Sony officials Gandhi, Shaikh and Siliwal are joined by Darwish Technology division manager Sameer Kazi during the launch of the latest Sony products yesterday.
By Bonnie James/Deputy News Editor
The leading consumer electronics brand Sony and premium luxury retail chain Fifty One East have launched in Qatar ‘the world’s slimmest 10 inch tablet, lightest Ultrabook and a slider hybrid Ultrabook with the longest battery life of 15 hours.’
The Xperia Tablet Z, the ‘most premium, high performance 10.1” LTE (long-term evolution) Android tablet,’ is slim and lightweight at 6.9mm and 495g.
Featuring the same ‘OmniBalance’ design as its award-winning smartphone sibling and available in black or white and in LTE and WiFi versions, it is the first tablet to run on Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro asynchronous quad core processor.
“The Xperia Tablet Z has the highest levels of water resistance ever delivered in a tablet,” Samir Gandhi, product manager, Sony Middle East and Africa, told a workshop yesterday.
With all ports sealed, it can be used underwater, up to a depth of one metre for up to 30 minutes, he explained while completely immersing the product in a transparent tank. It is also dust resistant.
The display offers 1920 x 1200, ‘over full HD’ resolution. The Mobile Bravia Engine 2 delivers enhanced colour reproduction. There is an 8MP rear camera with ‘Exmor R for Mobile’ sensor and a 2MP HD front-facing camera, both offering good low-light performance.
Sony’s S-Force Front Surround 3D audio, Clear Audio+ mode, two built-in speakers, battery stamina mode, One-Touch functions that allows content transfer to any Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled TV, speaker or phone, Universal IR Remote, and Walkman media application are among the features.
The Xperia Tablet Z, available in 16GB and 32GB versions, is priced between QR1,999 and QR2,499.
The new additions to the summer 2013 Vaio line-up are Vaio Duo 13 and Vaio Pro 13/11, among which Vaio Pro 13, weighing about 1.060kg, is described as the world’s lightest touch capable Ultrabook in its class.
“Unidirectional carbon fibre, which is 50% lighter and 25% stronger than aluminium, has been used throughout the case for both Vaio Pro13 and 11,” said Aadil Shaikh, manager, Vaio Marketing Department, Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
A wide key pitch and stroke and a unique palm rest that gradually merges into the desk facilitates comfortable typing.
Triluminos Display for mobile, combined with a full HD display and Sony’s super resolution technology, X-Reality for mobile, imparts optimum picture quality while ClearAudio+ mode, enhances the audio performance.
“The Vaio Duo 13 slider hybrid Ultrabook, which provides a unique form as well as accurate and nifty pen solutions, has the longest battery life of 15 hours, compared to any Ultrabook,” stated Kapil Siliwal, manager, Vaio Marketing Department, Sony Gulf FZE.
The Surf Slider design allows for a smooth transition between slate and keyboard modes. The constant connection to the Internet, even in sleep mode, gives it the ability to continue updating applications and receiving e-mails. Vaio Duo 13 can also wake from sleep mode in less than one second.
The 8MP built-in rear camera featuring the “Exmor RS for PC” image sensor has made it possible, for the first time, to take images of documents clear enough for the computer to recognise and tag text.
This ability, combined with the ‘CamScanner’ application, allows the Vaio Duo 13 to be used as a scanner for snapping, tagging and saving pictures of documents. It can also straighten images of documents and photos taken at odd angles.
Vaio Duo 13’s OptiContrast panel allows for a more accurate and natural writing experience when using the digitiser stylus.
With One-touch listening, included in all of the summer 2013 Vaio models, users can seamlessly transfer music playing on their Vaio to a wide variety of NFC compatible devices.
The Vaio Pro 11 is priced at QR4,095, the Pro 13 models at QR4,395, QR4,795 and QR6,595 and the Duo 13 models at QR5,795 and QR8,795.
The new products will be available at Fifty One East outlets in Al Maha centre, City Center Doha and Lagoona Mall in addition to Virgin Megastores at Villaggio and Landmark malls.