With more Sony Xperia devices getting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, Sony Mobile has given its Xperia sola something extra. The Xperia sola with its Floating Touch feature lets you perform hovering actions on screen without touching the display. This lets you expand drop down menus on web pages and pre-select text links before clicking on them.

With the new ICS update for Xperia sola, they are introducing a new feature called Glove Mode, like the title suggest lets you interact with the display even if you are wearing gloves. This comes just in time for the winter season at the upper hemisphere. The feature is an extension of Floating Touch and bikers that wear gloves would certainly find this useful.

Head after the break for the demo video.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

After announcing the Sony Xperia acro S and Xperia ion for Malaysia, Sony Mobile is doing a Hari Raya promotion with price reductions on selected models with extra freebies to give away.

The Sony Xperia S is now priced at RM1,599 while the smaller 4.0″ sibling Xperia P is priced at RM1,399. Meanwhile the 3.7″ Xperia sola has been reduced slightly at RM899 which is similar as the Xperia U.

The latest Xperia acro S and Xperia ion remains unchanged at RM1,699 & RM1,788 respectively. This promotion is valid starting tomorrow 17th August until 2nd September 2012.

Head after the break for the full details.

We’re not sure why Sony doesn’t highlight this in their marketing materials but we found out that quite a number of Xperia devices support USB On-the-Go. The list of Xperia phones that we know support USB OTG is the Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia ray and the new 2012 range of Xperia devices which currently is the Xperia S, Xperia P, Xperia U and the Xperia sola. All these devices support the very useful USB On-the-Go feature.

What’s interesting is that not all USB On-the-Go cables work with these devices. We’re not sure why this is but if you’re planning to get a USB OTG cable, its best you test it first before buying. Or you could just do a simple mod – as seen in the video — to make most USB OTG cables work with the supported Xperia phones.

For tips on how to mod a USB OTG cable to work with the supported Xperia smartphones, just ask our blogger friend @yogaretnam

Sony Mobile Communications Malaysia today announced the official pricing and in-store dates for the Xperia P, Xperia U and Xperia sola.

Xperia P
With an all-aluminium unibody design, the Xperia P features a 4-inch Reality Display (960×540 pixels, 275ppi) with Sony’s WhiteMagic technology. WhiteMagic adds a white sub-pixel to the traditional RGB (red, green and blue) pixels found in a typical LCD panel. The white pixel allows backlight to pass through to produce the colour white where traditionally, the backlight would have had to pass through all three sub-pixels in the right proportion to produce the same effect. This results in a display that is twice as bright outdoors and up to twice as power efficient indoors than conventional LCD displays. The WhiteMagic display is measured to produce a brightness of 935nits.

Other specs include a 1GHz NovaThor STE U8500 dual-core processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of on board storage. There’s also an 8MP Exmor R camera with fast capture, 1080p HD recording and Sony’s 2D and 3D panoramic sweep feature. Battery capacity is 1305mAh. NFC is also included.

Available in silver, black and red, the Xperia P will be available in stores starting 23 May and will retail for RM1,499. For a limited time the Xperia P will come bundled with a Smart Headset, car charger with Micro USB cable and 2 SmartTags (black and red), all worth RM379.

Xperia U
The Xperia U with its unique exchangeable end caps and dynamic mood lighting will hit stores 15 May. Featuring Sony’s unique xLOUD and 3D surround sound audio technology, the 3.5-inch (854×480 pixels 280ppi) packs a 1GHz NovaThor STE U8500 dual-core processor with 512MB RAM and 4GB of on board storage. The Xperia U also packs a 5MP Exmor R camera with fast capture and 720p HD video recording. Battery capacity is a modest 1320mAh. The Xperia U does not have NFC.

Available in black with pink exchangeable cap; black with white exchangeable cap; and white with yellow exchangeable cap, the Xperia U retails for a very attractive RM899, the price includes a car charger with Micro USB cable worth RM59 as well while stocks last.

Xperia sola
Finally, we have the Xperia sola which features Sony’s unique floating touch interface that allows you to navigate the web by hovering your finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser without having to touch the screen. Sony says the technology will open doors for developers to create new ways for users to interface with apps in the future.

Specs-wise the Xperia sola brings a 3.7-inch Reality Display (854×480 pixels, 265ppi), NFC, 1GHz NovaThor STE U8500 dual-core processor with 512MB RAM and 8GB of on board storage, micro SD expansion

Available in a choice of black, red and white the Xperia sola retails for RM999 and comes bundled with a car charger with Micro USB cable and 2 SmartTags (Blue and White). The device will hit stores on 15 May, the same day as the Xperia U.

Sony says that Xperia P, U and sola will run on Android Gingerbread but will soon be upgraded Ice Cream Sandwich before the first half of 2012.

Looks like the Sony Xperia U went on sale earlier than expected. Online retailers IMCC & SuperBuy has revealed the Xperia U pricing at RM899 which is a bargain considering it packs a dual-core processor which is unheard of in this price range.

To recap on the specs, the Xperia U comes with a 3.5″ TFT display that pushes 854×480 resolution, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB of storage. At the back, there’s a 5MP camera with 720p HD video capabilities and there’s a front facing VGA camera as well. It is 12mm which and weighs about 110 grams. You can compare the Xperia U specs with its Xperia NXT series in our comparison post.

It is available in black and white colour which the bottom portion can be replaced with multiple colours. Details on the interchangeable bottom caps are not known at this point. One of the interesting features of the Xperia U is the transparent belt which illuminates in multiple colours depending on the dominant screen colour.

At time of release, the Xperia U runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread which Sony says it will be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. At RM899, the Xperia U will be going head on with its more expensive rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy W and the HTC One V which are priced at RM999.

UPDATE: Sony Xperia U price revealed at RM899.

Sony is expected to roll out its Xperia U, P & sola smart phones in Malaysia pretty soon. Almost 2 months since the Xperia S was launched, Sony has yet to reveal the rest of its NXT series.

The Xperia U & sola is already on sale in Hong Kong & Taiwan. The Xperia U is sold at about RM990 and the Xperia sola at RM1180 over there and if priced similarly here, it will be one of the hottest mid-tier dual-core smart phones to look out for.

No exact pricing and dates were given but we believe all 3 should be here by end of May. Local retailer IMCC has already start teasing the Xperia U’s availability which is likely to go on sale first.

Can’t tell the difference between the Xperia S, U & P? Check out our spec comparison here.

We’re still at the Sony Xperia NXT event and Sony has revealed that the Xperia U, Xperia P and the recently announced Xperia sola will be coming into Malaysia in Q2 2012. No pricing details have been revealed for the trio so far.

The Sony Xperia S will be available through telcos beginning tomorrow and also through Sony Centres and dealers on 21st March. As mentioned earlier, the Xperia S will be bundled with RM534 worth of accessories out of the box including 4 SmartTags for a limited time only.

Recently Sony has introduced its new Xperia sola that features a unique Floating Touch technology. From the earlier videos, we’ve seen how selecting links on touch screen is made easier by simply moving your finger tip without touching the display. So how does floating touch work? Sony explains more over at its developer blog.

Developed in cooperation with Cypress Technology, the Xperia sola combines self capacitance & mutual capacitance sensors to make floating touch works. Most smart phones today uses mutual capacitance which allows multi touch possible as it senses touch points accurately. However this method uses lower signals, which won’t sense hovering activities. For self capacitance, it uses a larger sensors that create larger signals that’s strong enough to detect finger hovering up to 20mm from the screen. However the downside is that it can’t support multi touch.

The solution for the Xperia sola is to combine both on the same touch screen simultaneously. For touch events, you still get the same familiar multi-touch functionality while for hovering, it can only detect one finger at a time.

The biggest benefit would be the web browser as it can make use of HTML5 hover events. To expand its usage, third party developers can make use of hovering events that comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich API. The Xperia sola as standard will also come with floating touch enabled live wallpapers.

Read the full explanation at the source link.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

Sony today has announced the new Xperia sola into its Android line. This was formerly known as the MT27i Pepper which we saw a while back. While touch screens are normally interacted by actual tapping or touching of the screen, the new Xperia sola features “floating touch” that lets you interact by simply hovering your finger over the screen. This offers a new way of surfing the web especially when browsing through web links. You can accurately select the desired link by hovering and then tap to open.

The Xperia sola comes with a 3.7″ Reality Display (TFT LCD 854×480) with Mobile Bravia Engine. The device is powered by Sony’s very own NovaThor dual-core 1Ghz processor (similar to the one in the Xperia P and U) and 512MB of RAM. The Xperia sola also comes with 8GB of internal storage and microSD card slot. Over at the back, there’s a 5MP camera with Fast Capture and 720p HD videos. NFC support comes as standard and according to the release, the device ships with two NFC SmartTags in the box.

In terms of dimensions, it is 9.9mm thick and weighs 107 grams. Compared to the current crop of Xperia NXT Series, the Xperia sola goes right in between the Xperia P and Xperia U in terms of screen size.

At time of announcement, it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Sony plans to release Android 4.0 upgrade for the device sometime in June. The Xperia S will go on sale sometime in Q2, 2012 with a choice of 3 colours – Black, White & Red.

In terms of pricing, the Xperia sola is expected to retail for EU329 in Europe, that’s about RM1,300 at today’s exchange rates but we expect the device to sell for less when it comes to Malaysia.

For more information, head over to the Sony Xperia sola page.

Check the video and photos after the jump.