Once more with feeling from Sony’s picture-perfect smartphones
SURPRISES are increasingly rare in the world of hi-tech product launches, where it is possible to slot almost every new gadget into a roadmap that stretches out across the next five to 10 years.
As a result, many big announcements are met with knowing nods rather than open mouths. That may not be exciting, but it tells us that tech companies are delivering both on their own promises and on consumer expectations.
A press conference at the IFA tech expo in Berlin this week was presided over by Sony CEO Kazui Harai. Big news was announced, and most of it was entirely predictable — but predictable in a way that reaffirmed the company’s technology leadership in several areas it has claimed as its own.
Most notably, Sony unveiled two new smartphones, the flagship 5.2-inch Xperia XZ and the 4.6-inch Xperia X Compact.
The Xperia XZ is the world’s first smartphone with 5-axis image stabilisation, meaning it can compensate for camera shake in any direction, as opposed to the up-down and sideways compensation that its closest competitors offer.
This, in turn, makes it the most reliable phone for capturing smooth and stable videos while walking or during extreme close-ups, which Sony points out are the most challenging situations for stable videos.
The phones’ imaging sensors — already among the best in the world — have been given the visual equivalent of steroids, with two new sensors adding to their muscle: distance sensing technology called Laser AF for near-instant focusing, and colour-sensing technology built into an RGBC-IR sensor, for the most true-to-life colour yet seen in smartphone images.
In combination, this triple image-sensing technology allows for sharper images, better motion capture and accurate colours in the widest range of light conditions.
It helps that the rear camera on the XZ has a 23-megapixel lens, but Samsung has demonstrated for some time that its phones can produce better images than most despite having fewer megapixels. The difference lies in the underlying technology and the aperture of the camera.
Samsung’s current Galaxy S7 phones offer the widest apertures on the smartphone market, at f/1.7, while the Xperia XZ lags at f/2.0. However, the XZ pumps 13MP into its front camera, unfortunately labelled the selfie camera nowadays, while Samsung offers only 5MP, although also with that wide aperture.
The end result is that the S7 offers sharper pictures in ideal circumstances, while the XZ comes up with more reliable and true-to-life images in a wider range of conditions. That was hardly unexpected, but the spin put on it by the CEO was startling.
In a world still trying to get the “last mile” of connectivity to levels demanded by consumers and businesses, he said, Sony was focused on the “last inch”. To illustrate his point, he revealed the muchanticipated Sony virtual-reality headset, the PlayStation VR, along with new high-fidelity headphones, a headphone amplifier and an updated version of the Sony Walkman.
“We want our products to be at the last one inch, closer to all of you,” said Hurai, explaining that the closer their contact with the devices, the more emotional value people invest in them: “Our success will be determined not by how well we deliver, but by how much you feel.”
Goldstuck is the founder of World Wide Worx and editor-inchief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee