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Sony's Xperia ion
The Xperia ion will hit stores June 24

Sony will be releasing its first 4G LTE smartphone, the Xperia ion, this month exclusively with AT&T.

The Sony Xperia ion claims to offer a better mobile HD experience, which features a 4.6-inch HD Reality display (1280 x 720) and an HDMI option so content can be viewed on a larger screen.

Sony's first 4G entry also offers a 12-megapixel Fast Capture camera, which has a 720p HD front-facing chat camera and 1080p HD video capture. The new smartphone holds a 1.5Ghz dual core processor and 16 GB internal memory with a microSD expansion slot for up to 32 GB.

The Xperia ion will provide access to the Sony Entertainment Network, which offers Sony Music Unlimited for a complete song catalog, and Sony Video Unlimited for movies/TV shows available to rent or buy. Those who crave entertainment on their mobile devices can also enjoy the fact that the Xperia ion is PlayStation Certified, meaning that gaming will be a key feature on the phone.

AT&T customers will have exclusive access to the latest Sony smartphone, where they will be able to enjoy both LTE and HSPA+ networks for extended LTE coverage.

Near field communications (NFC) is also a hot feature on smartphones these days, and the Xperia ion is no exception. It will offer SmartTags, which allow users to control certain phone features with a simple tap. The SmartTags, which are sold separately, can turn on GPS or Bluetooth, silence the phone, control volume, etc. Samsung just announced a similar NFC feature this week called TecTiles, which are stickers made for NFC-enabled Samsung smartphones.

The Xperia ion will be released June 24 for $99.99 with a two-year contract. Check out AT&T's video below for a look at Sony's latest smartphone creation:

Source: AT&T


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Advertisement
By Red Storm on 6/14/2012 2:51:46 PM , Rating: 4
This "article" reads like a blatant advertisement. Come on DT...




RE: Advertisement
By 3DoubleD on 6/14/2012 3:06:39 PM , Rating: 4
Especially when it leaves out the most embarassing thing about this phone -> it's running Gingerbread and not ICS!

Galaxy Nexus was available 7 months ago! The HTC One X was available April 20th. The Galaxy S III will be released next week in NA and is already available abroad.

Sony really needs to step their game up. The Ion is a confusing mix of high end hardware and old software.


RE: Advertisement
By BioHazardous on 6/14/2012 3:15:40 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The Ion is a confusing mix of high end hardware and old software.


What high end hardware are you referring to? From what I've found online, this is the Qualcomm S3, not S4, which was released in 2010. Certainly not high end by today's standards.


RE: Advertisement
By Milliniar on 6/14/2012 3:33:43 PM , Rating: 2
from what i understand at this point (until HTC shows me otherwise), the official playstation emulator on this phone to get playstation certification is only compatible with gingerbread. the S3 and not the s4 could also have something to do with compatibility. If these sacrifices were made to keep that playstation certified then they should've dropped that to make this a higher end phone.


RE: Advertisement
By retrospooty on 6/14/2012 6:33:34 PM , Rating: 2
"What high end hardware are you referring to? From what I've found online, this is the Qualcomm S3, not S4"

Are you serious? So, just now Sony is releasing their first 4G phone. It has an S3 previous gen processor and Android 2, previous gen OS. So basically its an old phone with a new screen. You go Sony! Keep it up and you may just release the playstation 2 again next year.


RE: Advertisement
By corduroygt on 6/14/2012 7:06:02 PM , Rating: 2
It's $99, so at least its priced according to its specs.
This is a mid-low end smartphone nothing more.


RE: Advertisement
By retrospooty on 6/14/2012 9:23:50 PM , Rating: 2
Not really. That's with a 2 year contract. A std high end phone is $499 to $599 but gets discounted to $199 w/ 2yr.


RE: Advertisement
By corduroygt on 6/15/2012 8:14:28 AM , Rating: 2
High-end smartphone: $199 with contract
Mid-low end smartphone: $99 with contract
Budget smartphone: Free with contract


RE: Advertisement
By retrospooty on 6/15/2012 10:46:43 AM , Rating: 2
Ya, but the contract really skews that. the high end is like $600, mid $550, so the difference is really small. They do that because they want the contract more than anything. They sell the phones priced based on demand in order to gain the contract.

I see your point though, not really aimed at the high end, but I think that is more because they are late to the game and slow to develop product, therefore their high end phone 6 months late comes out as a mid level.


RE: Advertisement
By Reclaimer77 on 6/14/2012 6:10:25 PM , Rating: 2
Of course it's not going to run ICS, look at that hardware!


RE: Advertisement
By Aloonatic on 6/15/2012 3:27:53 AM , Rating: 2
At least they have the search button on this version of the Xperia. I have an Xperia S and the only thing that's really annoying is the search button being missing, as it only has the menu, home and back buttons.


Sony
By stevessvt on 6/14/2012 3:22:58 PM , Rating: 1
I remember when owning a SONY product meant you had something special. Wow how times have changed.




RE: Sony
By retrospooty on 6/14/2012 4:01:56 PM , Rating: 2
LOL... I know.

Now it like, wow, Sony's first 4G LTE phone. REally, in June 2012 they are releasing a 4G phone. The industry has just been rocked!


RE: Sony
By Cheesew1z69 on 6/14/2012 4:47:17 PM , Rating: 2
It hasn't been that way for many, many years. I swore them off after seeing how they treated customers in 2002-2007.


RE: Sony
By testerguy on 6/15/2012 1:54:29 AM , Rating: 2
Indeed Steve.

I have a quad-SSD i5 Sony Vaio Z and despite being expensive it's seriously lacking in the quality department, namely flimsy hinge, bit noisy in standby, too much flex in the plastic construction.

Wont be buying another.


“And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say?” -- Bill Gates on the Mac ads











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