Sony Unveils PS4-Playing Xperia Z3, SmartWatch 3, and More at IFA
The IFA event in Berlin today had plenty of cool gadgets, and a few of them came from industry juggernaut Sony. And best of all, one of those announcements – the Xperia Z3 Android smartphone – might be one of the best handsets around for PlayStation 4 gamers.
Sony actually announced three Xperia Z3 devices today: the regular flavor, the Z3 Compact, and the Z3 Tablet Compact. The Z3 offers a 5.2-inch Full HD display, along with 16 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 128 GB via microSD. It also boasts a solid 3 GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 2.5 GHz Quad-core CPU, and a 20.7 megapixel rear camera. The Z3 Compact is nearly identical, with a 4.6-inch display and 2 GB of RAM.
Here’s what’s really awesome though: Both devices (and the tablet) can offer Remote Play for the PlayStation 4 console. That’s a pretty great feature for gamers who want to keep playing when the TV is in use. From what I can tell, no pricing information has been released just yet, but if they’re not too expensive, these smartphones might get some serious consideration from the gamer folk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAHRBOYG8sg
Sony also announced its newest addition to the SmartWatch family, the SmartWatch 3 – and the first such device from the company to run Android Wear from Google rather than Sony’s own forked version of Android. Unfortunately, the SmartWatch 3 isn’t nearly as sexy as the Xperia Z3 handsets. While it’s compatible with Sony’s Lifelogger app, the SmartWatch 3 doesn’t really offer much that other Android Wear devices already do. Meanwhile, the thing is kind of on the ugly side. The watch body can be swapped out for new bands, but all the bands that Sony’s revealed so far are…ugly.
The SmartBand Talk is Sony’s other big wearable, which features a curved, always-on e-ink screen, a full suite of activity tracking sensors, and the ability to perform some basic smartphone functions. The twist here, though, is that the SmartBatnd Talk can also be used to receive and place phone calls, though it remains to be seen if folks looking to keep things simple with a smartband device are really interested in a gadget with this many features.
Sony’s new smartphones and tablets sound pretty cool, and while SmartWatch 3 isn’t going to win any hearts, the fact that they’re finally pursuing Android Wear bodes well for the future.