Sony Ericsson News - PhoneArena

Tweet from HTC suggests that one of its classic phones could return

The head of HTC's Creative Labs asked a hypothetical question on Twitter; which HTC classic phone would you like to see brought back updated with modern technology?

Uniquely designed past phones with features that are nowhere to be found today

Ah, the glorious past! Back then, almost every second phone came with its own individuality, distinctive design, and features that set it miles away from its rivals. These were exciting times, and the major phone manufacturers were not afraid to often experiment and push their design and R&D departments to the very limit. This usually led to the inception of devices that were quite peculiar and strange, yet flaunted so much individuality that they could put any of nowadays' faceless smartphones to utter and thorough shame...

Do you remember this revolutionary phone from 2002?

Back in 2002, the Sony Ericsson t68i was released in the US courtesy of AT&T Wireless, introducing consumers to one of the most advanced and forward-thinking cell phones at the time...

featured Do you remember these phones featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies?

In this piece, we're going to take a look at some of those phones featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Believe us when we tell you that some of them are rather surprising...

Xperia Play 2 gaming phone may be a good idea for Sony

We asked you last week whether Sony should seek to capitalize on the whole "gaming phone" trend lately. The whopping 78% of our 1695 respondents give a resounding yes, indicating that there might be one unexplored market niche for Sony to find if it looks long and heard enough...

poll There's a growing trend of 'gaming' phones, should Sony resurrect the Xperia Play brand?

First there was the Razer Phone, one from a legendary gaming hardware giant, then today Xiaomi's fresh new sub-brand Black Shark hit us with its first affordable gaming phone, which is just the latest in the growing trend of such niche devices. There is an apparent market for these out there, and we surely appreciate that the Black Shark is not only a great gaming device, but also the cheapest Snapdragon 845-equipped phone with 4000mAh battery out there, yet there was one OG gaming phone maker that should take notice.

featured A brief history on some of the most innovative camera centric phones

In this piece, we're going back down memory lane to uncover some of the most innovative camera centric phones that pushed the limits.

featured Most notable device announcements that came out of MWC in the last 10 years

We've seen several notable devices unveiled and announced during mobile's largest tradeshow. That's why we thought that we'd go down memory lane and look back at some of the biggest announcements that happened at Mobile World Congress in the last 10 years...

7 most gimmicky phones in history

We here at PhoneArena are all for giving new features a chance before we say it's a useless gimmick, but there are some questionable elements to some phones in the past that have left us scratching our heads for long after they were discontinued...

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg resigns immediately, leaves behind an era of challenging times

The hard times at renowned Swedish telecoms manufacturer Ericsson continue as CEO of near seven years Hans Vestberg stepped down. Today, the company announced his immediate departure, remarking that "the time is right for a new leader to drive the next phase in Ericsson's development..."

Check out this pianist playing famous ringtones on his piano; is your favorite among them?

Some ringtones become extremely famous. Take the Marimba for the Apple iPhone. Still heard on television shows and motion pictures to this day, the ringtone is one of several played on piano by pianist Tony Ann, and memorialized on video. Ann also plays the famous T Jingle default ringtone. This tune is so connected with T-Mobile, that as soon as you hear the first few notes you know that someone near you is a T-Mobile customer...

featured Nostalgia strikes: these were PhoneArena authors' first cell phones ever

Quick question: do you remember the first cell phone you ever had? Do you remember how that felt like? Because we sure do. Back in the days, owning a personal cell phone for the first time was a milestone event for many of us. It was a step towards greater independence, kind of like buying your first bike or car...

Did you know which was the first phone with built-in stereo speakers?

To find the first phone with stereo speakers, we have to travel back in time pretty far. To about 2005, to be more precise, when LG launched a phone with stereo speakers on Verizon. But even that model was beaten by a few months by a phone that did not get a U.S. release...

featured The devices that made history: display and camera pioneers

The smartphone industry is still evolving pretty quickly and has been doing so for the past couple of years. True, smartphones can trace their origins a long way back, yet the true "boom" only happened after the market welcomed a certain prominent "fruity" manufacturer that acted as a catalyst and kickstarted the industry into a renaissance...

Sony, LG, HTC, ZTE, Lenovo and Meizu reportedly interested in MediaTek's 10-core chip

Sony, LG Electronics, HTC, Lenovo, Meizu, ZTE, Huawei, and Xiaomi, are all expected to include the 20nm-built MediaTek Helio X20 in upcoming smartphones...

What if the Nokia 3310 and Ericsson T28s were smartphones? Beautiful renders show us the past re-imagined

What if the past wasn't what it was? What if some of the most popular phone devices ever created were not featurephones, but smartphones instead? This isn't just a rhetorical question, at least not today, for we have two dozens of absolutely stunning renders of the Nokia 3310 and Sony Ericsson T28s that paint exactly that kind of picture...

9 beautiful phones from the past (2000-2007) that we wouldn't mind being seen with today

As the industry entered maturity a few years ago, so did we arrive at a winning form factor. Unlike in the past, today smartphones are generally very similar in terms of their overall looks and shape, with relatively little variance. This isn't to say that companies like Apple and HTC, for example, aren't crafting some really unique and great-looking devices, but the current status-quo is definitely a far-cry from the phone industry heydays of wonder...

Sony SmartBand Talk hands-on

Sony's SmartBand Talk is the follow-up of the company's SmartBand – a wearable that lacked any type of display and was only meant as a fitness / health tracker. Now, SmartBand Talk combines this with another tech Sony has been experimenting with – the e-paper watch – and brings us a water-resistant fitness band with an e-ink display. Additionally – the “Talk” in SmartBand Talk comes from the fact that the wristband accepts voice commands, so there's that mystery unveiled.

featured 10 great smartphones from 10 years ago

Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm and BlackBerry were ruling the smartphone market a decade ago, and pretty much everything has changed since then...

featured The commercial smartphone turns 20: here are 20 trailblazing smarties

IBM's Simon, long referenced as the first smartphone, went on sale to the general public on August 16, 1994, meaning that the commercialized smartphone just turned twenty, inducing some nostalgia and the need for a retrospection. Man is a social animal, and ever since the invention of this information highway called the Internet, we wanted to carry it with us everywhere we go, complete with all the tasks we are used to do on our computers. There have been numerous efforts to do just that, from the first IBM Simon or Nokia's Communicator series, through the various Windows Mobile handsets, to the iPhone launch and everything that followed...

featured Intriguing and compelling swivel phones from the distant and not-so-distant past

At this point, one thing is certain - some 99% (or more) of all upcoming smartphones will be employing the rectangle-ish candy bar form factor. We wouldn't argue that compared with their once-popular rivals - flip phones, slider phones, clamshell phones, and others - the candy bar-shaped devices have withstood the test of time and the consumers' approval alike...

7 classic phones with eye-catching design

Nowadays, we can hardly be surprised by how a certain handset looks. Most devices come in the candybar form-factor that works so well with large touchscreen panels. And while that's all good, it also means that some of the color and extravagancy of the market has been lost along the way...

6 everyday things that are tough to do with a 6" phone

Love it or hate it, those behemoth 6-inchers are here to stay, it seems, and no matter how excellent of a screen-to-body ratio they sport, with that screen diagonal they are proving to be quite problematic in many everyday interactions a typical handset goes through...

Remember when Motorola, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson offered camera attachments for their best phones?

Cameraphones have become ubiquitous. Nearly all of the phones on sale today, even many of the dirt cheap ones, have a camera of some kind. It hasn't been always like this, however. Remember how in the early 2000's, a built-in digital camera was something that only the best phones could brag with?...

Remember how thick smartphones used to be?

Just the other day, we showed you leaked photographs of the Huawei Ascend P7. The handset is just 6.18mm thick. As we noted previously, the Apple iPhone 5s, a pretty thin handset in its own right, weighs in at 7.6mm thin. But there was a time, not so long ago, when some handsets were as thick as the proverbial brick. Check out how thick the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini was just four short years ago...

Many classic cell phones are still on sale online – refurbished, unlocked, full of nostalgia

How would you like to own a piece of cell phone history – a classic handset from over a decade ago? Turns out that's totally possible. Many iconic cell phones are still on sale online even though their manufacturers have long discontinued their production and support. Here's what we managed to come across after a little digging...

Apple iPad dominates tablet generated web surfing; Amazon Kindle Fire is a distant second

Mobile ad network Chitika kept an eye on internet traffic generated by Android tablets over a three month period ended in August, using a seven-day rolling average to measure the web traffic coming from different slates; the metrics firm discovered something quite interesting. When the Nexus 7 (2013) refresh was launched, it did nothing to increase internet surfing by Android tablet users...

It's about time: Xperia S getting Jelly Bean

The Sony Xperia S, which is still packing quite a punch, by the way, is alive and well, as its manufacturer has now initiated the roll-out of an Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update designed for the venerable smartphone...

Sony Xperia S, SL, acro S and ion to start receiving Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean in May

We just love it when we bring news of impending software updates! So, which are the lucky phones this time? We guess that question is completely useless as you've surely read the title already, but anyway - it's time to pop the champagne if you're an owner of the Xperia S, SL, acro S or ion...

Sony Xperia S, Samsung Galaxy Note Jelly Bean update coming in May

The Sony Xperia S should start getting updated to Android Jelly Bean in May. Sony’s 2012 Android flagship launched on Android 2.3 Gingerbread...

Android 4.1 update for Sony Xperia S said to be happening this month

Remember when the Sony Xperia S was getting its 15 minutes of fame thanks to that thin translucent strip near the bottom of the device that lights up at certain times? That feels like it was hundreds of years ago and in fact, the Sony Xperia Z is the OEM's stud at the moment; still, the Sony Xperia S is owed an update to Android 4.12 which might come this month, one month earlier than first thought...

Sony Xperia Z camera compared against Nokia’s juggernauts, the 808, N8, Lumia 920

The Sony Xperia Z boasts a 13-megapixel camera with the new Exmor RS sensor and back-side illumination…

Fully functional prototype Sony Ericsson Windows Phone up for auction

It is a device that almost was. Sony Ericcson almost mixed it up with HTC, Samsung and Nokia during the release...

Google leaving the Xperia S AOSP project to Sony

One of the most interesting developments for fans of the Android Open Source Project over the past year has been Google's adoption of the Sony Xperia S as a device that would get AOSP support, but now it looks like Google is changing the nature of the relationship and is leaving Sony in charge of the Xperia S AOSP code...

Samsung Galaxy S III tops the competition in a web browsing battery test

Having a great smartphone doesn't matter if your battery quickly runs out which is why Which? decided to test the cells on 99 smartphones to find out which model has the longest battery life; perhaps because it is too obvious who would win, the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX was not included...

Poll results: Sony announces new flagship model with a dual-core CPU: Is it a mistake?

Last week Sony announced its newest range of smartphones, and as always, the top model got the most attention. The Sony Xperia T impressed with a lot of things, its good-looking design being among them, but we couldn't miss one small detail that made us wonder if Sony has done the right choice - the Xperia T's dual-core processor...

poll Sony announces new flagship model with a dual-core CPU: Is it a mistake?

Today was Sony's pre-IFA 2012 press-conference, and as expected, the company announced three new smartphones, the Xperia T, Xperia V and Xperia J, as well as a new tablet, the Xperia Tablet S...

featured Sony IFA 2012 press-conference liveblog

What a great day for liveblogging! We're starting with covering the Sony pre-IFA 2012 press-conference, and later we'll move on to Samsung's Note II announcement...

Android 4.0.4 coming to Sony's 2011 Xperia lineup

Android 4.0.4 is coming to Sony's 2011 Xperia lineup starting this week and those who already have Android 4.0 installed on their device will be able to install the new firmware via the easy OTA process; those with Gingerbread will have to hook up their handset to a PC or Mac...

featured Google may offer Nexus-like Android updates for Sony Xperia S

This is some potentially great news for any Sony Xperia S users who have been looking to have the stock Android experience. According to our favorite Android Open Source Project guru, Jean-Baptiste Queru, Google is looking into offering Nexus-like updates for the Sony handset...