Sony teases the Sony Xperia Z5 for an IFA 2015 announcement
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
It appears that it is time for Sony to release a new flagship, as Sony teases the Sony Xperia Z5 in its latest tweet – and the place is going to be Berlin at IFA 2015. Sony today tweeted the image below, a blurry photo of the Berlin gate with the caption “Get ready for a smartphone with greater focus. All will become clear on 02.09.2015” which is confirmation of that fact. Sony has teased its new hybrid autofocus camera sensor before, which resulted in the release of the Sony Xperia M5 and the Sony Xperia C5 Ultra, and presumably the feedback has been good (or at least, not bad).
Get ready for a smartphone with greater focus. All will become clear on 02.09.2015. pic.twitter.com/Mm7HjWKojA
— Sony Xperia GB (@sonyxperiagb) August 24, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Rumours say that the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact will also feature alongside its larger brother, however it appears the expected Sony Xperia Z5 Ultra won’t be making an appearance as it isn’t ready yet. There are rumours that the Xperia Z5 will add a fingerprint scanner to its arsenal, but we’ll have to see if a new camera and the scanner are all Sony has up its sleeves. Bring on IFA 2015.
What do you think about the Sony Xperia Z5? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Twitter via XperiaBlog
The post Sony teases the Sony Xperia Z5 for an IFA 2015 announcement appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Sony Xperia promises new phone with greater focus
Sony Xperia GB has tweeted that they will be bringing out a new phone with “greater focus” on September 2nd, 2015.
Get ready for a smartphone with greater focus. All will become clear on 02.09.2015. pic.twitter.com/Mm7HjWKojA
— Sony Xperia GB (@sonyxperiagb) August 24, 2015
We can’t be exactly sure which new phone it will be, but we have heard a lot of rumors about the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact. The date of the announcement is also lined up very closely to the IFA trade show in Berlin.
Also, what “greater focus” actually means is unknown as well. Our best guess is some sort of new autofocus system for the camera.
Great smartphone cameras have been all the rage this year. It will be hard to beat the LG G4 or Samsung Galaxy S6’s cameras, but we will have to wait and see if the Xperia Z5 can do it.
Source: Sony
Come comment on this article: Sony Xperia promises new phone with greater focus
Watch Sony’s prototype drone do a vertical takeoff
Here’s your first look at the drone Sony’s developing with a Tokyo robotics firm under its collab company called Aerosense. The UAV can carry up to 22 pounds, fly continuously for two hours at a speed of 106 miles per hour and, as you can see in the video below the fold, take off and land vertically like a helicopter. Sony mentioned before that business customers will be able to use it for “measuring, surveying, observing and inspecting” as soon as next year, so it will likely carry different types of instruments, depending on the task at hand.
Source:
The Wall Street Journal
Tags: drone, sony
The real horror of ‘Until Dawn’ is that Sony sent it to die
“Are we, like, in a movie right now?” It’s an apt question one of the handsome teens starring in PlayStation 4’s latest exclusive, Until Dawn, asked about an hour after I picked up the controller. Yes. No. Maybe. It’s kind of hard to explain, and it appears Sony would rather not. At its core, Until Dawn is an interactive teen-horror movie (think ’90s genre staples Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer) set at a remote ski lodge where a murderous psychopath is on the loose. But after critics almost universally chastised Sony’s other AAA tentpole, The Order: 1886, earlier this year for its gorgeous but bland cinematic leanings, “interactive movie” is a label the gaming juggernaut would rather not bandy about here.
In fact, Sony would prefer you not pay attention to this game at all. It’s getting no love from the company’s marketing department and was weirdly absent from this June’s E3 media briefing. And that’s a damned shame because Until Dawn is one of the best horror experiences — interactive or not — I’ve ever had.
Slideshow-314571
For anyone that played 2010’s Heavy Rain on PlayStation 3, Until Dawn will be incredibly familiar.
The Hayden Panettiere-starring Until Dawn began as a game for the PlayStation Move in 2012. Developer Supermassive Games made a few titles for Sony’s motion controller prior to that (e.g., Tumble, Start the Party) to moderate success, but the road to PlayStation 4 has been paved with numerous delays these past three years.
The radio silence broke at Gamescom last year in Cologne, Germany, when Sony announced the game was coming to its latest console and that the PlayStation 3-specific Move-controls were being translated to the DualShock 4, a gamepad also capable of motion control. Beyond an appearance last December at the first annual PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas, a consumer-focused event, new details about Until Dawn have been few and far between. This isn’t how big-budget exclusive games usually fare; you know practically everything about them before release due to PR-orchestrated hype.
Until Dawn‘s choice-based gameplay
That pre-release obscurity works in Until Dawn‘s favor, though, because I had no idea what to expect when I started playing. Let me be clear right up front: This is not a “game” in the typical sense. You can’t draw a weapon whenever you want. Said armaments don’t require scrounging for ammo; nor do you fight end-of-level bosses. But that’s why Until Dawn is so refreshing: You’re sitting in the director’s chair for a killer ride.
Gameplay revolves around guiding the oldest looking teenagers you’ve ever seen (apart from Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills 90210) from one gently flashing object of interest in the environment to the next in order to advance the story. This progression sees the player making binary, narrative-affecting choices at key moments and pressing buttons in sequence as they appear onscreen (referred to as quick-time events). And really, that’s about it. For anyone that’s played 2010’s Heavy Rain on PlayStation 3, which used similar play mechanics to tell its story, Until Dawn will be incredibly familiar.
Slideshow-314565
If you’ve ever found yourself screaming at the TV while watching stupid teens do absurd things in horror movies, Until Dawn is the game for you. It smartly flips genre tropes on their head, embracing gaming’s player-first nature by suddenly giving you control. For example, I happened across a machete after one terrifying encounter and instinctively yelled, “Get the fucking machete, dude!” and then was pleasantly surprised by a prompt to pick it up.
The team at Supermassive Games definitely knows how to construct a shot.
That Until Dawn feels like an awesome indie fright-fest rather than late-night Netflix stoner fare, like Zombeavers, is because it was written by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, a pair of Hollywood scribes whose resumes read like contemporary horror’s greatest hits. In fact, the movie-poster-adorned walls of Dawn’s ski-lodge home theatre highlight the writers’ past IMDb credits: The Innkeepers, The House of the Devil and Stake Land. It’s a knowing wink to horror fans. Without the duo’s guidance, it’s possible Dawn could’ve devolved into a cheesy trope-fest.
Until Dawn feels like an awesome indie fright-fest rather than late-night Netflix stoner fare
It’s clear Fessenden and Reznick have the utmost respect for horror and they gleefully play with how well-tread genre archetypes generally work. There’s a scene where a jock and the “hottest girl in high school” slink away to a secluded spot to have sex, because that’s what happens in horror films. However, lines like, “It’s so cold in here my tongue would get stuck to your flagpole,” make the clichéd situation feel fresh, and most importantly funny. Dawn expertly balances between a genuine atmosphere of suspense and humor because a player can only take so much interactive stress before calling it quits.
But as much as I love Until Dawn, it has some definite flaws. The game uses incredibly cool-looking cinematic camera angles to frame each scene — think: early Resident Evil releases — but the flip side is that the game’s sometimes-clunky movement is occasionally at odds with player progression. I awkwardly stumbled around scenes because I couldn’t see exactly where I needed to go (there’s no free-look system) more than a few times. It was a hard slap that took me out of the moment and reminded me that I wasn’t watching a movie; I was playing a slightly unpolished video game.
Horror flicks famously have a hard time wrapping up their stories too, and Until Dawn suffers a bit from this, squandering some of its momentum before the end credits roll. One of gaming’s greatest sins — backtracking through previously explored areas — is on full display here and a few parts feel like years-late commentary on the horror genre itself. For the most part, Until Dawn‘s third act does what it needs to and reaches a satisfying conclusion. It, however, can’t quite match the intensity and mystery of the five or so hours that preceded it.
Unlike The Order, which developer Ready at Dawn framed the entire game with constant letterbox bars for a more cinematic appeal, Until Dawn doesn’t rely on any such presentation crutch to justify its movie-like presentation, nor does it need to. In fact, it’s pretty telling that the black bars only appear in the pause menu and non-interactive cutscenes. The only assist Until Dawn really needed was some pre-release buzz from Sony’s well-oiled hype machine. The sad truth, however, is that Sony’s sending this game to die by no fault of Supermassive’s own. Until Dawn is an incredibly strong exclusive, and given its history of delays, pushing the release date a few more months wouldn’t have hurt; the game is perfect for Halloween frights. That Until Dawn isn’t getting any corporate love is almost as scary as the game itself.
Filed under:
Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Tags: gaming, GrahamReznick, HaydenPanettiere, hd, hdpostcross, horror, LarryFessenden, playstation, playstation4, ps4, sony, supermassivegames, teenhorror, theorder1886, untildawn
The gorgeous faces and stunning cinematography of ‘Until Dawn’
The PlayStation 4’s latest exclusive Until Dawn is absolutely stunning visually. In particular? Its faces. By using 3D performance capture techniques that include strapping an HD camera rig attached to their heads to grab practically every minute detail and expression, the actors (including Hayden Panettiere and Peter Stormare) bring life to the characters in a pretty realistic fashion. What’s really cool is that oftentimes once you let the DualShock 4 sit idle for a moment, the camera will zoom in on the face of whichever of the randy teens you’re controlling. If motion controls are enabled, you can tilt the gamepad this way and that and the possibly-doomed cabeza will follow suit accordingly. It’s pretty neat!
Slideshow-314565
Sadly, Until Dawn is severely lacking a proper photo mode though. I never thought I’d praise a game’s cinematography, but I was consistently wowed by how every scene was composed and framed during my playthrough. Those sometimes-annoying camera angles, combined with just how good the game looks, scream for the ability to futz with exposure, saturation and depth of field adjustments for even more stunning, shareable shots. Seriously. Take a gander at the gallery below and try telling me that something like The Last of Us: Remastered‘s or Infamous: Second Son‘s digital dark-rooms couldn’t make the screenshots look even cooler and more desktop-image worthy.
Slideshow-314571
Filed under:
Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Tags: 3dMotionCapture, cinematography, faces, gallery, gaming, HaydenPanettiere, hd, hdpostcross, PerformanceCapture, PeterStormare, photogrpahy, PlayStation, playstation4, ps4, sony, supermassivegames, untildawn
More leaked images of the Sony Xperia Z5 emerge
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
The Sony Xperia Z5 will be Sony‘s latest attempt to right the ship after its continued poor financial performance, but from the leaked photos of the upcoming device, it looks like not much as changed. The latest photos of the device from from NoWhereElse.fr who have gotta photos of a Xperia Z5 dummy, but gives us a good look at the device from all angles. Unfortunately, there’s not much difference between this device and the Xperia Z4/Z3+ before it, apart from the elongated power button which replaces the traditional circle power button. Check out the new leaked photos below:
Although it’s difficult to see from these images but the Xperia Z5 is rumoured to be a 5.5-inch device, a sizeable increase since its predecessors have been closer to 5-inches. It’s also alleged that the Xperia Z5 will introduce a fingerprint scanner, suspected to be embedded in the new power button – this seems to be standard faire given every manufacturer is adopting the feature in their latest devices. We’re suspecting that Sony will announced the device at IFA 2015, but the Japanese outfit has given no indication that it is even going to be holding a press conference yet.
What do you think about the Sony Xperia Z5? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: nowhereelse.fr via XperiaBlog
The post More leaked images of the Sony Xperia Z5 emerge appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
The top 18 gaming products you can buy right now
In general, gaming hardware has a bit of staying power, at least until you get seduced by a next-gen console. The latest update to our buyer’s guide included many carryovers from last time, although we saw fit to spin off both Sony’s and Microsoft’s respective cameras as their own entries. For the PC gaming set, we swapped in MSI’s latest laptop powerhouse, the GT80 Titan, which offers top-of-the-range options and the satisfying clack of a mechanical keyboard. Also, we had to include Nintendo’s latest 3DS XL; with face-tracking 3D, new buttons and Amiibo support, it’s better than ever. You can find the whole lineup in the gallery below, but if you want to see some picks in other categories, our complete buyer’s guide is always ready and waiting for you.Slideshow-314027
Filed under:
Gaming, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Tags: buyersguide, engadgetbuyersguide, gaming, gifts, microsoft, nintendo, sony
Could this be the design of the Sony Xperia Z5?
Rumors and leaks of Sony’s Xperia Z5 flagship are beginning to heat up. We could expect the flagship to be announced as early as IFA 2015. With the announcement just around the corner, a new image has popped up on Twitter labeled E6xxx. E6553 is the model number for the Sony Z4, which gives us reasonable suspicion this could be the company’s upcoming Z5 flagship.
The image appears to be a case or chassis/frame schematics for the upcoming flagship. The design looks similar to what we’ve seen on recent Sony flagships like the Z3+ and Z4, but has some minor changes. Riccolo, posted one word to go along with the design, “comfortable.” Recent reports have suggested a new UI design overhaul that could make its way to the upcoming flagship, in addition to a more elegant and modern design. No specifications or official renders have leaked so one could predict the flagship will skip IFA 2015. If Sony does elect to announce the flagship at IFA 2015, you could expect press invites to go out shortly. We should find out more details about the upcoming flagships release date in the coming days.
Source: Ricciolo (Twitter)
Come comment on this article: Could this be the design of the Sony Xperia Z5?
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact spotted in promo image leak
The announcement of the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact is rapidly approaching. Sony typically launches their new flagship duo at IFA in Berlin (beginning of September). As promotional materials are ramped up, it often happens that they slip through the cracks and into the sight of leakers.
That’s exactly what we have today, regarding the little brother flagship. Courtesy of tech site Techtastic.nl, the Xperia Z5 Compact was caught sight of in the following promo image.
Now, I know this doesn’t look like much (and how an Xperia phone should look), but we can make note of a couple details.
Firstly, the side button placement. We can tell that there is a shorter and longer button paired on the bottom-right of the phone. Per the leak we’ve seen previously, this is more evidence that Sony is going with an odd placement for the volume buttons (if that’s what the longer button in fact is).
The shorter button is the expected return of the physical camera shutter button. We also don’t see a power button. Again, this is in line with the previous leak, which showed a flush power button (supposedly because it will double-up as the fingerprint scanner).
Lastly, the LED flash placement matches previous Compact models, to the right of the camera module. The larger brother typically has the flash under the camera.
This isn’t much for now, but hang tight. It isn’t too much longer until we know the full scoop. We don’t really know what the specs will be. Sony is allegedly sizing up the Z5, so it could be the same story for the Z5 Compact (the previous model had a 4.7″ screen and 720p resolution). It was also tipped that Sony may be using the Snapdragon 810 again, and the new ExmorRS sensor.
The post Sony Xperia Z5 Compact spotted in promo image leak appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact photo leaks
There’s growing anticipation that Sony is preparing to launch a new range of smartphones at IFA next month and a new leaked promotional photo (above) of what appears to be the Xperia Z5 Compact has added further fuel to the fire.
The design is reminiscent of the usual Xperia style, especially when it comes to camera lens, LED flash and logo placement. However, we can spot an adjustment to the power button and volume rocker, which appears to have been moved down to the lower right hand side of the smartphone. A separate leak of an Xperia Z5 case drawing seems to confirm this design, along with a E6XXX model number.
The Xperia Z3 Compact is rumored to come with a fingerprint scanner built into the power button on the side of the handset, which may be an ergonomic solution to include a scanner while keeping a compact form factor. We recently saw a similar side-mounted fingerprint scanner design appear with the Huawei Honor 7i.
See also: Sony Xperia Z5 rumor roundup
Other rumored specifications include a 4.7-inch 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processing package, 3GB of RAM and a new 20.7 megapixel rear camera sensor, most likely Sony’s latest ExmorRS model, along with an 8 megapixel front facing camera.
IFA 2015 begins in the first week of September in Berlin and we will be there to see what Sony has to unveil.
AIVAnet 