Sony rumoured to be working on 6.44-inch full-HD device

2013 is being called the Year of the phablet and for good reason. A niche category that came into existence with the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Note, is now being populated with devices from companies like Huawei, HTC, ZTE and even Indian manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn and Byond.

Sony that had already entered the category with its 5-inch full-HD Xperia Z, which it unveiled  at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It now seems to be working on a much bigger phablet this time round.

Engadget reports that a leaked image posted on the Chinese-language Digi-wo forum shows a 6.44-inch display screen along with a claim that the screen for this component has 1080p HD resolution. Apart from this, there is no other detail regarding the device. For all we know, it could just be a prototype of an upcoming device or even a fake image. With Mobile World Congress (MWC) being round the corner, one should not be surprised if the device does make an appearance there.

Huawei launched two new devices this year at CES. The company's new flagship Ascend D2 comes with a 5-inch display and the Ascend Mate sports a big 6.1-inch IPS+ LCD capacitive touchscreen.

HTC came into the phablet arena with the J Butterfly, which was the first full-HD device and has a 5-inch display. A more recent entrant is the ZTE Nubia Z5 featuring a 5-inch full-HD display. The company is already rumoured to be working on the Nubia Z7 that will have a 6.3-inch display with a screen resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. The Chinese company also took the wraps off of its Grand S, which is being flaunted as the world's thinnest 5-inch full-HD smartphone.

Indian device manufacturer Byond Tech recently introduced the Phablet PIII sporting a massive 6.3-inch display. Karbonn, on the other hand launched the dual-SIM A30 Android device with a 5.9-inch display. Micromax jumoed into the bandwagon with the A116 Canvas HD with a 5-inch 720p IPS display.

Coming back to Samsung, the company that started it all, post the success of its Galaxy Note, the company went ahead and launched the Galaxy Note II that came with a bigger 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD display.

The company is now gearing up for a third generation Galaxy Note III, which is rumoured to sport a 6.3-inch screen and will perhaps come with recently announced Exynos 5 Octa processor as well. Samsung also recently launched the 5-inch Galaxy Grand earlier this week.

Sony fined in UK over PlayStation cyber-attack

British regulators fined Sony 250,000 pounds ($396,100) on Thursday for having insufficient security measures to prevent a cyber-attack on its PlayStation Network.
The attack in April 2011 targeted credit card information through Sony's PlayStation Network and put millions of users' personal information - including names, addresses, birth dates and account passwords at risk.
Britain's Information Commissioner's Office said Thursday that security measures in place at the time "were simply not good enough." It said the attack could have been prevented if software had been up to date, while passwords were also not secure.
David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection, acknowledged that the fine for a "serious breach of the Data Protection Act" was "clearly substantial" but said that the office makes "no apologies" for that.
"There's no disguising that this is a business that should have known better," he said in a statement. "It is a company that trades on its technical expertise, and there's no doubt in my mind that they had access to both the technical knowledge and the resources to keep this information safe."
Smith called the case "one of the most serious ever reported" to the data regulator.

Sony's PlayStation 3 dethrones Microsoft's Xbox 360 as top selling console: Report

Sony's PlayStation 3 bumped Microsoft Xbox 360 from the videogame console sales throne in December, according to a report released Wednesday by industry tracker International Data Corporation.
The number of PS3 units shipped by Sony hit an estimated 77 million units, topping Xbox 360 shipments by approximately a million despite the fact that Microsoft released its latest-generation console a year before Sony did.
The report by IDC gaming research manager Lewis Ward projected that shipments of Nintendo's recently-launched Wii U videogame consoles would top 50 million by the end of the year 2016.
Ward contended that consoles will retain their strongholds in homes while also expanding to include streaming movies, television shows and other digital entertainment.
"The console ecosystem is in a state of flux since these platforms need to support an ever-growing array of non-gaming features and services at the same time that game distribution and monetization is moving in a digital direction," Ward said.
"It doesn't appear that alternative platforms set-top boxes from cable companies, Web-connected smart TVs, and so on are positioned to materially disrupt the trajectory of the 'big 3' console OEMs in 2013 or 2014."
He believed that packaged videogame discs will remain the console game revenue mainstay for years to come despite a gradual shift by players to downloading game software online in digital formats.
Videogame industry sales should be bolstered by the arrival of next-generation videogame consoles from Sony and Microsoft, according to Ward.
"With the advent of eighth-generation consoles, starting with the Wii U, historical norms strongly imply that game disk revenue will stop bleeding in 2013 and rise substantively in 2014," he said in the report.

Sony stops making PlayStation 2 in Japan

Japanese electronics giant Sony said it has stopped producing its PlayStation 2 consoles in Japan, fuelling online rumours a PlayStation 4 is in the pipeline.
Since launching in 2000 the PlayStation 2 (PS2) has sold more than 150 million units worldwide, making it the best selling console of all time and was so popular it outsold the its replacement for the first three years.
Shipments have been "completed" for the hardware of PS2, the Japanese website of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said with no further comment. The firm did not say what its plans were for production in other parts of the world.
Software for the console is expected to continue being produced.
The announcement sent gamers posting messages online, with some surprised the PS2 was still being made.
The news has sparked rumours that embattled Sony, which has been hit by falling sales owing to the popularity of games on smartphones, is planning a PlayStation 4, more than six years since launching the PS3.

Sony C660X Yuga reportedly set to release as Xperia Z

We've known for quite sometime now that Sony has been working on a 5-inch smartphone, the Sony C660X Yuga. Now the Xperia Blog reports that the device will be dubbed as the Sony Xperia Z.  

The blog which cites a source over at XDA and says that the Xperia Z will be both water and dust resistant supporting an Ingress Protection (IP) rating of IP55 and IP57 (similar to the Xperia acro S and Xperia V). It also claims that the final dimensions of the Xperia Z will be 139 x 71 x 7.9mm. The device will be both water and dust resistant and is likely to feature a glass-back as seen in Apple's iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

The blog further mentions that the 5-inch 1080p (443 PPI) panel will come with OptiContrast technology, which is found in Sony televisions. This technology features a resin coating atop the display to reduce on-screen reflections.

Rumours of the device began floating in October when a known benchmarking site revealed that the C660X Yuga features Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and a CPU clock speed of 1.5GHz.

Just a week ago, Phone Arena reported that the Xperia Z aka Yuga will feature a quad-core processor from Samsung, 3GB RAM and an incredible 128GB of built-in storage. Not to forget, the device is likely to include a 5-inch full-HD display, a 16-megapixel camera and a large 3000mAh battery.

Another website posted a detailed hands-on with the phone boasting impressive specs on the Sony C6603 Yuga, some of which were rumoured earlier. The phone apparently features a 5-inch full-HD display at 440 PPI with Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, which is expandable by another 128GB.

Other features include a 12-megapixel rear camera (as opposed to the 16-megapixel mentioned earlier), micro-USB as well as USB host mode, 802.11 a/b/g/n in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz modes, Bluetooth 4.0, LTE and NFC.

With CES 2013 scheduled for January in Las Vegas, it wouldn't be surprising to see the phone make its official debut at the event.

Image Courtesy: Android Schweiz