Sony takes the wraps off the Xperia Z smartphone, sexy NFC-enabled portable Bluetooth speakers, 55- and 65-inch 4K TVs, and a prototype 4K OLED TV (which unfortunately falls victim to a demo glitch).
Hirai kicked things off with a quick and colorful overview of Sony's past accomplishments -- which also served as a lead-in to the soon-to-be-announced new products. Here's the $25,000 84-inch XBR-84X900, the company's first 4K TV, which was released in November. As you'll see, it was about to be joined by two smaller siblings.
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Are you Xperianced?
During the intro, Hirai announced the new Xperia Z smartphone as well. And then...
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Molyneux takes over
...COO Phil Molyneux took the stage and went into the details. The flagship handset boasts a number of high-end features including quad-core processing, a massive 5-inch screen, and a 13-megapixel camera. You can check out CNET Reviews' Hands-On with the device here.
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Molyneux has a ball
Molyneux also showed off a range of NFC (near field communications)-equipped speakers (or in Sony parlance, "One-Touch" speakers). You touch your phone to the speakers, and they start playing whatever audio is playing on your phone. Here, he brandishes a small spherical speaker. "I carry my pink balls wherever I go in my bag," Molyneux joked. CNET's David Carnoy gives a run-down of the line of speakers here.
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Two new 4K TVs
Molyneux said Sony's $25,000, 84-inch XBR-84X9004K TV has been well received, but that it's not for everyone. (No kidding.) This spring we'll see 55- and 65-inch models, at what Sony says will be prices similar to those of today's normal high-end TVs. Check out CNET Reviews' take on those two sets here.
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Worth holding your breath for?
Molyneux shows off the new 55- and 65-inch 4K sets.
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The grass may indeed be greener
More 4K madness.
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The eyes have it
The 4K proof is in the pixels, says Sony.
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4K OLED meltdown
Kaz returned to the stage to tout a prototype 4K OLED set, but misfortune struck when it wound up displaying a BIOS screen. It was promptly whisked away as Kaz said "excellent" with heavy sarcasm. The TV then displayed some Windows UI gobbledygook before disappearing again. It was a major embarrassment -- a shame because the set had inspired gasps in the audience.
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A new slogan
"Be Moved," said Sony, but it's not clear just how moved the audience was by the company's somewhat truncated-seeming press conference.
CNET has a slew of coverage of Sony's new gadgets. Choose your poison:
