If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought leaks of a smartphone that tips the scales with a 6-inch screen, an alternate ego to the oft-leaked Sony 'Honami' and the return of unlimited data to a certain AT&T MVNO. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of August 12th, 2013.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Alright, we admittedly don't know a great deal about the provenance of the slide above. It was first picked up on Chinese social networking site Weibo, but the original post seems to have been deleted. What we do know, however, is that Sony's forthcoming flagship phone, codenamed Honami, has already been rumored to possess a 4K-ready processor (the Snapdragon 800), and that Sony is wildly enthusiastic about 4K as something that can unite its expanding hardware ecosystem. The slide's title therefore has a ring of truth to it, because it's accompanied by Bravia branding and sounds like realistic marketing babble from a TV-focused presentation:
"How do you get 4K content? By shooting videos with a 4K cellphone."
The slide also details a 20-megapixel Exmor R rear camera sensor for Honami, which tallies with earlier reports, as well as a meaty 2.2-megapixel front-facing camera. The only issue we have is with the quoted 4K video resolution of 4,000 x 2,000 -- it's unusual and doesn't match the Ultra HD resolution Sony has settled on for its 4K TVs (3,840 x 2,160). In any case, resolution is only half the story. This is all speculative, of course, but if other bottlenecks in this phone forced Sony to compress the heck out of captured 4K video, there's every chance it'd end up looking worse than 1080p.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Sony
Source: Vgooo
In the past, Sony hasn't been too strict about issuing confidentiality requests when slipping its Xperia smartphones into the FCC's database. The Honami, however, is no typical Xperia. For those unaware, manufacturers generally submit equipment to the FCC for testing shortly before the product is ready to launch on US shores -- once its radios are cleared for use on the airwaves that the FCC controls, precious little stands between said product and your hands.
We've seen a stream of Honami leaks over the past few weeks, but none have indicated quite so clearly that it's nearly ready for a formal debut. The filing masks all internal and external photos, but a software version entitled "s_atp_honami_1_25_1" (seen after the break) makes obvious what device we're looking at. This, Motorola's X, and an impending iPhone refresh? Looks like we're in for a star-studded autumn in the handset universe.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Via: Talk Android
Source: FCC
There's been a lot of talk about Sony's reported Honami smartphone, but there haven't been photos of the beast in a nearly finished state. At least, until now: Gadget Helpline and Weibo user @latter21 claim to have multiple photos of the would-be flagship. The photos largely match up with previous rumors, which have Sony fitting a larger (possibly 20-megapixel) camera into the corner while otherwise preserving a very Xperia Z-like design. There are a couple of surprises -- the xenon flash of an earlier leak isn't visible, and a large speaker has surfaced at the bottom. Unfortunately, the photo suppliers can't verify many other details. The camera interface is purportedly unfinished, and there's no mention of the CPU and display quality upgrades inherited from the Xperia Z Ultra. If the images are accurate, though, we're looking at a subtle design evolution whose biggest upgrades are hidden inside.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Via: Phone Arena
Source: Gadget Helpline, @latter21 (Sina Weibo)
We're a little more than a month away from a flood of gadget news at IFA in Berlin, and we have a sneaking suspicion that an imaging centric flagship smartphone from Sony called "Honami" is going to be there. We've seen hints of what the phone's camera UI looks like, and now a leak from the Taiwanese site ePrice says the device has a 20.7-megapixel ExmorRS sensor that's the same size as the one in the Galaxy Camera and other point-and-shoots. It's also paired with a "Sony G-Lens," though hopefully not one as bulbous as some others we've seen. Other specs include a 5-inch 1080p display with the same Triluminos technology that's in the Xperia Z Ultra, Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 800, 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded with microSD and a fairly massive 3,000mAh battery. If the alleged spec sheet after the jump is to be believed, then the Lumia 1020 and GS4 Zoom might have to face some serious competition.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Source: ePrice (translated)
We've been hearing stacks of rumors recently about a Sony flagship called Honami, which will supposedly come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 and a 20-megapixel camera. A system dump, purportedly from a Honami phone, surfaced last week and now XDA developer "krabappel2548" has managed to dissect the camera app and get it working on some existing Xperia devices -- including the Xperia Z, ZL and Tablet Z, so long as they've been suitably prepped for hacking. From the resulting screenshots, it looks like Sony is set to introduce features such as augmented reality, "Time shift" (which sounds a lot like HTC's Zoe feature), live filters and an image search engine dubbed "Info-eye." All of this sounds reasonably in tune with the "One Sony" strategy of focusing on mobile and imaging. If Honami is real, and if it comes with the right hardware to support the updated camera module, it could be a big deal.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Via: XPERIA Blog (1)
Source: XDA Developers