Sony plans to introduce new design for next generation of phones

You don’t have to be closely following the tech scene to know a Sony-made phone when you see one. The company has kept to its “OmniBalance” design for years and for some it has gotten old pretty quickly, especially when put up against the other major Android OEMs. But it looks like the company is ready to change its tune. According to Sony India’s Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi, the company is has different plans for its next generation of devices. He told The Indian Express, “We have deployed an OmniBalance design as long as the X series continues to be available in the market. Also, we are planning to launch [a] new generation of products and you can expect a complete new design from the devices.”

As for what that new look is, we can only speculate. Sony could jump on the bezel-less route like the other major manufacturers and it has in a sense that some of its newer devices hardly have bezels on the sides. What do you think Sony should integrate into its smartphones?

Sony said to be launching two MediaTek Helio P20-powered smartphones

Aside from Sony rumoured to be exploring OLED display for future devices, there might be two new smartphones coming out sooner than that. According to user-agent profile (UAProf) from Sony, the two Xperia phones will be powered by a MediaTek Helio P20 MT6757. This chipset combines a 2.3GHz quad-core and 1.6GHz quad-core processors with Mali-T880 graphics. The phones’s model numbers are G3112 (G31XX) and G3221 (G32XX). The G3112 is said to be using a 720p HD display, while the G3221 will have a 1080p Full HD display. There isn’t that much else we know but MWC is just around the corner and it’s expected we’ll see these devices there.

Source: Xperia Blog

Sony rumoured to be a launching an Xperia smartphone with OLED display

Better late than never they say. It’s being reported in Japan that Sony plans to finally make a switch to OLED displays for its smartphones by next year or the year after. So far, the Japanese company has only used LCD panels for its phones. If true, this’ll put them at par in the display game with the likes of Samsung and other brands, who have been using OLED screens for its flagship devices.

At the moment, Samsung is the biggest manufacturer of OLED screens for phones. Sony is reportedly waiting for LG and JDI to boost production of OLED screens so they can buy the panels from them instead. And these panels could be ready by 2018 or 2019.

Source: GSM Arena

Sony takes Xperia Weather app out of beta

If you’re an Xperia user who values getting weather updates, the Weather app for Sony’s mobile phones are now out of beta and on the Google Play Store. Just like other weather apps it shows current conditions including temperature, wind, humidity, and the like. It also shows a three-day forecast and pretty cool background images to match the weather. Of course, you can also have a widget on your home screen as well. The beta program of the app will continue to exist though and new updates will hit that program first.

Source: Android Police | Download: Google Play Store (Free)