Refresh Roundup: week of September 23rd, 2013

Posted on 30/09/2013 by Zachary Lutz

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Sony’s Xperia M out now and unlocked for $250

Posted on 10/09/2013 by Timothy J. Seppala

If you've been waiting with bated breath to buy Sony's Xperia M, it's time to exhale. An unlocked handset in black or white will set you back $250 from Newegg and the Sony Store, though the latter also has a yellow option. However, you're out of luck if you had your hopes up for a purple smartphone -- it's only available directly from Sony, and Xperia Blog noticed it's temporarily out of stock. Worried you might go extinct before the Barney-hued phone is available? Samsung has something aubergine to tempt you away.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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Source: Xperia Blog

Sony unveils the Xperia M: 4-inch FWVGA display, dual-core 1GHz CPU, 5MP camera

Posted on 04/06/2013 by Jamie Rigg

Sony's just announced a new handset will be joining its Xperia line-up this year: the Xperia M. Much like the Xperia L, it's aimed at the lower end of the Android spectrum, with far from benchmark-busting specs. It's got a 4-inch FWVGA (854 x 480) display seated behind a panel of stcratch-resistant glass, and a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon S4 SoC (MSM8227) inside, paired with 1GB of RAM. There's only 4GB of on-board storage, but a microSD slot supporting up to 64GB cards will allow you to bolster that. The rear camera has a 5-megapixel Exmor RS sensor and companion flash, while the front-facing shooter is only a VGA offering. There's no LTE radio in the Android 4.1 handset, so HSPA+ will be taking care of data, with Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC for pairing and sharing. While it's no transparent element, the OmniBalance design includes a notification light for, well, notifications. A 1,750mAh battery powers both the the single- and dual-SIM versions, which will be available in black, white and purple (yellow also for the single-SIM variant) when the Xperia M becomes available globally "from Q3 2013."

Gallery: Sony Xperia M press shots