By 
Sony has been a part of the Android scene about as long as any manufacturer, but despite a handful of aesthetically pleasing phones, they haven’t done much to establish themselves as a top smartphone option. That honor has gone to the likes of Samsung and HTC (as well as the iPhone), something that sales chief Dennis van Schie admits the company needs to address.
“We will create in the near future a flagship model that can compete with Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S III,” Schie said in a recent interview the Financial Times Deutschland. All signs point to the debut of such a phone at Mobile World Congress 2012.
But we’ve heard this story before. Sony teases their next big and debuts it on the world stage, but for a multitude of reasons the company has failed to capture a real audience. It’s not for a lack of trying. Their smartphones are built with the same quality and design-oriented appeal that you would expect from a Sony product, and the internal specs of their latest models are good enough to compete with the best on the market (HD displays, multi-core processing, 13MP cameras). It’s just something about the way Sony has handled their Android business that has turned away consumers.
In the US, Sony’s Xperia phones have remained virtually exclusive to AT&T, and while the company has done a better job recently of handling Android updates, their track record up until recently has not been the best.
It’s good that Sony recognizes that they still have room to improve, but it’s going to take more than simply strapping together the best possible compliment of hardware and putting it in a svelte-looking package. Sony will need to change their overall approach and learn how to better position their Android devices in an increasingly crowded market.
[via TechCrunch]
Too late competing but chasing other brands.
Even without Ericsson, Sony still can’t launch a phone in adequate time. It’s sad to see cause I really like their phone designs and they’re not that bad on updates.
Bout time they realize it. Hopefully the rumored 5″ phone will have QUAD CORE. think ill pass the BOND PHONE for now it have a weak battery life
I don’t know about the TL, but the TX has good battery life. I think there was a problem with the initial software, but it has been updated.
It would be interesting if they can work in using the Cell processor into their Android phones. :D We all know it already can run Linux. Or even better, a PS3 IN YOUR HAND.
Sony have taken too long to bring mobile devices to market and then they have old specs competing against newer specs, which does not make a winner . The Xperia T and new Sony tablet are good examples. They really do need bigger batteries too.
C’mon Sony step it up! A 7″ tablet would be nice too, not enough of them that are top spec without compromises like the Nexus 7.
Exactly. They shouldn’t be trying to compete with the S3, by the time they release something it will have the S4 as competition!
They’ve had a history of skimping on RAM making it as tight as possible for the current version of android. Sony couldn’t update lots of its recent phones to ICS because they only have 512MB of RAM.
I think any high-end phone or tablet from now forward needs to have 2GB of RAM.
Why stop there.. Prepare for the next few years by bumping it to 4GB RAM and 128GB Flash storage with support for SDXC cards.
Always 6 months or more behind the competition.
Why release a phone now that may be as good as the sgs3, release something note that is going to be competitive with the sgs4 or the htc dna.
Make sure you don’t shy away from an sd card slot.
And for crying out loud, fire the people that are responsible for the placement of the volume, and power buttons on the experia t and tx.
Just got my TX off ebay. It’s really nice, too bad T-mobile won’t carry any Sony phones.
But that rumored 5″ 1080P Xperia Yuga is butt ugly tho xD
Wish they would make a nexus, or stop the carrier exclusive nonsense. Sony’s phones look nice but I’m not going to a carrier that’s going to lock me down or gouge me to death just to own one.
Looked at the ‘T’ a few weeks back as an alternative to the S3 a mate ended up getting (Note 2 and One X were also contenders).
The display model we looked at tho had a hideous feeling back cover (like you’d find on the dash of a stereotypical American car), which completely ruled it out.
It was only when I had a look in the Tmo store while mate was signing his life away that I realised the previous display model was a dodgy one and it felt fine (confirmed in a couple of other stores), but by then it was too late.
They do look nice and with their recent pushfor updates they are now a contender, but I think for the majority they need to prove their updates will be timely before they’ll reach a short-list.
Back in the ‘feature’ phone days I had coupel of Sony Ericsson phones which I really liked (T68i and Z610).
Hope sony is reading these comments. Please bring your phones to verizon. need to get my Bond on.
just look at samsungs strategy copy & execute accordingly
“In the US, Sony’s Xperia phones have remained virtually exclusive to AT&T”
And bingo! Sony needs to get on other carriers to start seeing the success of the other big Android players. I’ve checked out Sony phones every now and then, but when I see the AT&T tag I stop and realize, “oh guess I can’t even consider it, moving on…”. Well I’m on Verizon currently and while I’m seriously contemplating leaving when my contract is up I won’t likely be going to AT&T when I tire of Verizon’s crap. Why? Because AT&T pretty much has the same deal as Verizon but with poorer customer service on most consumer reports each year. So Sprint is the more likely target for me. But Sony has no presence there either so it’ll end up being Samsung, HTC, or Motorola when I do move.