t mind getting some more of it either. The ST18i has been caught on camera again and this time with some specifications as well.

BRAVIA Engine on a 3-inch display

The ST18i had earlier made an appearance along with the CK15i, but back then there weren’t any specs of the former. Now GSMArena’s got hold of some more photos of the ST18i which is codenamed Urushi and flaunts a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor with an Adreno 205 GPU to give a boost to the graphics. The smartphone will be running on Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread and is said to have a 3.2-inch display that has a BRAVIA engine and comes with a nice resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. That’s not all though, the handset has an 8 megapixel camera with LED Flash that can record videos at 720p.

Belongs to the Xperia family

Keeping the specifications aside, there’s something about ST18i launching some time in September this year, but that along with the specifications has to be confirmed with an official announcement.