Tag: Sony

Today over at Amazon, the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is down to $359, the lowest price the 4.6″ phone has seen and some $240 off its launch price of $599.  The XZ1 Compact was released last year by Sony and is a solid option for those who are looking for an Android Oreo powered device that has a small form factor.

To this point, the lowest price had been $399 which was back in March.  At $399, it is a great value for what you are getting in a phone.  At another $40 off, it is something to seriously consider.

Just a few days after announcing that the Sony Xperia Home launcher is going into maintenance mode, the company has now posted in their Google+ Beta Community site that there is a new Xperia Home launcher in the works.

The news came from Sony’s Erika Prymus who is a member of the launcher’s development team.  In a comment replying to the original post announcing the discontinuation, Erika points out that a new launcher is in the works and that is why the old version has been discontinued.

Sony Comment on Xperia Launcher

So the question becomes, why discontinue in the first place?

After making their debut earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, the redesigned Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact are now available to order from Sony’s Amazon storefront.  The 5.7″ XZ2 is priced starting at $736 for the Ash Pink color while the XZ2 Compact is priced at $649 for any color variant of the 5″ phone.

For those that don’t remember, the Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 compact are virtually identical from an internals perspective.  They are powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC, have 4GB of RAM and have 64GB of storage built-in.  That storage can be expanded up to 400GB thanks to the MicroSD card slot.  Both have a 19MP f/2.0 rear camera that can shoot an incredible 960 fps slow motion video, and a 5MP f/2.2 selfie camera on the front.

Today’s Deal is on one of my personal favorite phones from the past few years, the Sony Xperia X Compact.  Right now you can pick up this 4.6″ phone for just $289, by far the lowest price ever for this 2016 phone.  Why would you want to pick up a phone from 2016?  Well, in this case, Sony has already updated the X Compact to Android Oreo which makes it a compelling phone, especially at this price point.

I reviewed the Xperia X Compact in November of 2016 for those that want to read my comments about the phone.  It’s compact size is great but the overall performance and camera quality is excellent.

Today’s Deal is on the Sony Xperia XA2.  The XA2 is one of the newest phones in Sony’s lineup, having just been announced in January at CES.  Right now at Amazon, you can pick up the 5.2″ mid-range phone for $319 in black.  That’s a savings of $31 off the regular price.  The special pricing is only one the black model.

The Xperia XA2 is powered by the Snapdragon 630 SoC, has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded thanks to the MicroSD card slot built into it.  It renders a FHD 1920 x 1080 on the 5.2″ IPS LCD display. The XA2 has a 3300mAh battery and runs Android Oreo out-of-the-box.

Earlier this week at Mobile World Congress, we got our first glimpse at the completely redesigned Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact.  Generally speaking, the reception for both phones has been great with Sony finally ditching their massive bezel design.  A key question remained however:  How much will they cost?

Thanks to Sony Mobile’s German site, we now have an idea.  The Xperia XZ2 will be €799 which roughly breaks down to $977 US.  The European price is a full €100 more than last year’s Xperia XZ1.