Sony VAIO Pocket - Blends Top-End Audio Player with Digital Photo Album

New Vaio Pocket offers 20,000 songs, 20 hours non-stop operation, intelligent playlists & photos too

Brussels, 14 September 2004 – The new Sony VAIO Pocket player/viewer range is to be launched with 2 models – the 20Gb VGF-AP1 (VGFAP1) and the 40Gb VGF-APL (VGFAPL) - a new class of dual function media players aimed at the discerning, style-aware consumer, will hit the stores across a select number of European countries in October.

Not only does the launch introduce a completely novel combination of picture viewer and intelligent audio player, it marks a key point in the evolution of the VAIO concept.

The Sony VAIO Pocket is the first VAIO product to go beyond the conventional limits of the IT world in the sense that it is not a notebook, a PC or a handheld organiser. Future VAIO products will continue to reflect the broadening scope of the brand while remaining focused on its core value: developing the potential of digital audio-visual technology.

The Sony VAIO Pocket exemplifies the VAIO ideal perfectly. It offers users a personal library of thousands of pieces of their favourite music, but uniquely it also acts as a tiny digital photo album. With the Sony VAIO Pocket, users can store and view their photographs, creating a compendium of experiences and moods to be enjoyed and shared whenever and wherever they want.

The Sony VAIO Pocket is also perfectly suited to general use as an external, portable hard disk. With 20GB and 40GB versions available, users have the option of keeping significant amounts of data on the player as well as music and pictures.

The Sony VAIO Pocket uses miniature hard disk technology to give users immense personal storage capacity of up to 10,000 songs (with the 20GB VGF-AP1*) or up to 20,000 songs (with the 40 GB VGF-APL*). The Vaio Pocket can communicate with PCs and even link directly with digital cameras, making it easy to build up a huge collection of sounds and images that fits into the palm of the hand. Sophisticated system design ensures the necessary stamina, with up to 20 hours of non-stop playback from a single battery charge.

The Sony VAIO Pocket has a hybrid technology LCD screen designed to be viewed in daylight without difficulty, and delivers top quality, high colour reproduction of digital images. In general use the Vaio Pocket’s LCD screen displays the intuitive and powerful Grid Sense interface, which makes the VAIO Pocket so simple to operate.

Touching the bump-textured area beside the screen selects and activates on-screen buttons directly, and in a way which instantly feels natural. This fingertip control is augmented by intelligence within the Sony VAIO Pocket itself which monitors what users listen to, and when, then builds up playlists which can be revisited at any time. Without ever thinking about it, users link their own soundtracks to different moods and activities and the VAIO Pocket preserves them for future enjoyment.

A cradle charger provides all the necessary connections for collecting content from a camera or PC, and even an audio output for listening to music through conventional speakers. In addition a sophisticated remote control makes track selection simple thanks to a highly readable three-line backlit display ideal for browsing song titles. Powerful Sony software for managing music on the PC, via Sonic Stage v.2.1, and rapid-fire drag and drop file transfers to the VAIO Pocket comes as part of the package. In addition music downloads can be done easily via the Sony Connect Service that launched in June (in UK, France and Germany only), which has a pick of over 300,000 songs downloadable in ATRAC 3 format.
(* using ATRACPlus 64Kbps mode at 4 min per song).

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Sony VAIO Pocket concept

The Sony VAIO Pocket design grew out of the challenges that arose from the central concept: a tiny multi-purpose data store with huge internal capacity. The sheer amount of music the Sony VAIO Pocket can hold required an imaginative approach to prevent the user simply getting lost in the detail, so the idea of smart search evolved. With the player itself keeping track of listening patterns over time, and recording the user’s preferences, finding music and re-capturing moods expressed by particular selections of music becomes one of the player’s central and most intuitive features.

Any search, smart or otherwise, is no good unless the physical user interface is fast and straightforward, which led to the development of Grid Sense, with its instantly comprehensible visual-tactile feedback.

Finally, the need to create a truly multimedia device required a small colour display with exceptional qualities, specifically the ability to display photo-realistic colour depth, and to be readable outdoors. Now all the engineers and designers had to do was fuse all these elements into a tiny, elegant but robust whole, and the Sony VAIO Pocket would be a reality…

VAIO Pocket in close-up:

Inside

The Sony VAIO Pocket player/viewer weighs approximately 195g for the 20 GB version and 205g for the 40 GB version, and measures 63.3mm x 115.2mm and is between 20.7mm thick (for 40GB version) and 17.3mm thick (for 20GB version) . At the heart of the player is a tiny 1.8-inch hard disk offering high-speed storage and retrieval of 20GB or 40GB of music and pictures. A built-in Lithium-ion battery provides up to 20 hours non-stop play.

Screen

The Sony VAIO Pocket has a specially engineered screen capable of being used outdoors, unlike conventional LCDs. It has a 2.2-inch viewable diagonal and delivers 262,144 colours for lifelike photographic reproduction. Its native QVGA+ resolution means a crisp, finely grained image displayed on a 320 x 240 matrix.

Grid Sense

Next to the screen, the surface of the device is touch-sensitive. The user moves a fingertip around a grid of raised bumps and the motion is tracked by the highlight on the screen. The visual/tactile feedback from the bump grid gives the user a unique and intuitive feel for just how to move around the on-screen controls. Increased pressure on the grid triggers the selected control, rather like tapping on a notebook touch pad.

Formats

Users can transfer MP3 and Windows WMA formats onto their VAIO Pocket, which in the process get converted into ATRAC3plus. ATRAC3plus is a newer standard than ATRAC3. Originally it was developed in 1992 as a means of squeezing down Audio CD format music onto MiniDisc. It works by removing inaudible sound frequencies from the audio signal, reducing its size without any perceptible degradation of sound quality, as a result ATRAC3plus is a superior compression standard to MP3. The original system could squeeze down data to about 1/5 of its original size, but ATRAC3plus achieves a compression rate approximately 20 times higher than conventional Audio CD. Using ATRAC3plus, a 20GB capacity VAIO Pocket can hold a maximum of 10,000 tracks of 4 minutes in length, recorded at the highest quality 64kbps mode.

Cradle

The Sony VAIO Pocket is supplied with a cradle charger, which also has the necessary ports for communicating with other devices. There’s a standard USB 2.0 port for the PC link and a mini-USB 1.1 port for making a direct connection to a digital camera. It also features a line-level output for sending the audio signal to an external amplifier or speakers when users want to listen to music on a full-sized sound system rather than headphones.

Software

Sony’s SonicStage 2.1 software is provided to help users both download and manage music collections on their PC or notebook. Music files can be transferred to the player by simply dragging and dropping them onto the Easy Transfer application which accompanies SonicStage. This new version allows you to link and download immediately from Sony Connect music download service without using a web browser.

New Sony RDR-GX700 and RDR-GX300 DVD Recorders

Sony’s GX Series of DVD Recorders offer superb digital recording for every budget

Sony’s new GX Series in its IQ (“Intelligence and Quality ”) Recording range offer the consumer even more while maintaining the brand’s commitment to high picture quality and ease of use.

The Sony RDR-GX700 (RDRGX700) DVD recorder and Sony RDR-GX300 (RDRGX300) DVD recorder feature improved picture technologies and dual RW/R format compatibility (Recording and playback of both DVD+RW/-RW and DVD+R/-R), while the RDR-GX700 marries this with i.LINK DV editing technology.

“We’ve called our new line-up of DVD recorders, IQ Recording, because they bring intelligent controls and great picture quality to your living room,” stated John Anderson, Director, Sony Home Audio Video Europe. “We know that consumers want not only high quality recordings but also simple solutions that are easy to use. Sony delivers on both counts.”

Intelligent

The GX Series is designed to cut out complicated recording and programming – the sophisticated graphical user interface is easy to use and recording is simply a matter of pressing one button. Both the Sony RDR-GX700 and RDR-GX300 feature simultaneous record and playback as well as the chasing play feature, so you can watch your DVDs while recording and skip scenes to catch up with real time. Timer recording options and the ability to download titles from teletext onto titles lists that are comfortably displayed with thumbnail images make recording and accessing your content simple.

Sony RDR-GX700 DVD Recorder with i.LINK DV editing

While both Sony GX DVD recorders let you create high quality DVD recordings, the Sony RDR-GX700 allows you to easily create your own DVDs using your own camcorder footage. Sony’s i.LINK technology turns the dvd recorder into an editing machine when a compatible camcorder is plugged in. You can transfer all of your home video footage to DVD with one touch of a button.

If you want to create an edited DVD, all you need to do is to select scenes on your camcorder; Thanks to its “Program Edit” function the Sony RDR-GX700 will control the camcorder and automatically record the selected scenes– it couldn’t be easier. With “Advanced Program Editing” the new Sony RDR-GX700 dvd recorder remembers the previous Program Edit, and reproduces the same DVDs, as many times as you want.

High Quality Recordings.

When designing its new IQ Recording range of DVD recorders, Sony made sure that quality was built into each processing phase of creating a DVD. Time Base Correction, Pre Frame Noise Reduction and Pre Video Equaliser technologies are employed to reduce jitter and noise before the encoding process even begins. Then, the content is encoded using VBR MPEG encoding to maximise image clarity. During post-processing, Frame Noise Reduction, Block Noise Reduction, and Video Equaliser come together to create rich, balanced images and to minimise picture interference caused by background artefacts and distortion. Sony’s proprietary Precision Cinema Progressive technology, which incorporates Pixel-by-Pixel I/P Conversion and V-edge Compensation technologies to augment and balance video elements. In the final post-processing stage, Sony makes use of a 12bit/108MHz D/A Converter to further ensure exceptional picture quality.

Moreover, the Sony RDR-GX700 and RDR-GX300 DVD recorders are dual RW/R compatible, which lets you share DVDs with friends and family without the usual compatibility problems.

The Sony RDR-GX300 DVD recorder will be available in the UK and across Europe from September 2004.
The Sony RDR-GX700 DVD recorder will be available in the UK and across Europe from October 2004.

New Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 digital camera features “Clear Photo LCD” technology

The quality is plain to see in the hyper-compact Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 (DSCT3) digital camera, a worthy 5.1 effective Megapixel successor to the award winning Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1, updated with a 2.5-inch Clear Photo LCD, presented in an even slimmer brushed stainless steel body, with a high-powered Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar zoom lens.

Powerful pictures - Clarity is everything when it comes to photography and as the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 digital camera features Clear Photo LCD technology you can be sure of crystal-clear viewing and framing every time. The high quality 2.5-inch LCD panel covers two thirds of this super-compact camera’s back surface area and has a higher contrast, resolution and brightness, as well as an enlarged colour range for fine picture detail thanks to the latest Sony engineering.

What’s more the Sony DSC-T3 also features a 5.1 effective Megapixel Super HAD CCD. Quality pictures need quality lenses too and picture excellence is assured with the DSC-T3’s Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 3x optical zoom. All this is housed in the most slender of stainless steel bodies and is powered by the unique Sony Real Imaging Processor. With these features it’s very obvious that the Sony DSC-T3 digital camera is a worthy successor to the EISA & TIPA award winning Cyber-shot DSC-T1.

Instant action

Sony’s Real Imaging Processor ensures that the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 is highly compact and can produce a very high standard of picture quality, with improved colour reproduction and less noise. Battery performance has been boosted and power consumption reduced, with up to 180 shots* on one charge. The Real Imaging Processor provides a very quick shooting response time - in fact just slide the lens cover down and the camera is ready to take photos in just 1.3 seconds.

The Sony DSC-T3 digital camera has very little ‘shutter-lag’ between shots and the auto REC review can be cancelled during operation so that no picture opportunity is missed. In addition high-resolution video can be shot on the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 and played back full-screen on TV- all courtesy of the Sony Real Imaging Processor.

Compact Design

Able to be carried in your pocket, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 digital camera offers an innovative solution to bulky lenses. Precision engineering and a highly compact optical path are complemented by the ability of the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar zoom lens to operate within the camera body rather than extending out. Memory Stick Duo ™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo ™ provide ultra compact storage while the slim rechargeable InfoLITHIUM battery also keeps the size of the camera body to a minimum.

Stress-free operation

One of nine automatic Scene Selection modes will help you to produce a perfect picture in almost any setting- these include Twilight Portrait, Candle and High Speed Shutter, while a magnifying glass mode allows you to take a picture as close as 1cm from an object and display it on the LCD screen at 2.1 times magnification. Then when you've taken your digital photos simply output them with the aid of the enhanced PictBridge** facility which means you can select the print size on the LCD and print out your pictures on a compatible printer, without the need for a PC. Or slot the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 into its convenient Cyber-shot station, which offers connectivity to a PC or AV device and a way to easily view your images, all the while recharging the battery at the same time.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

lease find below further details about products and services highlighted in the Press Release:

About the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 digital camera

The Cyber-shot DSC-T3 is the first Sony compact camera to feature Clear Photo LCD technology for higher contrast, resolution and brightness, as well as an enlarged colour range. The 2.5-inch Hybrid LCD is the perfect size for viewing and framing shots; able to let you see your subject as clearly in bright, outdoor conditions, such as at the beach or ski resort, as in indoor or lower light environments.

For added ease of use, a new animated and enlarged icon feature is activated whenever the user changes the Macro, Flash or Self-Timer setting.

Stunning digital photos are possible with the 5.1 effective Megapixels resolution, courtesy of an enhanced Super HAD CCD, as well as the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 3x optical zoom. This unique zoom, specially equipped with a folded path optical lens system to keep the camera compact, is guaranteed to provide stunning pictures thanks to the incredible lens quality (elements in 8 groups, 3 aspheric elements, 1 prism) and the more than 100-years heritage that Carl Zeiss possesses in optical design.

To aid ease of use and automatic operation in a wide variety of conditions, the nine Scene Selection modes offered by the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 can handle such environments as candle light, snow scenes, fireworks and beach, or can be used for occasions demanding a high speed shutter or a ‘soft snap’ effect. The camera also features a Magnifying Glass mode where you can take a macro picture with a distance of 1cm and view the subject that appears on the LCD screen magnified up to 3.3 times.

More advanced image control features include Continuous Auto Focus and the ability to cancel the auto REC review feature during operation so that picture opportunities are not missed. There is also noise reduction such as Clear Colour NR and Clear Luminance NR to create clearer images with finer detail and three special menu options for greater control over the saturation, contrast and sharpness of the picture.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 includes support for compact storage in the form of Memory Stick Duo ™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo ™, as well as connectivity delivered by Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and an enhanced version of the PictBridge** interface. This provides a way for the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 to connect directly to a compatible printer without the need for a PC.

One such printer is the newly announced compact Sony DPP-FP30, which provides stunning colour photos thanks to its advanced dye-sublimation printing process. Simply connect the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 to this stylish printer and you can have ‘photo-lab quality’ prints in minutes. It also allows the user to select the print size from the camera’s LCD display.

The Cyber-shot DSC-T3 will be available in the UK & throughout Europe in October 2004.

About the Real Imaging Processor and STAMINA

The Real Imaging Processor brings many benefits to the compact Sony DSC-T3 and delivers many enhancements including better colour reproduction and an improved signal to noise ratio, resulting in dramatically improved picture quality.

Providing a faster start-up time as well as a quicker shutter operation (due to reduced shutter lag and shutter interval) the Sony chip also makes it possible to capture a burst of four high quality shots at high speed and nine at normal speed. Additionally a burst of 100 shots is available when shooting in VGA mode.

For shooting short video clips, the processor in the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3 offers high-resolution video using MPEG Movie VX Fine (480 x 460, 30 frames per second), with recording time only limited by the capacity of your Memory Stick PRO Duo ™ media (optional).

In conjunction with the energy efficient Real Imaging Processor, the supplied NP-FT1 InfoLITHIUM battery can supply up to 180* shots under normal shooting conditions.

About the Cyber-shot Station and Accessories

This highly compact camera also benefits from compatibility with the Cyber-shot station. Supplied with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T3, this docking cradle provides USB, printer and AV connectivity, as well as battery charging facilities. The user thus has the ability to shoot pictures and then attach the camera to the cradle for viewing on a TV while charging or manipulating on a PC.

To get more out of the Cyber-shot range, Sony also offers a variety of optional accessories. For the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 these include a specially designed marine housing MPK-THB that allows diving down to 40 meters. In addition leather cases, the LCS-THC and the stylish LCS-THD, will keep the Cyber-shot DSC-T3 safe for longer.

Cyber-shot DSC-T3 Key specifications:

• Clear Photo LCD (2.5" Hybrid)
• 5.1 effective Megapixel
• Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® Lens
• 3x Optical Zoom, up to 12x Smart Zoom, 6x Precision Digital Zoom
• Macro 1cm in Magnifying Glass mode
• Quick Operation (Start-up 1.3 sec, Shutter Time Lag 0.23 sec, Shutter Release Lag 0.009 sec)
• Slim and Compact High Quality Stainless Body
• Real Imaging Processor
• MPEG VX Fine with Audio
• AF Illuminator
• Histogram Indication
• USB 2.0 High Speed Transfer
• 9 Scene Selection Modes
• PictBridge** Compatible
• Long Battery Life (approx 180* shots)
• Cyber-shot Station Supplied

Sony N Series Laptops

SONY has once again unveiled its series of laptop for its high-defined users who looks for more features and technology as they are on the move to stay connected with the people and business customers anywhere anytime in the world. It has many features in it, which I am sure that it is going to make a heads turn and reach out for the incredible series unveiled by Sony.

The SONY N SERIES bounds with performance, portability and value to the user, which makes it more reliable and sought after. It has many features like the ever reliable and latest processor from the Intel, which lets you do the work at greater speed and executes the codes and instruction much faster.

The duo processor consists of two encodes in to one layer of the CPU which gives you the much more needed efficiency for it.

It gives you an impressive PC performance that you look for it. You can surf, access the digital photos as well as enjoy the video as well with its processor bundled with many features in it. It also has a DVD burner and a hard drive with a revolution speed of 4300 rates per second, which helps to carry out the task much easier and faster.

It also has an excellent wide screen display, which helps us with the latest X-technology, which clearly distinguishes between the true black color as well as the vibrant color. It is also best suited for multiple spread sheet documents and also to analyze large amount of data and it has also got a unique feature where it contains an anti-reflection coating which gives you a clear view and good to see from any angle.

It has got a built in wireless LAN which helps you to stay connected any where and it also supports the wireless fidelity which gives you greater access and wide coverage of network to do a lots of work anywhere.

These notebooks are pre installed with new Microsoft windows vista business features, which lets you to share the file you use and many more and it also has a security features which protects your critical data and also while you browse through the net. These notebooks have an inbuilt Bluetooth facility, which helps the user to connect to the different laptops, mobile devices, and video game consoles, which lets you to access with in the specified range limit. It also allows us to share many data within the specified range without the need of cable wire.

These many feature are sure to help the high tech users to awe about this marvel, which is released by SONY, and also to have an easier way to do the work with the latest technology under it.

Sony launches Blu-ray laptop in RP

Sony is finally carrying its Vaio laptops in the Philippines, launching new models including one that plays Blu-ray DVD.

Toshiya Kasita, managing director for Sony Philippines, is convinced that the market for PCs in the Philippines is growing.

"The PC has expanded its user base from professionals to family use," Kasita said in an interview during the Vaio launch.

But more important, he said launching the Vaio fits into Sony's consumer market strategy.

Like Apple, Sony is treating the PC as the central component that links together consumer devices like digital cameras, mp3 players and even connects to its high-definition TV sets.

"The Vaio is important to our Sony Solutions strategy," said Kasita. "Also, we have more than 20 Sony Square stores dedicated to it so it's time we add the Vaio."

Previously, Vaio laptops were sold as parallel imports or in the gray market, which means the local Sony office will now officially support product warranty.

The Vaio TZ Series and SZ Series notebooks are priced from P100, 000 to P150, 000.

The Vaio FZ, which supports full 1080 high-definition TV and can do Blu-ray recording and playback, is priced at almost P200,000. A single-layer Blu-ray disc can store as much as 25 gigabytes of data, more than five times the capacity of regular single-layer DVDs.

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