Sony‘s due to kick off its CES keynote in the next few minutes. Last year it stole the show with OLED TVs, new mobiles and a slew of fancy gadgets. This year’s looking no different with one of the biggest stands in the whole show, a touchscreen Walkman and Vaio netbook on the agenda.
Read on for second-by-second updates, and keep refreshing the page for all the latest at the top!
01:03: That’s it. Hope you’re as chuffed as we are with Sony’s line-up. We’ll have in depth reports with photos of everything in just a few minutes.
01:02: Oooh, no. Hold on, there’s one more thing. Sony’s going big on 3D. There’ll be lots of 3D tech on the Sony stand, we’re told. We’ll make sure we grab hands on reports of that when the booth opens tomorrow. And we’re not talking prototypes, Sony’s showing off consumer-ready products. Howard Stringer will also talk about 3D in his keynote tomorrow.
01:01: Stan’s drawing to a close. That was an astounding line-up, but no mention of the new Sony Reader. Good job it’s already leaked!
01:00: XBR9 Bravia HD TVs. Available in Spring with 240Hz motion and Bravia Internet Video. Internet widgets from Yahoo and others. Everyone’s doing this now, but Sony seems to have the most comprehensive options.
00:59: 40, 46 and 52 inch on sale in the US this summer. Three more for the rest of the world.
00:59: The cleverest feature is a new Presence Sensor which switches the screen off if no motion is detected in the room for a set period of time.
00:58: There’s a light sensor inside that dims backlights as the room gets darker. There’s also an Eco Switch, to set the TV to use 0 watts of power, but stay in standby. We reckon that’s called an “off switch” in Britain.
00:58: New green line of Bravia. Eco Bravia. Reduce power consumption by 40% compared to standard TVs. They exceed Energy Star 3.0 requirements and use Hot Cathode Flourescent Lamp (HCFL) backlighting, which are more efficient.
00:56: On to the obligatory eco section. Sony’s recycling more than ever, and will expand its green program.
00:55: There’ll be another OLED announcement during Howard Stringer’s keynote tomorrow, says Stan. We’ll be live blogging it, so make sure you check back for that. With any luck, it’ll be a larger OLED screen going on sale.
00:53: On to OLED. Stan’s recounting some of the praise Sony’s first OLED screen has received. This year Sony’s going to show more prototypes, including one with a 0.9mm thin display, one with an 11 inch display, a 27 inch and 21 inch version.
00:51: On to Blu-Ray. It’s a success, and that seems to be all Sony’s announcing. “Keep an eye on Blu-Ray in 2009. You’ll be impressed and perhaps surprised at the growth that’ll take place over the next year,” says Stan.
00:50: There’s a webcam too, and there’s a Xross Media Bar interface, just like the playstation, for quick access to movies, music and photos. It’ll be available for pre-order tomorrow and in stores by the end of the month.
00:57: Next up it’s the Vaio P. We already know the Vaio P specs. It’s the size of a business envelope. It fits in a jacket pocket. It looks absolutely astounding. There’s 3G inside, as well as N-standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There’s GPS inside too. Our jaws are on the floor. the design is stunning. It’s tiny, and we want one. Now.
00:46: Sony’s new Webbie HD camcorder. They’re preset with the right settings for YouTube and other video sites. There’s a 5x optical zoom, 2.5 inch screen. It goes on sale tonight for just $200, with a cheaper model following at $170. We guarantee these will become video bloggers’ new favourite camcorders.
00:45: New Handycam camcorders. The tech inside is astounding. Smile shutter and face detection, GPS too, so videos are geotagged. But that’s not the best bit…
00:43: There’ll be an announcement from Howard Stringer about Sony cameras tomorrow. Stan promises it’ll be the “future of imaging.”
00:43: New digital picture frames. Up to 2GB memory. HDMI connection to Bravia.
00:43: W508 walkman phone includes gesture control to navigate tracks. The C510 Cybershot phone has smile shutter, face detection. Stan says this is “Sony United” in action – that’s CEO Howard Stringer’s plan to get every Sony division working together.
00:40: The new X-Series Walkman is up on screen. Wi-Fi, touchscreen, OLED display. It’s all there.
00:39: Sony has split its products at CES into “in home” and “out of home”… Netbook and touchscreen Walkman, anyone?
00:37: Stan’s been “struggling to remain optimistic” during the economic prices. He doesn’t think there’ll be year on year growth in the CE industry, but Christmas was more successful than he’d hoped, and he’s cheered up a bit now.
00:37: Stan Glasgow, President and COO of Sony America is on stage. Here we go…
00:35: All the Sony bosses are here, from every division: Mobile, computing, consumer electronics… If they all have something to talk about, this is going to be one helluva show.
00:34: We’re off! We’ve just been shown a sneak preview of the next Bravia advert. It features the largest zoetrope in the world. Sony’s calling it the Braviadrome, and it looks awesome.
00:27: The hall’s packed. It’s standing room only. All the tech hacks are excited, and that takes a lot. It’s the end of the day, and after a couple of disappointing press conferences, this has a lot to live up to.
00:25: We’ve taken our seats. There’s pumping trance in our ears and beer by our side. This is going to be a great keynote.
