Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest consumer electronics show that is focussed on Mobile communications. Every year the world’s top mobile manufacturers (apart from Apple) descend on the Fira Da Barcelona to show off their plans for the forthcoming year.
This year's Mobile World Congress is an incredibly important trade show for Sony as it gives them an opportunity to rebrand, regroup and show its shareholders that the buyout of Ericsson was the right move.
At this year's mobile world congress Sony has unveiled a new family of phones: Xperia. They've seemingly finally realised that they will be more successful if they refocus their mobile division. To this end they are releasing just three three phones: one high-end phone, a mid-ranged phone and one for the lower end of the market.
Besides the launch of three new handsets, Sony also announced the completion of its takeover of Sony Ericsson. Sony's next CEO, Kazuo Hirai, showed up at the event and talked about the company's plan to leverage its current gaming and entertainment assets for its mobile phones.
He said that they would "spare no effort to ensure its (Sony Mobile) success".
All three handsets are on show at MWC and should be available within the next 2 months. The first thing you'll notice is that Sony has completely ditched the Ericsson brand.
Their top-end handset is the Xperia S. The most important spec for the S is the 4.3-inch screen with a 1280×720 resolution, 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of ram and is a Playstation certified.
It comes in two flavours the 16GB or 3Gb, with the option to upgrade the memory with a microSD card. It comes with an impressive 12-megapixel camera capable of 1080p HD video recording. It's joined by a 1.3mp camera on the front for video calling.
Unfortunately it’s not all good news, the Xperia S comes with the rather old-hat Android 2.3, instead of the must sought after Ice Cream Sandwich - however Sony has promised an update but it won't be arriving until the latter half of 2012.
While it's up for pre-order there's still no indication of when exactly the device will be available but should touch down at some point in Q1 and could well go on sale next month.
The colourful U is obviously the budget phone of the bunch and is smaller than its new mid-range and high-end cousins. The U features a 3.5-inch FWGA display with 854×480 pixels, a 1Ghz dual-core processor and a 5 megapixel camera.
It’s a similar story to the S with regards to the OS, so it will be coming with Android 2.3, but it will be updated to Ice Cream in the latter half of 2012. The Xperia U comes with the same 1Ghz dual-core processor that will be used the mid-range P - with performance on par with last year's nippy Xperia Arc.
The Xperia U comes with a mid-range 5-megapixel camera, unique fast capture, HD recording and Sony technology to capture 2D and 3D panoramic images. Sony have also included new sound technology xLoud and 3D surround technology meaning mp3 playback should be excellent.
The handset will be available in a choice of white or black, with pink and yellow exchangeable caps for the base of the smartphone are included in the box.
The final phone on show at Mobile World Congress from Sony is the Xperia P, it's a mid-range smartphone that sits perfectly between the cheap and cheerful 3.5-inch U and the top-end high-spec 4.3-inch S.
While the Xperia U comes with comes with a 3.5-inch display and the S comes with a 4.3-inch screen. It only seems fitting that the P takes the middle-ground with a 4-inch display incorporating Sony's new WhiteMagic display technology.
Sony reckons that the new screen tech will deliver the brightest display they've ever made and will be very good in sunny conditions. It does this is by adding an extra sub-pixel which is the secret to its sucees and presumably the name.
The display itself offers a resolution of 960×540 pixels. Underneath the Xperia P is a 1Ghz dual-core processor, the same chip found in the U.
Sony haven't said how much RAM is on offer. But in terms of onboard memory you'll have 16GB built in. The Sony Xperia P weighs 120g and measures 10.5mm thick.
It features an 8-megapixel autofocus camera, based on the Exmor R sensor, supported by an LED flash. It will offer you 3D panoramic snaps and 1080p video capture. The battery looks a little small, however, with 1305mAh listed. The new handset will launch on Android 2.3, with an upgrade to Android 4.0 promised for Q2 2012.