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Sony SRS-XP700

Sony SRS-XP700, SRS-XP500, And SRS-XG500 Wireless Speakers With 30 Hours Of Battery Life Now Available In India.

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Sony launched its new X-series wireless speakers in India on Monday, introducing three new models. SRS-XP700, SRS-XP500, and SRS-XG500 are Sony’s Mega Bass speakers, which deliver enhanced bass. The speakers have a Live Sound Mode, as well as Karaoke and guitar amplifier features. To match your party’s mood or just your room’s theme with the ambient illumination of the Sony SRS-XP700, SRS-XP500, and SRS-XG500 cameras.

Sony SRS-XP700 Specifications

In addition to the front and rear tweeters, the Sony SRS-XP700 is equipped with both two woofers and two woofers that work together to produce what Sony calls Omnidirectional Party Sound. Sony’s SRS-XP700 uses rectangular drivers, rather than the traditional circular ones, to maximize the speaker’s surface area and push out more air each time. For enhanced bass, the SRS-XP700 features Sony’s proprietary Mega Bass technology. Connections include a stereo mini-jack, USB Type-A (Play and Charge), mic/guitar input, and a USB Type-A (Play and Charge). SBC, AAC, and LDAC formats are also supported.
Sony claims that the speaker can run for up to 25 hours on a charge. IPX4 certification ensures splash-proofing on the SRS-XP700. Item has the following dimensions: 313mm by 693mm by 367mm; Weight: 16.9kg.
The SRS-XP700 can be connected to the Fiestable app via Bluetooth. The speaker also supports Ambient Lighting and can be used as an amplifier when connected to a microphone or a guitar.

Sony SRS-XP700
Image source: www.smartprix.com

Sony SRS-XP500 Specifications

There are also similarities in design between the Sony SRS-XP500 and Sony SRS-XP700. There is, however, no Omni Directional Sound. SRS-XP700-like connectivity options and features like ambient lighting and guitar input are available on the SRS-XP700-like speaker as well. You’ll also get an IPX4-rated body and codec support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC. On a single charge, the SRS-XP500 is rated to provide up to 20 hours of battery backup. A 5.5-kilogram box with dimensions of 460x256x215mm.

Sony SRS-XG500 Specifications

In addition to being dust and water-resistant, the Sony SRS-XG500 has a unique, all-horizontal design. Two tweeters and two woofers are also included in the speaker’s design. As a result, the SRS-XP700 does not have Omni Directional Sound.
USB Play and Charge are also absent from the speaker, but it does have a USB Type-A port for playing back audio from a storage drive. Additionally, you may want to consider stereo mini-jack or mic input for certain applications.

Price And Availability Details

As a result, Sony has set the price of the SRS-XP700 at Rs. 32,990 in India. Three speakers are scheduled for appearances beginning on August 10. Before August 16, customers who pre-book any of the three models get a Sony F-V120/C microphone worth Rs. 1,490 at no extra cost. Sony retail stores (Sony Center and Sony Exclusive) and the ShopatSC portal, as well as all major retail stores and e-commerce sites, will accept pre-orders.

About The Company

Sony Corporation, or Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate organization based in Kan Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diverse commercial enterprise is mainly centered on electronics (TVs, gaming consoles, refrigerators), games, entertainment, and monetary services. The company is a leading producer of electronic products for both the consumer and professional markets. Sony is ranked 105th on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2014.
Sony Corporation is the parent company of the Sony Group and the electronics business unit. The Sony Group conducts business through 4 working segments: electronics (consisting of video games, network services, and clinical business), motion pictures, music, and economic services. As a result, Sony is one of the world’s most comprehensive entertainment companies. Sony, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile Communications, and Sony Financial are the company’s primary business operations.

Sony

Sony Group Corporation – The Journey from Tape Recorders to Self-driving Cars

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Sony Group Corporation is a well-known multinational technology company. From cameras to smartphones and from manufacturing laptops to making entertainment content, the company is a conglomerate. Sony was founded exactly 75 years ago in 1946 in Nihonbashi, Japan, and today it operates from its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company is known for its quality product and has its branches all over the world. Sony trades as a public company and is counted among one of the world’s largest manufacturers of consumer and professional electronic products.

The Founding of Sony

As soon the world war 2 was over, in May 1946, Akio Morita and  Masaru Ibuka started an electronics company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (trading name TTK). The company launched Japan’s first tape recorder in 1958, the Type-G. After multiple name changes of the company, the founders renamed the company Sony in the same year.

Sony
Image Source: fresherstore.com

The company specialized in making tape recorders and hit the U.S. market with its new launch, TR-63 radio, during the mid-50s. The portable transistor radios from Sony were in high demand, and in a span of ten years, starting from 1955, the company sold 100,000 units to American residents. In 1960, the company established the American branch of Sony Corporation. Sony had also become a great support for the Japanese economy, as the company was offering jobs to middle-aged Japanese people. The quality of the Sony products also brought faith among the American consumers for Japanese products.

The Years of Growth and Expansion

Other than making electronic products, Sony was also excelling in the other fields. In 1979, the company started an insurance company. Due to the recession in the 70s and 80s, it also started to manufacture Compact Disc to support the business. In the 90s, the company entered the gaming business and launched the most famous PlayStation. For further expansion, Sony also acquired CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989 and started its career in the entertainment and media business.

In 1997, the company in a partnership with Phillips and Toshiba launched  DVD, and it was also among the first ones to develop the Blu-ray optical disc format, which became popular in 2006 and onwards. In 2000 Sony also started to manufacture mobile phones, and in the next year, it partnered with Ericsson, establishing Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. The partnership between the two brought a few of the first camera phones, which became really popular among people around the world. In 2012, Sony bought all the shares in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and launched new series of smartphones under the name Xperia.

Sony
Image Source: api.time.com

On the other hand, the company continuously focused on its gaming business and launched the portable PlayStation console, the PlayStation Portable, in 2004.  The same year, it also established Sony BMG, an entertainment wing in partnership with Bertelsmann AG. In 2010, the company introduced the first mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, and its global sales reached US$7.2 billion. In November 2011, Sony ranked 9th (jointly with Panasonic) in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics.

Sony launched the first 4K OLED television in 2012 and became the third-largest maker of televisions in the world. In 2013, it had become one of the leaders in the smartphone industry. Sony sold its Vaio PC division in 2014. By 2015, Sony was also exploring possibilities in manufacturing self-driving cars and invested $842 thousand in ZMP INC.

In 2015, the company acquired the image sensor business of Toshiba, and the next year, it released the first PlayStation VR. The company introduced the OLED televisions under the brand name Bravia in 2017 and sold 13.5 million phones as well as 73.6 million units of  PlayStation 4, the same year. The company became the largest manufacturer of CMOS image sensors in 2020.

Products and Services

Sony is a conglomerate and works in multiple divisions, including game & network services, music, pictures, electronics products & solutions, imaging & sensing solutions, financial services, etc. Sony started by manufacturing tape recorders, but today it is known for its other high-quality products like 4K TV, high-quality Cameras, PlayStation, smartphone, computing devices, robotics products, etc. The company has its separate wing for entertainment and media business and is also into healthcare and biotechnology.

The CEO: Masaru Ibuka

Masaru Ibuka is one of the founders of Sony. He was born on 11 April 1908 in Nikkō City, Japan. He completed his high school education from Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School and graduated from Waseda University. His first job after graduating was at  Photo-Chemical Laboratory, a movie film company. But later, he had to join the navy during World War II. After the war ended, he started a  radio repair shop in  Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1945.

Akio Morita, on the other hand, was born on 26 January 1921 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He graduated in Physics from the Osaka Imperial University in 1944. He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy as a sub-lieutenant during world war II, where he met Ibuka. Morita saw a newspaper article about Ibuka’s radio shop and contacted him to join the business. Both then founded Sony in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo.

UploadVR Reveals the Detailed Features of Sony’s Upcoming PS5 Next-Generation VR Headset

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Sony announced its PlayStation5 next-generation VR headset in February 2021 and talked about some of its advanced features like a better field of view and higher resolution. But now, a story from UploadVR have given detailed information about these features of the VR headset by Sony. According to UploadVR, the new Sony VR headset will boast a 4K resolution, eye-tracking, and a vibration motor to enable the haptics.

The Announcement by Sony

In February, Sony announced that it is working on a next-generation VR headset for the PS5. The company did not give any information on the release date for the same but confirmed that 2021 won’t be the year for its launch. According to Sony, the headset will be a single cord high-resolution headset, with an improved field of view. The announcement from the company also included the release of the new development kits for its next-gen VR headset as well as the new VR controller, including some of the DualSense PS5 controller’s features.

The In-depth Reveal of the Features

Though the announcement by Sony did not include much about the features of the upcoming VR headset, the latest story by UploadVR gives a more extensive view of its major highlights.

The Resolution: UploadVR first talk about the high resolution of the headset, as it will boast a 4k resolution of 4000 x 2040 providing each eye with the 2000 x 2040 pixels experience. The first PlayStation VR only featured a 960 x 1080 pixels per-eye resolution. The resolution is even higher than the 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye resolution of the Oculus Quest 2. The higher the resolution better it will avoid the “screen-door effect” for the users giving them an even more realistic experience.

Separate Adjustable Dial for IPD: According to UploadVR reveal, the new Sony VR is also including a more adjustable dial for matching the IPD (interpupillary distance), i.e. to precisely measure the distance between the pupils of the eyes of the users. This way, the VR captures a perfect 3D image for the users.

Eye Movement Tracking: The new VR headset is enabled to track the eye movements added with the Foveated Rendering feature. According to UploadVR, the new headset will use eye movements as the input. The eye input of the users will also make the eye movement of their Avatar’s in the game look more realistic to the other players in the game.

Foveated Rendering: Then comes the super-popular graphical technique foveated rendering, which will render a more powerful GPU to the point the user is looking at. This way, GPU will be used majorly on the part where the user is focused, providing them more detailed scenes, and lesser GPU resources will be used on the other parts of the scene.  

The Oculus Quest and Quest 2 also have included such feature with a similar name, ‘fixed foveated rendering’. But the said feature is selected manually, and the user though gets a better vision where their gaze is focussed, but the rest of area lacks in resolution and the user can see that. But the foveated rendering included in the Sony VR headset is capable of adjusting the resolution wherever the user gazes.

Inside-Out Tracking: The previously launched VR sets are known for having “outside-in tracking”, which means that there had to be some sensors set up in the play area to track the controllers and their position while playing. But the new Sony VR headset will include special cameras to track the controllers, eliminating the need of setting up external sensors.

Other than that, according to the alleged sources, the new VR headset from Sony is also going to feature haptic feedback via an inbuilt motor to provide the users with a better in-action experience. Also, the company has eliminated the juggling with wires as the headset is connected to the PS5 system only through a single USB type-c cord.

It has been four years since Sony came with its original VR headset and looking at the new features of the upcoming one, we can clearly say that the company has put all its learning from the past in improving the new gadget for its users in every which way. Now, we just need to wait for the launch of the actual headset and see if it works as expected or fails the expectations of its users.

PS5 VR Controller

Sony Unveils its Next-Generation PlayStation VR Controller for PS5

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Sony introduced its first VR Playstation about four years ago, and since then, there has been tremendous advancement in the game itself. Last month, Sony revealed its next generation of VR on PlayStation5, capable of almost fulfilling Sony’s mission of a stronger sense of presence and deeper immersion for the players. In the announcement, the company talked about the simplified setup and the improved ease-of-use of the PS5 VR. This time, the company has revealed the details on the PS5 VR controllers through a blog post on Sony PS’s official website.

The All-New PS5 VR

On February 23rd, Sony gave out some information on its upcoming launch, the VR for PS5. The company said that the new VR will have a simple setup, and a single cord is enough to connect the PS5 with the VR. The next-generation VR got some new and innovative changes made to it, like a better resolution to provide an even better visual experience, tracking, input, etc. Sony also talked about its new controllers, including some of the DualSense features.

PS5 VR Controllers

According to Sony, the new VR controllers are the main attraction of its next-generation VR for PlayStation. These controllers are the reflection of what Sony has been trying to deliver to its customer in the form of Virtual Reality. The controllers are incorporated with the features of DualSense and are going to change the feel and realistic experience of gaming for the PS5 VR players.

PS5
Image Source: blog.playstation.com
Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Innovative Design

The design of the controller is completely different from the traditional gaming remotes. It is of the shape of an ‘orb’ as described by Sony and is a two-piece set that goes into both left and right hands. The controllers are based on the concept of ergonomics, such that these are comfortable to hold for a longer time. The team behind the design of the controller made sure to test the controllers on different sets of hands to make them fit on every size of hands.

“SIE’s Product, Engineering, and Design teams have collaborated to build our new VR controller from the ground up to make a huge leap from current-gen VR gaming. Prototypes of our new VR controller will be in the hands of the development community soon, and we can’t wait to see what ideas they come up with and how the controller helps bring their imagination to life!” said Hideaki Nishino, the head of the platform planning and management at PlayStation.

New Features Introduced

The new controllers have inherited the adaptive trigger technology from the DualSense PS5 controller to add the palpable tension and make the gaming experience even more realistic. According to Sony, with the new controllers, there is no restriction for the players on how they should move their hands to play the games. The controllers come with haptic feedback and finger touch detection, and the controllers have a ring at the bottom of the controller. The headset of the VR set will track the controllers through this ring. The touch-sensitive areas included in the controllers are made to detect where the players place their thumb, index, and middle fingers.

Talking about the buttons on the left and the right controller, the left controller includes the usual triangle and square buttons, L1, L2, and a Create button as well as an analog stick. The right controller includes the other analog stick. It has similar cross and circle buttons, R1, R2 like the traditional controllers, and also the Options button. The L1 and R1 buttons on the controllers have been labeled as “grip”. This grip button is to pick up items in-game.

For now, Sony has only talked about the controllers, and there is no information on the PS5 VR headset as yet. Though the testing of the next-generation is currently going on, there is no news of if Sony will launch the PS5 VR any time sooner or in 2021. Since the information on the VR controllers is already out, we can expect the company to reveal the information on the VR headset in the coming months.

Sony IMX661

Sony launches IMX661 127.68 Megapixel Image Sensor with Global Shutter Function

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This week Sony has broken big news for the launch of a large-format CMOS Image Sensor that will come with a global shutter function. Sony has revealed the specifications and features of the product and the name of this image sensor is IMX661. According to Sony, the newly released image sensor has the highest effective pixel count in the entire industry. It is one of its first kind and the product will be starting to ship from April of this year.

Sony IMX661 Image Sensor

Sony IMX661 has the highest effective pixel count of 127.68 megapixels and this sensor will provide nearly 10 times larger optical sizes than a typical 1.1-type image sensor (Gadgets 360). The new image sensor is developed based on Sony’s Pregius technology. Pregius is defined as Sony’s global shutter pixel technology which is further based on Sony’s low-noise CCD structure.

Sony IMX661
IMX661 CMOS Image Sensor
(left: color model, right: black and white model)
Image Source: sony.com

The company claims that one of the best features of IMX661 is that it can capture moving objects much more effectively without causing distortion. Sony image sensor is designed in such a way that it is capable of four times faster image readout speeds as compared to any other typical CMOS image sensor. So, let’s have a detailed look at all the specifications and features of the Sony IMX661 image.

Major Improvements

The advent of the digital era and especially the AI revolution has increased the demand for CMOS image sensors exponentially. Today, in various fields across any industry, image sensors are of much importance as a part of industrial equipment. Sony via its newly launched IMX661 aims to solve many complicated challenges across many industries where image sensors are of much importance.

The new image sensor is a combination of Sony’s Pregius technology along with a 3.6-type large optical size. These are the two main technologies when combined together will deliver a high pixel count and distortion-free images of moving objects. The image sensor also captures highly efficient images using a wide viewing angle along with no motion distortion in a single operation.

Sony IMX661 delivers a high level of performance in terms of image processing and this image sensor also has improved precision for recognition. So, in the fields of crime detection, Sony IMX661 will help hugely in facial recognition with a plus point of the distortion-free image. Not to mention that Sony IMX661 is a boon for all wildlife photographers out there for whom one of the most important things is capturing moving subjects sharply.

Specifications of Sony IMX661

Sony IMX661 will be available in two colors, namely, black and white. The unit cell size of the product is 3.45 X 3.45 micrometer. This large-format CMOS image sensor has a diagonal optical size of 56.73mm. Sony said the sensor is the best option for using in wide-area monitoring and aerial photography. This brings us to one of the most important features of this image sensor, i.e., high resolution with extreme precision images.

Sony IMX661 is also rolling out with improved image readout speed to offset the increased signal processing volume (Gadgets 360). The new sensor is capable of delivering a frame rate of 12.9 fps for 14 bit, 19.6 fps for 12 bit, and 21.8 fps for 10 bit. Sony IMX661 also has improved AD converter processing functionality without increasing the product size. This is mainly due to Sony’s original configuration of the chip-on-wafer process.

To make the output interface faster, Sony has also embedded Scalable Low Voltage Signaling with Embedded Clock which has comparatively high-speed interface standards. Some of the other included features in the Sony IMX661 that are especially helpful in industrial equipment include trigger synchronization, Region of Interest (RoI) gradation compression, multi-exposure, pixel binning readout, etc.

Availability of Sony IMX661

Though the company is launching the IMX661 image sensor for industrial equipment, Sony might embed the high pixel count feature in consumer products as well. The product will start shipping in April 2021. The basic colors of the model will be either black or white, specifications of other colors are not provided in detail yet.

Vaio

Vaio to Make a Come-back to the Indian Laptop Market by 15th January

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With the pandemic, we saw a rise in the prices of electric hardware, including computers and laptops. The demand for these devices was increased due to the new normal work from home culture. Now, as the demand has already risen, we see a few new entrants to the field of laptop manufacturing as well as old laptop manufacturing companies making a come-back too. Recently, the mobile and smartphone company Nokia launched its new series of laptops, and on the same rhythm, the famous laptop manufacturing company Vaio is also making a come-back to the Indian market.

The Vaio brand

Vaio Corporation is a Japanese laptop manufacturing company, where Vaio stands for Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer. It was originally the subsidiary of Sony, founded in 1996, but later, was acquired by Japan Industrial Partners (an investment firm based in Japan), in 2014.

Vaio
Image Source: zeebiz.com

The Vaio laptops were known for their spectacular designs and outstanding performance. In fact, Steve Jobs from Apple also had made an offer to Sony president, Kunitake Ando, to manufacture new MacOs based Vaio laptops. But the deal between the two wasn’t successful, and Sony came up with Vaio laptops having the Windows Operating System. The Vaio laptops have been popular in the high-end laptop category. Even, when Steve Jobs launched Apple’s first MacBook Air, he mentioned the Vaio laptop to compare the MacBook Air’s performance.

But the Vaio laptops began to lose their popularity when people started to realize that the Vaio laptops are too expensive for the specifications they were getting. In fact, they could get similar specifications in other brands’ laptops at cheaper prices. Not only the prices were too high, but the laptops were also underperforming. On the top, the laptops showed signs of overheating, causing burns to some of the users. The company had to spend $250 million to replace the Lithium-ion batteries of its around 10 million existing users in 2006.

As a result, after around a decade, Sony started seeing a downfall in sales. At that time, Sony was also focusing on its smartphone manufacturing, and rumors about Sony selling its laptop manufacturing unit started to speculate. Though the company did not confirm the news then, after a year of that, in 2014, it sold its laptop manufacturing unit to Japan Industrial Partners. The company admitted that it was facing a lot of loss in its laptop business.

Sony used to sell its products worldwide before the acquisition, but after that, the laptops were particularly available in Japan only. And, later, the company started to sell the laptops in America and Brazil, too. Despite the company is sold, Sony still has got a 5 percent stake in the company.

Coming Back to Asia

Now, the people who have always loved the Sony products, and the Vaio laptops, it is good news for them, as the Vaio laptops are coming back to Asia. The company has a new partner now, i.e., Nexstgo. The company has signed a licensing agreement with the Hong Kong-based company Nexstgo, so it will be the latter’s responsibility to manufacture, sell, and market the Vaio laptops in Asia.

Nexstgo has already started to market and sell the Vaio laptops in countries like Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Middle East countries. And now with the start of 2021, the company is all set to target the Indian market. Note that, Nexstgo is the same company that introduced the Avita laptops in India. In India, the company has partnered with Flipkart for marketing and selling the products. Flipkart has already started the marketing for the Vaio products on their specifically designed microsite for Vaio.

Announcing the relaunch of the Vaio laptops in India, the Regional Business Director of South Asia, Vaio, Seema Bhatnagar, stated in a press conference, “We are enthused to relaunch VAIO and associate with names that have made it big in the e-commerce industry. Introducing the finest-quality laptops in India, the brand focuses on reclaiming its space in the market while having an unrivaled demand by the customers. We are all set to present a futuristic laptop range to the country’s burgeoning tech-enthusiasts and young business professionals. We are looking forward to becoming the top choice for laptop buyers across the country.”

Though India is already aware of the quality and performance of the Vaio laptops, Nexstgo is looking for new methods to woo Indian customers. The company has said that the new Vaio laptops are “premium, intelligently-crafted” and are designed to deliver “exceptional” quality.

According to Vaio, the new laptops will be introduced in the Indian market by January 15th. Though there is a rise in the demand for laptops, it will be tough for new companies like Vaio and Nokia to make their place in the Indian market, when it is already dominated by the big players like HP, Dell, and Apple.