Sony Vaio, Walkman, Reader get OLED treatment

CHIBA, Japan--Perhaps to distract from the fact that it has no organic light-emitting diode TV on display here at Ceatec 2009, Sony is instead showing off conceptual uses for its flexible OLED technology.
Mind you, these are just prototypes, nothing even close to a real product, like the XEL-1 TV that Sony actually sells but is notably absent from its booth here. But the ways the company is thinking of perhaps using its flexible display tech are certainly cool.
Take the dual OLED screen Vaio notebook. It features the 0.2 mm OLED on both the screen and keyboard area. It's not a functioning prototype, though, so it doesn't do much besides sit in a plexiglass case and look pretty.
Also showcased here is the company's e-book Reader with an OLED screen and a futuristic update of the time-worn Walkman brand, in which the audio player takes the form of a wearable wrist device.
As cool as those are, they're just concepts. And none of them can make us forget that Sony was once the leader in commercializing OLED TVs and now seems content to let LG and Samsung take charge.

HTC One (2013)

VERGE REVIEW

The Android market has changed radically in the past couple of years. Where we once had a spec war, with manufacturers racing to release ever-more powerful smartphones as quickly as possible, now it’s turning into a marketing battle — and Samsung is winning by a mile. HTC, by comparison, isn’t doing so well. The company has learned some important lessons about not flooding the market with iterative designs, and the culmination of that is the aptly-named HTC One. It’s HTC’s flagship,...

BASIC SPECS

Thickness	0.37 inches
Weight	0.32 pounds
Form factor	Slab
Screen size (diagonal)	4.7 inches
Carriers	T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, Other
Operating system	Android

HARDWARE

Height	5.41 inches
Width	2.69 inches
Thickness	0.37 inches
Weight	0.32 pounds
Form factor	Slab
Color	Silver, Black
Loudspeaker	Stereo

DISPLAY

Screen size (diagonal)	4.7 inches
Technology	LCD
Pixel arrangement	RGB
Resolution (Y)	1920 px
Resolution (X)	1080 px
PPI	468
Touchscreen type	Capacitive

CONNECTIVITY

Carriers	T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, Other
GSM	Yes
GSM frequencies supported	1900, 1800, 900, 850
UMTS / HSPA	Yes
UMTS frequencies supported	2100, 1900
LTE	Yes
LTE frequencies supported	1900
WWAN data standards supported	UMTS, LTE, EDGE, GPRS
Wi-Fi	Yes
Wi-Fi support	802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a
GPS	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Bluetooth version	Bluetooth 4.0
NFC support	Yes
Media streaming	DLNA

PROCESSOR

Manufacturer	Qualcomm
Brand / family	Snapdragon 600
Clock speed	1.7 GHz
Number of cores	4

MEMORY

RAM size	2 GB
RAM type	DDR2

STORAGE

Internal size	64 GB, 32 GB
External	No

FRONT CAMERA

Video resolution	1080p

REAR CAMERA

Resolution	4 megapixels
Flash	LED
Video resolution	1080p

SOFTWARE

Operating system	Android
Skin	Sense

INTERFACE

Video out	Yes
Headphone jack	3.5mm
Other ports	Micro USB, MHL

SENSORS

Sensors	Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Infrared

BATTERY

Capacity	2300 mAh
Removable	No

Samsung ATIV Book 9

Samsung has rebranded its entire Windows PC lineup, bringing those machines under the ATIV umbrella. So what's in a name? The Samsung ATIV Book 9 (formerly the Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook) keeps the featherweight chassis of its predecessor and updates the 1600 x 900, 13.3-inch display to full 1080p. The other big addition is Samsung's SideSync app, which enables users to control their Samsung Android devices using the notebook. Find out if all of that is worth $1,399.

Design

The ATIV Book 9 sports the same alluring, blue-gray aluminum chassis of its predecessor, the Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook. The slightly raised, silver Samsung logo adds a nice dollop of flourish. Despite the thinness of this machine, Samsung is still focused on integrating graceful curves into the design, as evidenced by the soft tapering along the sides of the notebook.

The laptop's interior is swathed in more of that gorgeous, blue-gray aluminum. A small power button sits directly above the keyboard deck. The touchpad is lined in a tiny band of chrome. A small depression sits below the touchpad, providing a slot wide enough for our fingertip to open the laptop.

At 2.6 pounds, the ATIV Book 9's fingerprint-resistant unibody frame is tantalizingly thin and lightweight, measuring 12.4 x 8.6 x 0.51-inches. That's lighter and slimmer than both the Dell XPS 13 (3 pounds, 12.4 x 8.1 x 0.24-0.71 inches) and the Toshiba Kirabook (2.97 pounds, 12.4 x 8.2 x 0.7 inches). While slightly heavier, the 2.8-pound Acer Aspire S7-391-9886 pushes the thinness quotient even further, at 12.7 x 8.8 x 0.46 inches.

Display

Samsung upgraded the ATIV Book 9's 13.3-inch display from 1600 x 900 to a full 1080p. Text in our Google Doc and on Kotaku.com looked sharp and clear. A high-def image of a ladybug crawling on a leaf was a font of deep reds and emeralds. Viewing angles were wide enough to comfortably fit three people.

When we watched the 1080p trailer of "Rapture-Palooza" on the matte display, we saw deep blacks and rich yellows, like in the mushroom cloud that took out Orlando. However, some scenes were flecked with visual noise that diminished sharpness and color accuracy. Craig Robinson's blood-red suit took on a pinkish hue, while the maroon curtain behind looked somewhat brown.

The ATIV Book 9's display measured 284 lux on our light meter, far brighter than the 227-lux ultraportable average and on a par with the Kirabook (281 lux). The Aspire S7 measured 215 lux, while the XPS 13 scored a brilliant 329 lux. Of the three, only the Aspire S7 offers a touchscreen.

Audio

The ATIV Book 9's speakers are located along the underside of the notebook at the rear of the panel. However, four strategically placed feet on the bottom of the laptop raise it just enough that a flat surface can serve as a makeshift amplifier. Miguel's "How Many Drinks" filled our small test with loud, albeit somewhat distorted audio. The crooner's normally pleasant falsetto dropkicked our ears with tinniness at maximum volume. Bass was virtually non-existent, and Kendrick Lamar's raspy voice also suffered from distortion.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The ATIV Book 9's island-style keyboard is well spaced, and it supplied firm, springy feedback as we typed. In fact, we scored 60 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, higher than our normal 55 wpm.

The 3.9 x 2.6-inch Elan touchpad is spacious, providing more than enough room to navigate webpages and perform multitouch gestures. Performing two-finger scrolls and rotation was nice and smooth, as was performing three-finger swipe and four-finger swipe. Windows 8 gestures were just as easy to perform.

The bottom corners of the touchpad provided strong feedback as we clicked both the left and right side.

Heat

The Samsung ATIV Book 9 is a hot little number -- literally. When we watched a full-screen video on Hulu for 15 minutes, the space between the G and H keys registered 102 degrees Fahrenheit, while the bottom of the notebook measured 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That's well above our 95-degree comfort threshold. The bottom back edge of the laptop measured a blistering 105 degrees. The touchpad measured a much cooler 86 degrees.

Webcam

The 1.3-megapixel camera on the ATIV Book 9 captures video and stills in 1280 x 800 using Samsung's S Camera software. The majority of our shots taken under fluorescent lighting were somewhat dark and grainy. We got better color accuracy when we moved to a naturally lit setting.

Ports

A USB 2.0 port and mini-VGA sit on the right side of the notebook with a combination headphone/microphone jack. Tucked away along the underside of the ATIV Book 9 is an SD Card reader. The left side of the laptop houses a USB 3.0 port, mini-HDMI, micro-Ethernet and a jack for the AC adapter

Samsung Side Sync

Looking to better integrate its smartphones and notebooks, the company equipped the Book 9 with Samsung Side Sync, an app that lets you interact with your Samsung Android device on the ATIV Book 9. After connecting our Samsung Galaxy S III to the notebook via USB, we launched the Side Sync app on the notebook, which installed the app on the phone along with a Phone Screen Sharing App. Once the apps were installed on the phone, we enabled USB debugging in the Settings menu and launched the app.

Once Side Sync launched, we could choose between Phone Screen Sharing and Keyboard/Mouse Sharing. Keyboard/Mouse sharing enabled us to use the ATIV Book's cursor to navigate our phone. We loved using the notebook's keyboard to compose emails, text messages and chats in Google Hangouts. It was a lot faster than thumb typing on our smartphone's smaller keyboard. We also appreciated having the ability to cut and paste text between the phone and PC, particularly when copying from Evernote or a bookmarked webpage.

Photo Screen Sharing mode is our favorite function of Side Sync. Initiating this mode called up a virtual image of our handset on the ATIV Book's display. We used the mouse to unlock our phone, adjust the volume and use the Home, Back and Menu buttons.

The ATIV Book 9 faithfully recreated our S III's display. The virtual phone display exhibited about a half second of lag as we navigated home screens and launched apps. However, we wish we could make the 3-inch diagonal screen on the virtual phone larger; it's smaller than the phone itself. Samsung touts that the Book 9 lets you view maps and read documents, but this would only be truly beneficial if we could view and interact with our content on a larger display.

Towards the top of the virtual phone sits a small white arrow. Clicking the arrow reveals a bar with icons for screenshots, recording the display, accessing a Pen Tool, File Transfers and settings. A similar arrow along the bottom of the phone shows a panel with all your open apps.

The most useful Photo Screen Sharing function is the ability to transfer files. Copying files from the PC to the phone was as simple as dragging the content onto the virtual phone. Once we selected a file we wanted to transfer to the computer, we hit Share and Share Sync. From there, we selected which folder we wanted to send the file to, and pressed share.

SideSync can also back up your Android device's files using the file-transfer app, Samsung Kies. Once a device is connected, Kies launches and automatically backs up all the new files, including photos, music and videos.

As you might expect, those who own Android phones from rival brands will be left out in the cold. When we attached our HTC One to the ATIV Book 9, the notebook recognized that we had attached a device. However, SideSync failed to launch. When we manually opened the app, it failed to recognize the HTC device.

Performance

The ATIV Book 9's 2-GHz Intel Core i7-3537U processor with 4GB of RAM ensures that the laptop can handle productivity chores aplenty, as well as multitasking. We seamlessly streamed an episode of "Powerpuff Girls" on Netflix, despite having 10 open tabs in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, all while running a complete system scan.

When we ran PCMark 7, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance, the ATIV Book 9 notched 4,490. That score is enough to beat the 3,500 ultraportable category average, but falls below the Acer Aspire S7-391 and Dell XPS 13, which scored 4,948 and 4,780, respectively. The Toshiba Kirabook, which has the same CPU as the ATIV, delivered a score of 5,191.

The ATIV Book 9's 128GB SSD booted Windows 8 in a blistering 7 seconds, blowing past the 26-second category average. During the File Transfer test, the ATIV Book 9 duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 33 seconds, a speed of 154.2 MBps. That's well above the 80.7 MBps average, but half that of the Aspire S7's 318.1MBps. The Kirabook and the XPS 13 also performed better, delivering rates of 221.3 MBps and 164.2 MBps.

On the OpenOffice Spreadsheet Macro test, the ATIV Book 9 paired 20,000 names to their matching addresses in 5 minutes and 9 seconds, beating the 7:03 category average. The XPS 13 and the Aspire S7 were a few seconds behind, clocking in at 5:13 and 5:12. The Kirabook finished first, with 4:40.

Graphics

Thanks to its Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, the Samsung ATIV Book 9 can play most casual games and high-def videos, but not much beyond that. The laptop scored 597 on the 3DMark11 benchmark, which fell short of the 726 ultraportable category average. The Kirabook (690), XPS 13 (670) and Aspire S7 (657), which also have Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPUs, all scored higher.

On the "World of Warcraft" benchmark, the ATIV Book 9 delivered 33 fps on Good, at 1366 x 768p, matching the Dell XPS 13. That's playable, but the performance failed to match the 41 fps average. The Kirabook and Aspire S7 scored 37 and 41 fps, respectively. When we switched the resolution to 1920 x 1080, the ATIV Book 9's frame rate dropped to 20 fps. The Aspire S7, XPS 13 and Kirabook gave us 30, 25 and 22 fps, respectively.

Battery Life

During the Laptop Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi on 40 percent screen brightness), the Samsung ATIV Book 9 lasted 5 hours and 7 minutes. This disappointing runtime is 37 minutes short of the 5:54 average. Still, it was enough to outlast the Acer Aspire S7-391-9886's time of 4:10. The Aspire S7 jumps to the head of the pack with 9:17 when equipped with its extended battery. The XPS 13 lasted 5:50, while the Toshiba Kirabook delivered a time of 6:47.

Software and Warranty

Apart from Side Sync, Samsung loaded the ATIV Book 9 with a healthy mix of multimedia apps and utilities. S Player aggregates all of your multimedia content (music, video, images and slideshows) into one place for quick access. Samsung utilized the Windows 8 Live Tile interface for a clean, easy-to-navigate experience, complete with large preview images of our content.

S Gallery categorizes all your videos and images by date. In case you need to touch up any of those glamour shots, Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 lets you eliminate unwanted blemishes on photos. Samsung's S Camera app provided an intuitive interface with deeper settings than those on the regular Windows 8 camera app. There's also Samsung Signature Store, which gives users quick access to Samsung products, including tablets, smartphones, speakers, offices printers and more.

On the desktop, you'll find the Full and Lite versions of Samsung Kies, the company's content-transfer software. There's also AllShare Play to wirelessly stream content across devices.

Third-party apps include Jamie Oliver's Recipes; Evernote; Amazon Kindle; Fresh Paint; Netflix; Merriam-Webster Dictionary; Bitcasa, a cloud storage service; and Music Maker Jam, a program that lets the musically inclined create their own tracks. Other apps include the popular "Plants vs. Zombies" and adventure title "Adera." There are also 60-day trial versions of Microsoft Office 2010 and Norton Internet Security. Some may find the software load a little overwhelming for such a premium device.

Configurations

Our $1,399 review unit of the ATIV Book 9 came outfitted with a 2-GHz Intel Core i7-3537U processor that had 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, an Intel HD 4000 Graphics card and a 1920 x 1080 display. The $999 base model features a 1.7-GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 4000 Graphics and a 1600 x 900 display.

Verdict

The $1,399 Samsung ATIV Book 9 maintains the svelte dimensions of its predecessor and adds a 1080p display and a more powerful processor. Samsung's SideSync technology enables integration between Samsung PCs and Android devices for relatively seamless productivity. What prevents this Ultrabook from earning a higher rating are its below-average battery life and warm temperatures.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Sony's tablet designs have always bordered on the unusual side - the wedge-shaped Tablet S was meant to evoke a folded magazine, while the clamshell Tablet P was apparently ideal for slipping into a purse or handbag. By contrast, the Tablet Z looks almost pedestrian - but at the same time is easily Sony's best android device to date.

The best tablet from Sony yet, and arguably the best tablet you can buy anywhere

Rather than experiment with shape, Sony has opted for a standard slate with slightly rounded corners. It's still a bit special though, at just 6.9mm thick and weighing a paltry 495g, it's noticeably slimmer and lighter than any of its competitors - those being the Apple iPad 4 and the Google Nexus 10. With a soft-touch plastic rear and a screen bezel with room for your hands to avoid blocking the screen, it's very comfortable to hold, even for long periods.

The entire chassis is sealed, making the Tablet Z both dust- and water-resistant. It can sit in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes without any effect, and will shrug off spilt drinks or a splash under the taps in the kitchen sink. If you're looking for the perfect digital recipe book, or like to browse the web in the bath, this is the tablet for you.

It's impressively thin and incredibly light

The MicroSD card slot, Micro HDMI output, 3.5mm audio jack and micro USB port are all protected by plastic covers, which create a firm seal to keep out water. We aren't normally fans of these kinds of flap because they are prone to breaking off, but the ones Sony has used here feel far sturdier than the ones we've seen on other tablets.

The stereo speakers are great if you keep your hands out the way

There are four speaker ports, two at each bottom corner of the tablet – they point downwards and outwards respectively, creating a wider cone of sound compared to many such devices. Your hands direct the sound towards your ears when you hold the tablet, but you have to be careful not to muffle them with your hands when watching a film or playing a game. Audio quality is perfectly acceptable, although we would still recommend a good pair of headphones.

PAY AND DISPLAY

The front of the tablet is protected by toughened glass, which might attract fingerprints but should protect the screen against accidental scrapes or scratches. The 10.1in, Full HD display takes pride of place beneath it. With a 1,920x1,200 resolution, it's slightly less detailed than that of the Google Nexus 10, but you'd be hard-pushed to notice in practice with its 221 pixels-per-inch providing razor sharp text and images. There's an upside too for gamers - the Nexus 10 often struggles to render 3D games at its native resolution, which is something we didn't experience with the Xperia Tablet Z. It's an IPS panel, with excellent viewing angles, although the glass is highly reflective so you'll need to max out the brightness when using it in direct sunlight.

Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
Processor clock speed	1.5GHz
Memory	2.00GB
Memory slots free	0
Maximum memory	2GB
Size	172x266x7mm
Weight	495g
Sound	Qualcomm 8x60 SoC Audio
Pointing device	touchscreen

Display
Viewable size	10.1 in
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Graphics Processor	Qualcomm Adreno 320
Graphics/video ports	Micro HDMI

Storage
Total storage capacity	16GB
Optical drive type	none

Ports and Expansion
Bluetooth
Wired network ports	none
Wireless networking support	802.11n
PC Card slots	none
Supported memory cards	Micro SD
Other ports	3.5mm audio output

Miscellaneous
Carrying case
Operating system	Android 4.1.2
Operating system restore option	restore partition
Software included	none
Optional extras	none

Sony Xperia Z

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - C6602, C6603
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 - C6603
		HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - C6602
	4G Network	LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 - C6603
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2013, January
	Status	Available. Released 2013, February

BODY	Dimensions	139 x 71 x 7.9 mm (5.47 x 2.80 x 0.31 in)
	Weight	146 g (5.15 oz)
		- IP57 certified - dust and water resistant - Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes

DISPLAY	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches (~441 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes, up to 10 fingers
	Protection	Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass
		- Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 64 GB
	Internal	16 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Up to 107 kbps
	EDGE	Up to 296 kbps
	Speed	HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go

CAMERA	Primary	13.1 MP, 4128x3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, HDR, sweep panorama
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, video stabilization, HDR, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 2.2 MP, 1080p@30fps

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), planned upgrade to v4.2 (Jelly Bean)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MDM9215M / APQ8064
	CPU	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
	GPU	Adreno 320
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White, Purple
		- SNS integration - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/Flac player - Document viewer - Photo viewer/editor - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Ion 2330 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 550 h (2G) / Up to 530 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 14 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 40 h

MISC	SAR US	1.05 W/kg (head)     0.56 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.48 W/kg (head)

TESTS	Display	Contrast ratio: 705:1 (nominal) / 2.462:1 (sunlight)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 60dB / Noise 58dB / Ring 61dB
	Audio quality	Noise -81.9dB / Crosstalk -81.3dB
	Camera	Photo / Video
	Battery life	Endurance rating 48h