Sony's UK Division Twitter-Tease Of A "Smartphone With Greater Focus"
Sony has been know to match up their flagship smartphone release schedule with the Berlin's IFA trade show and this year it appears that is no exception.
Sony Xperia's UK division posted a teaser photo on Twitter on Monday "smartphone with greater focus" included was a statement saying all will become clear on Sept. 2 which is two days before the official start of the 2015 IFA
PS4 Vs Xbone 3/1 in Sony's favour
According to its latest sales figures, Sony’s consoles outsold Microsoft’s consoles three-to-one in the quarter ending June 30. During its quarterly earnings call yesterday, Sony said that it had sold a combined total of 3.5 million units of the PS4 C$479.99 at Amazon and PS3, compared to Microsoft’s quarterly figure of just 1.1 million Xbox One $369.00 at Groupon and Xbox 360 consoles. Neither Sony or Microsoft opted to break down these numbers into per-console sales figures, but using previous announcements as a baseline it’s probably around 70-30 in favor of the PS4 and Xbox One.
In short, this means Sony sold around 2.5 million PS4s last quarter, compared to about 800,000 Xbox Ones. This equates to some very unfavorable total global sales figures for the Xbox One, which we’ll discuss below.
Earlier in the week, Sony surprised everyone by announcing that it had actually made a profit [PDF] during the April-June quarter. This is mostly due to restructuring and selling off assets — Sony has spun off its TV business into a separate subsidiary, sold its PC business, and sold its shares in Square Enix — but strong sales of the PS4 definitely helped matters along. While Sony gave us a combined total of 3.5 million PS4s and PS3s sold during the quarter, the last exact PS4 sales figure (7 million) was way back in April. By our estimations, the PS4 is probably sitting at around 9 million consoles sold globally.
Sony Exec Defends PS4 Games Line-up for 2015 -2016
2015 seems to be an interesting year for both Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft has an amazing line up games later this year which includes the likes of Forza Motorsport 5, Halo 5 Guardians and many more. On the other hand, there does not seem to be many AAA exclusives for the PlayStation 4. Granted the console has a number of games in development, but as it stands right now there is nothing major coming out for the console soon.
Read more at http://gamingbolt.com/sony-exec-defends-ps4-games-line-up-for-2015-and-2016-games-are-going-to-be-better-and-bigger#wqJrkxuwjOuzOtA5.99
YouTube Is Launching It's Twitch Competitor ... Today?
During June this year, YouTube announced that they would be delving into game streaming and that they intended to launch its own Twitch competitor called aptly YouTube Gaming. According to reports from TechCrunch today will be that day well in the US and UK.
Playstation's September Freebies!
For the first time PS4 owners were able to pick one of the two games they are getting for free in September. It was between Grow Home, Armello and Zombie Vikings. The popular with PC gamers Grow Home beat the competition to romp home first.
Microsoft Lumia 940 and Lumia 940 XL could be unveiled October
Have you been waiting and waiting and waiting for Microsoft to announce its next Lumia flagship phone? If so, circle Monday, October 19th on your calendar. A fresh rumor published on Sunday suggests that this will be the date when the Microsoft Lumia 940 and Microsoft Lumia 940 XL will be unveiled. The speculation is that this event will take place in New York.
Project Morpheus Ready But Waiting on Software
Sony has been tight lipped when it comes to a release date for Project Morpheus only saying it will launch in the first half of 2016. So everything is okay on the hardware front, but a engineer working on the PS4 VR headset has revealed that they are still waiting on the software end.
Sony Smartwatch 2 with Heart Rate Monitor
Sony has officially unveiled its second generation fitness tracker, the SmartBand 2 with improved features and functionality.
Sporting a minimalistic design, neat and elegant look, along with a comfortable form factor, the Sony SmartBand 2 arrives with a silicon band, and functions as an "activity tracker with intelligent heart rate monitor." According to Sony, the SmartBand 2 will allow users to track their workouts as well as all their movements.
The Note 5 Stylus... Carefully does it!
According to a member of staff at Android Police they has discovered a major flaw with the Note 5 and the S-Pen, the issue is that if you insert the S-Pen backwards into the S-Pens' holder the phone will no longer be able to detect when the pen has been inserted or removed. This basically means that no sound or vibration will occur, and presumably (though not mentioned) and relevant software-related action that the device is set to trigger upon removal.
Top 5 Games to look forward to this September
With the summer lull coming to an end, September 2015 sees several major releases coming to the market. Here’s our top 5:
PlayStation Vita Prototype System Showcased By New Video
The PlayStation Vita console is far from being the more successful PlayStation console released by Sony, mostly due to the very low support by big developers and publishers. With Sony itself defining the system as a legacy system, at least in the West, it seems like the console won’t be receiving any big release from Western developers. Still, the console is a very good handheld, with more than a few good high profile games as well as several indie games having been released since its launch in all regions
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 & Surface Pro 3 Update
Microsoft has justpushed out an updatefor Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 devices running Windows 10 that should improve graphical performance and the operating system’s stability. The name of the update is “HD Graphics Family driver update (v10.18.15.4256)” and is available now.
Playstation 4 Software Beta Program
Sony has opened its PlayStation 4 software beta program to anyone, letting users sign up to test early versions of new system firmware before they're released to the general public. You can sign up to participate here as long as you have a PS4, though Sony warns that space on the program will be limited.
Samsung Galaxy O Series Could Be Related To Virtual Reality
A couple of days ago, a rumor surfaced suggesting that Samsung has a new lineup of phones in the works that will be part of a new Galaxy O series of handsets. It was unclear as to what kind of devices the Galaxy O series might be, butthanks to a report by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, we might have a better idea.
According to Munster, he claims that the Galaxy O series of smartphones could be related to virtual reality. He writes, “We believe Oculus in combination with Samsung could either launch a new phone series for VR as they are rumored to be releasing the “O Series” or, alternatively (but unlikely), it could be an all in one wireless VR headset.”
It is unclear as to what a phone dedicated to virtual reality might be like, but perhaps it could be a phone that will fit perfectly with the Gear VR. While Munster believes that it is unlikely that it could be a virtual reality headset, we’re not so sure we should close the door. Recently Samsung had confirmed that a new Gear VR is coming soon, so perhaps an all in one VR headset might not be that much of a stretch.
However it would be an odd choice to call the headset a “Galaxy” device since the Galaxy name is usually reserved for tablets and smartphones. In any case take this with a grain of salt for now, but hopefully we will find out more in the coming weeks.
Sony Releases 'Metal Gear Solid V'-Themed Xperia J1: The Phantom Pain Edition : PERSONAL TECH : Tech Times
Metal Gear Solid fans may want to reflect their love of the franchise in things like T-shirts and posters, however, now they can show off their love with aMetal Gear Solid V version of the Sony Xperia J1.
The device is called the Sony Xperia J1: Phantom Pain edition, and it features an Outer Heaven graphic on the back of the phone, which is subtle and not too overbearing.
Of course, the MGS theme doesn't end with the graphic. The device will also feature customMGS-themed ringtones and wallpapers that are based on the new Metal Gear Solid game. A limited edition artbook also comes pre-installed on the phone, and it is accessible via the Sony File Commander app.
Last but not least is the fact that buyers of the device will get a 1,000 yen ($8.08 USD) voucher that can be put toward buying Metal Gear Solid comics.
As far as hardware goes, the device remains identical to the original Sony Xperia J1, which is certainly not a bad device. For those not familiar with the specs of the device, it includes a 4.3-inch 720p display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of expandable storage.
It also features a 2,300 mAh battery and a 20.7 MP rear-facing camera. The front-facing camera of the device is 2.2 MP.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the device will be limited to Japan and will be priced at 59,800 yen.
Of course, the announcement of the device comes right before the highly anticipated release of the Metal Gear Solid V game, set to be released on September 1. A trailer for the game was recently released, showing that the game could be set as the conclusion of the series. The game will be released to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One and Xbox 360. An online component of the game will also be available, however, it won't be offered until October 6 for consoles and sometime in January for PC users.