Sony’s upcoming phone, the Xperia Sola with its floating touch technology is showing that companies can still innovate in the smartphone market, and it’s not all just a race of who has better/bigger specs. this “floating touch” technology allows the users to highlight the objects inside the phone without even touching the screen.
But while this technology may sound nifty when you hear about it, it remains to be seen if it will actually prove useful and a step-up from the normal touch technology in the real world. New technologies usually get adopted only when they prove useful to people in real world scenarios. Plus, if they intend to replace another technology, they need to be significantly better to get people to switch and actually want that new technology instead of just “settling” with the old one. If Sony can’t convince people of that, or if the technology is actually worse than regular touch, then the technology will be a dead-end for Sony’s smartphones.
But for now, the Xperia Sola is worth a look also because of its other specs, for a presumably mid-range smartphone:
- 3.7-inch “Reality Display” with mobile BRAVIA engine and scratch resistant glass
- 1GHz dual-core processor
- 512MB RAM
- 8GB internal storage, microSD card slot
- 5MP rear shooter
- Android 2.3 (Android 4.0 upgrade coming in “Summer 2012”)
The obvious disappointment comes from the fact that it doesn’t come out straight with Android 4.0, considering that it’s a phone that is going out on the market roughly half a year after Android 4.0 was released into the open. I understand that Android 4.0 was a pretty brand new version of Android and it takes time for manufacturers to adapt, but they still need to hurry up because people are losing their patience, and this better be the last time it takes this long, at least for the next couple of years. It would really improve their image if manufacturers will bring Android 5.0 and 6.0 as soon as 4-6 weeks to their phones after Google releases them into the wild.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vESGv2O5mhQ