Sony Plans To Keep Making Smartphones For at Least a Few More Years (engadget.com) 20
Sony is still beavering away on its own phones and it plans to keep doing so for the foreseeable future. From a report: Sony has struck a multi-year deal with Qualcomm to use Snapdragon platforms to power its handsets. This is an extension of an existing agreement between the two sides. Qualcomm chipsets will be used in Sony's upcoming premium devices, along with high- and mid-tier smartphones. Sony revealed the awkwardly named Xperia 1 V just last month.
Wat? (Score:4, Funny)
Beavering? Beavering?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Beavering away [oxfordlear...naries.com]
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Well that was certainly NOT what I wanted to hear.
Sony Could Piss Everyone Off (Score:2)
Doubtless the regulatory regime would make the business model hard due to the cartel-like behavior of The Big Two, but one can dream.
Re:Sony Could Piss Everyone Off (Score:5, Interesting)
Do an Open Source, but well-engineered system that targets low-cost users, but respects them and offers broad extensibility.
Sony is very unique in that The Xperia range has always been open. See for example their announcement here for their latest Xperia 1 IV https://developer.sony.com/pos... [sony.com] and here https://developer.sony.com/fil... [sony.com] to download the open source firmware. This is why Jolla uses Xperia for SailfishOS (sucessor of Nokia's Maemo linux-based OS). You can flash them and resell, and Sony is happy with that and provides the documentation.
They are relatively low cost and indeed well engineered. I mean Sony engineering is always great, also don't forget Sony is the one manufacturing nearly the entire world's camera sensors. They know their job.
Performance (Score:3)
Specifically regarding performance:
that's where specialized GNU/Linux smartphone distros tend to shine.
e.g.: QtQuick/QML based stuff such as the mentionned SailfishOS is much more light weight than Google's monstrosity.
SailfishOS: also the container running AOSP for app compatibility isn't constantly running by default, no Google play service are pre-installed, and using microG as the alternative is very popukal:
=> so even if you install an Android app, you won't be losing performance due to constant pho
Hardware acceleration (Score:2)
So the way Jolla's Sailfish (who came up with the solution) and the UBTouch people solve this problem is by getting the blob drivers that the manufacturer ships normally for Android to run under GNU/Linux instead, by adapting a few things (different C libraries, different API exposed to userland) with a compatibility layer (libhybris).
So you get your usual hardware acceleration (openGL ES, video codec, etc.) but within GNU/Linux, and the distro dev don't need to rely on reverse engineered drivers.
The drawba
Re: (Score:3)
Sony made the only decent-sized, non-phablet phone (Score:4)
finally some news here on slashdot (Score:2)
That's some news for me here on slashdot. Didn't know Sony makes smartphones too. I would definitely recommend them to continue making those smartphones I didn't know existed for a few more decades.
Is Japans Aging population to blame? (Score:4, Insightful)
30/40 years ago Japan and Japanese companies were hot. Now they are slowly becoming more bland and out of date compared to what the rest of the wold is bringing to the table. With perhaps the exception of the Playstation the Sony electronics brand is kinda humdrum. Toyota just lost its spot on best selling car to Tesla Model Y.
I am not saying Japan is doomed to failure, because Mitsubishi is leading in Residential Heat Pumps, as well in many other industries. But for the hot interesting new stuff, Japanese brands are no longer hitting a radar of interests, compared to say Korean Companies Like Samsung,LG,Kia, Hundia or Chinese Companies.
For the most part I get a vibe of Old People in the room dismissing the younger generation idea, as just stupid fads and double down on what use to work. Which is probably the safest route, but will not get yourself ahead.
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But for the hot interesting new stuff, Japanese brands are no longer hitting a radar of interests,
Japanese companies still produce amazingly reliable electronics. There's no better than Panasonic for plenty of semi-pro markets; FujiFilm and Sony produce some of the best cameras (the Fujifilm GFX100 is just the best picture camera out there 10k can buy). You say Mitsubish is lead in heat pumps; at my European place I see a lot of Daikin (also Japanese); but Mitsubishi is world class in submarines and nuclear power plants. Japan still produces best electronic instruments (Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Korg). Ref
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Toyota's supply chain issues are not an indication of obsolescence. Showrooms in major population centers are nearly empty due to lack of inventory, not due to lack of demand. Try buying a Prius or Rav 4 Prime without a $5,000 mark up.
Integration with other Sony products (Score:2)
A unique selling point would be if Sony managed to integrate its phones with its other products. Like if the sold an adapter so that you could clip your phone on your Playstation controller and stream games from your Playstation on the go, then cast it on a Sony TV when you arrive at a friends house. Sony has a foothold in many tech and entertainment segments, yet for some reason doesn't do any integration between them.
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It has always been kind of frustrating that Sony hasn't leveraged its positions in all of the segments it exists in. Gaming, movies, music, display tech, mobile. These things could all be part of a really compelling ecosystem. Things are better now than they have been in the past when the different segments of Sony appeared to be downright hostile toward one another, but they're still not where they should be. Not by a long shot.
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And at least with the TV and Phone, they're both running Android so it's not like it would be a huge lift to do so...
Lossless bluetooth (Score:2)
If Sony can marry lossless Snapdragon Sound into their phones and WH-MX headphones, I'm all in.
The garbage sound quality delivered by standard SBC, and even higher bitrates like Aptx-HD and LDAC, borders on criminal.