CES may be the world's largest tech show, but phones rarely get top billing in Vegas, preferring instead to step out along the balmy Barcelona boulevards during Mobile World Congress in February. Sony has decided to jump the gun, however, and yesterday unveiled the much-rumoured Xperia Z.
Tall, slim and trim, the Xperia Z packs a pretty powerful 1.5GHz quad-core punch, and sports a 5-inch 1080p display and 13-megapixel camera. A slim bezel and glass-plated back give the phone a high-end look, and it will arrive running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Excitingly for butterfingers everywhere, it's also waterproof.
Sony overtook HTC as second in line to Samsung's Android crown in 2012, and it seems keen to continue the trend with this attractive phone. It'll be coming to Vodafone, O2, Three and Phones 4U in March, although there's no word on pricing yet.
Sony has also shown off its TV lineup, which include 55- and 65-inch 4K models and a surprise -- a prototype 4K OLED telly. The specs usurp those on the OLED sets shown off at last year's CES by Samsung and LG, but unlike those models, don't expect to see this TV shipping any day soon.
It's still worth getting exciting about though -- CNET UK's own Luke Westaway describes it as "probably the best-looking television I have ever seen in my life". Hit play on Luke's hands-on video below to take a closer look.
In other news, Asus has unveiled a range of Windows 8 computers, including the Taichi, which comes with an intriguing secondary touchscreen on the lid. There's also the Transformer AIO, a desktop-cum-tablet, and a Transformer Book, which is an ultrabook-tablet-majiggy. Asus was early to the hybrid device game and made a pretty decent job of it from the get-go, so here's hoping this cohort are just are good.
If nothing has successfully pressed your buttons so far, check out some of the wackier concepts that have been shown off. LG's Smart Refrigerator writes your shopping list for you and tells you when you need to buy more milk -- something I bet you never dreamed you would ever need.
We live in strange times though, and this piece of kitchen equipment is no toy -- we have robots for that. In the video below, you can see Luke, usually known as the serious face of technology journalism, take some time out as he plays with BeeWi's Bluetooth-controlled tank, which can be controlled from your phone and shoots infrared lasers.
Press day might be done, but CES is far from over, so make sure you keep your eyes fixed on our dedicated page for all the latest previews, videos and events. CNET UK's editor Jason Jenkins will be hosting The British Are Coming panel, which will be livestreamed tonight at 10pm UK time. Pour yourself a hot chocolate, make sure the Internet is tuned to right channel and check it out, why don't you?
What do you think of CES 2013 so far? Overwhelmed? Underwhelmed? Or perhaps just whelmed? Decorate our comments sections and Facebook page with the full spectrum of your emotions.
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Comments 8
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Meleagru 8 January, 2013 13:44
Sadly the mobile phone market is slowly turning into a duopoly, between Samsung and Apple. Every other company phone launch fails to get people excited. They just think: "I'll wait a few more months and get the better model from Samsung or Apple" or "I just bought a new smartphone from Samsung or Apple, I don't need a new one".
Even the one mighty Nokia failed to make a real impression on the market and RIM will probably be stillborn when it launches. Meanwhile every other company is starting to feel like a niche product.
leoevs44 8 January, 2013 14:18
You can't really call the iPhone a smartphone anymore not compared to the latest android phone at least, I would pay for this xperia z over the iPhone any day, sorry apple fans but the iPhone can't do half as much as the rest of the market, I can even see windows phones overtaking iPhone in the near future......
Glen Atkinson 8 January, 2013 14:59
Now ur dreaming when u say even windows phones overtaking iPhone in the near future
anonymous 8 January, 2013 15:09
Totaly agree with leoevs44. Iphones just aint doing it anymore no innovation, they just aint moving forwards at least windows are trying something new and are slowly growing, i think apple will be knocked into 3rd place in the next couple of years......
anonymous 8 January, 2013 19:07
Smart phones have arrived at where they have been going for a few years now. Pretty much all phones from most price brackets do exactly the same job. It's just the more you pay, the quicker/more refined/more stylish they are. That's no bad thing, we take for granted the abilities of even a very modestly priced machine. "Upgrading" now is not so exciting as it was a few years ago! The decision usually boils down to 1 of 3 operating systems and how massive a screen you can fit in the boot of your car..........
anonymous 11 January, 2013 18:19
I've been very annoyed with Sony for deliberately leaving the UK out of the loop for its higher-end dust-proof and water-resistant smartphones. First it was the Xperia acro S in 2012 and now once again with the Xperia V, which has been launched ini 90% of the countries on Sony's website. I know because I checked each one. What has Sony got against us Brits? All they offered us in the UK was the puny little Xperia Go with its slower processor and tiny 3.5" screen.
However, as annoyed as I am with Sony and as unimpressed with their attitude towards potential customers (so arrogant), it may be that I have been saved from endless problems. The newly launched Xperia V is freezing on many people already, as this link to Sony's own website shows:
talk.sonymobile.com/thread/60422?start=30&tstart=0
Ever since the dawn of the smartpohone era software glitches and freezing seems to have been a problem with Sony's handsets, and unforgiveably this continues to be the case in 2013, as the following search results prove:
http://isearch.avg.com/search?cid={99524f58-c0c2-43c4-8207-3bb2c814ea3e}&mid=a615d1a284e347d19db2d16d1223f1ce-90f9c122b32207ca0f212d1c8ec549203ce548ce&ds=AVG&v=13.2.0.5&lang=en&pr=fr&d=2012-11-04%2015%3A25%3A59&sap=tr&q=sony%20experia%20V%20has%20freezing%20problems
So can we really rely on the Xperia Z not to suffer the same problems when it launches 'in Qtr 1'? That would be a big ask in the light of all this. A friend of mine had an Xperia last year and said it was a pile of crap that never worked properly. He changed it for a Samsung Galaxy S3 and is now a happy bunny.
I do really love and value the fact that Sony, uniquely it seems, is producing protected smartphones and hate the attitude of UK networks who always say there is no demand for them. What the hell do they know? They probably fear it will reduce the fat profits they make on over-priced phone insurance. It's a great idea that all manufacturers should take up. You can bet if the next iPhone was water-resistant suddenly the market would exclaim "Oh what a brilliant idea'. BUT, not everybody wants a massive 5" screen, nor something as small as 3.5". And it's not much good if Sony won't sell the damn things to us here in Britain. And phones should work well without problems. That is the minimum requirement!
Trickii 11 February, 2013 20:39
Sony needs to get their act together with customer support,updates and price it aggressively against its rival the Nexus 5.Apples sales of the Iphone is slowing in china due to brand fatigue.
Get customer service right build developer communities and price aggressively after updating to a higher spec and sony could be in the mix.....otherwise sony you will continue to fall from grace....
Trickii 11 February, 2013 20:39
Sony needs to get their act together with customer support,updates and price it aggressively against its rival the Nexus 5.Apples sales of the Iphone is slowing in china due to brand fatigue.
Get customer service right build developer communities and price aggressively after updating to a higher spec and sony could be in the mix.....otherwise sony you will continue to fall from grace....