Sony Goes Nuts at IFA

At Berlin's consumer electronics show, Sony announces an onslaught of new products in attempts to reinvent itself.

This year's IFA in Berlin looks to be a whopper of a show, especially for Sony. Around since the 1920s, the show has never gotten so much attention but this time might just overshadow CES in Las Vegas and CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.

Sony seems to be getting the most attention, although everyone is pouring it on with new products. I'm unsure exactly why all this is happening at this show now, but the media seems to be covering it thoroughly.

Sony announced three new Android smartphones: the Xperia T, the Xperia V, and the Xperia J. These new phones are waterproof?it's about time!?and are targeting the best from Samsung and the upcoming iPhone 5. Apple could have done worse than rolling out the iPhone 5 at this show.

We also meet the Sony Xperia Tablet S. The "S" apparently stands for "surface," as in Microsoft Surface. This product is clearly built for the family room as a Web browser, a TV controller, and a media center for the home mini-theater. If you don't think this emulates the Surface enough, then look no further than the Sony Vaio 11 slider tablet, which the company says is the competitor to the Surface because it has a slide-out keyboard.

Next is a product so obvious that I'm stunned it took this long: the smallish Sony Action Cam. It takes on the industry standard GoPro as the camera you glue to the side of your car so you can get some B-roll for that movie you want to make. This gem is $199 with a 16MP sensor and can take 1080p as well as 720p at 120 fps. It has all sorts of features any videographer would desire.

But wait, there's more.

Sony also rolled out the latest personal 3D viewer. Dubbed the HMZ-t2, this pair of glasses has hi-res mini-displays that let you watch 3D movies all by yourself without bothering anyone. This sort of product has been around for years but, from what I can tell, nobody ever buys it.

If this wasn't enough, how about a giant 84-inch 4K flat panel LED TV? I don't know the price for this thing yet, but it is obviously built to compete with Sharp's unusually popular 80-inch HDTV, which seems to be used by many businesses as presentation devices instead of a projector.

At the show, Sony also showed an upgraded version of the well-liked Alpha NEX-5N digital camera. This one, the Alpha NEX-5R, is the 16MP mirrorless answer to all of the mirrorless SLR cameras out there. It sports great features including the large APS-C sensor and 1080p video at 60 fps, but it lacks built-in image stabilization.

Sony is trying to reinvent itself and regain its old magic. I've seen it make this sort of splash before but at the end of the day, it fumbles the ball on the one-yard line. Part of this stems from a peculiar arrogance the company developed in the 1980s when it didn't have the likes of Samsung to compete with on the global stage.

Let's see what happens to Sony this time around. So far, so good.

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You can Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter @therealdvorak.

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Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409079,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000750

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