Jkk spotted that the Sony VAIO P11 that was just announced yesterday has already been ripped apart by a Japanese site called PlusD (page in Japanese).

Additionally, Joanna Stern has already dropped a full Sony VAIO P11 review over at Engadget. Enagdget also tells us that the VAIO P11 will start at $799 here in the US. While you should head over to the Engadget review to get the full details (and watch the nice video overview of the device), Joanna sums up the review by saying:

Can you get an $800 laptop with five times the performance of the P Series, or a $399 netbook with better ergonomics and endurance? Of course, but the VAIO P is — and will probably always be, unless it drops severely in price — a niche device meant for those that have the cash to burn on an overpriced, albeit striking little laptop. But regardless of it not being a gadget for the masses, we’d still like to see it gain a touchscreen and more than four hours of battery life. Ultimately we feel the same way we did when we concluded the first VAIO P review: “There’s some cool stuff happening here. $800 worth of cool things? That’s your call.”

I have to say that I’m rather disappointed with Sony and their release of the VAIO P11. They seem to have only added a few novel features to the VAIO P more thoughts on this later.

I believe I missed this from my earlier news. The P11S1E is a version of the Sony Vaio P11 that will be available in Europe. Well, at least UK and DE for sure. I have a press release here.

• Colourful ultra-portable PC weighs just over 600g
• New design for two-handed operation while standing or walking
• GPS and Digital Compass
• Accelerometer sensor
• Built-in Everywair 3G
• Clear, bright, widescreen VAIO Display Plus
• Easy to use with Quick Web Access

It’s smaller than a notebook and smarter than a smartphone: the colourful VAIO P Series from Sony is your perfect partner for on-the-move computing.

Weighing just over 600g and slipping effortlessly into a bag or jacket pocket, the new VAIO P Series gives you all the power of a fully-featured Windows® computing experience, and so much more.

It’s the first VAIO designed for simple operation if you’re standing or walking. The central trackball is complemented by an additional touchpad and mouse buttons. Duplicating the main controls, they’re located at either edge of the screen for comfortable operation with both thumbs while you’re holding the computer in two hands.

The VAIO P Series is the first notebook from Sony with built-in GPS and a new Digital Compass. Perfect for telling you where you are and what’s happening around you, they can help you find your hotel or a nearby restaurant if you’re standing on the street corner in an unfamiliar city¹.

Brand-new VAIO Location Search software offers a real-time map view without tying up your web browser. Your map position and orientation are displayed along with nearby Points of Interest and even local weather conditions.

The ultra-light notebook’s ‘on-the-go’ credentials for travellers are boosted with Everywair 3G on-board, giving high-speed connectivity to mobile networks (where available).

The new VAIO P is the first notebook from Sony with a built-in accelerometer that responds to physical movements. Just give it a gentle shake to ‘flick’ through pictures or the pages of a PDF document, or to navigate back and forth through your web browsing history.

The sensor also recognises when the VAIO P Series is turned on its side, automatically ‘flipping’ the screen for easy reading of documents or web pages in portrait mode. The notebook’s additional mouse buttons are perfectly placed for comfortable page-turning when you’re reading in portrait position just like a paperback book or magazine.

The new VAIO P Series is beautifully designed for easy operation, with a comfortable full-pitch keyboard for easy typing, plus a bright, extra-wide VAIO Display Plus screen that’s ideally proportioned for viewing movies or two web pages side-by-side. There’s also an ambient light sensor that dims screen illumination for comfortable viewing while saving power.

For extra convenience, dedicated buttons are provided for Quick Web Access and one-touch access to VAIO Care. There’s also a handy new Change Resolution button; instantly select a larger font size for easy on-screen reading, or choose maximum detail for HD movie viewing.

Available in five colours (black, white, pink, green and orange), the new VAIO P Series is complemented by a choice of stylish accessories that includes a distinctively perforated silicone slip case and carry strap.

The new VAIO P Series ultra-portable notebook is available from Sony Centres and www.sony.co.uk from June 2010.

The P11S1E will come with the 1.8Ghz Z540 CPU, 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD and HSPA 3G.

As for pricing, I’m excited to see that Chip.de is reporting pricing of around 900 Euro. For such a leading edge design (in terms of technology and sizing) that’s really not a bad deal. Consider the ViliV s7. The 1.3Ghz version with HSPA runs at a similar price.

Availability:June

With a hat-tip towards e-book reading and mobile video-over-3G and a huge step forward for ultra mobility fans with on-screen controls, the new fully-featured Sony Vaio P11 was launched in Japan today.

Looking similar to the previous Vaio P the new model (part of a ‘coming out’ marketing campaign which could see more models released tomorrow) includes a thumb-pointer, thumb pad and mouse button on the screen frame for standing-up and comes with an option 2.1Ghz Atom Z560 CPU.

Other key features:

• Retains 600gm weight
• Grip Style Mobility
• Dual array Mic that can be used for noise cancellation through headphones.
• Accelerometer for auto-rotation
• Digital compass
• GPS
• Up to approximately 5.5 hours of battery
• Wimax / Foma (UMTS/HSPA but possibly locked/unusable outside Japan)

Genuine Windows ® 7 Home Premium 32-bit /  Ultra Wide 8 (1600 × dot 768) VAIO Plus Display / 2GB (onboard) / SSD 64GB / Intel ® GMA 500/W-LAN ( abgn) / WiMAX / Camera / Bluetooth

The P11 ALJ includes a choice of Atom CPU from the new Z560 at 2.1Ghz, the Z550 at 2.0Ghz or the Z530 at 1.6Ghz and SSD choices up to a huge 256GB

All this technology doesn’t come cheap of course. Launch price is expected to be over $1000 (local, converted) but we expect high-end models to rise higher than this. We estimate $2k for a high-end version with exports costing even more.

Initial opinion: Great, great mobility features, super light weight. (Less than an iPad but including a keyboard) high-end mobile CPU, 2GB RAM, SSD, track pointer and easy portrait mode elevate the new P11 into ultra mobile territory. Arguably one of the most complete ultra mobile PC’s we’ve ever seen although as before, the width of the device prevents on-the-go thumb typing and any sort of pocketability. The cost will be extremely high and the device needs to be compared closely to the Viliv S7 and the upcoming Viliv N5. Imports are likely to be even more expensive. Thank goodness it’s also available in Black.

Update: Ben (UMPCPortal) puts forward the modded UX as something to think about in terms of ‘best UMPC’ Jenn (Pocketables) puts forward the high-end Fujitsu UH900. All great choices. It depends if you want to go for a touch-typing experience or a thumb-typing experience in my opinion.

Vaio website from Sony Japan.

Via JKK Mobile / Akihabara.

Despite the fact that the Sony Vaio UX series [product page] of UMPCs is now several years old, people still seem to associate it with some sort of futuristic looking gadgetry. We’ve seen the Vaio UX featured in a number of films and music videos, but this definitely takes things to the next level.

Fancy yourself an action figure collector? Why not drop $200 on this John Connor (Terminator Salvation) figure, and if you order from Sideshow Collectibles, you’ll apparently get your very own “Portable Computer inch, as seen used in the movie, as an exclusive extra! ultra mobile PC aficionados will have noticed the Vaio UX490 used in Terminator Salvation, and it’s been recreated in model form with surprising accuracy:

Seriously, take a look at the detail on this thing. Someone did their research. Everything from the tiny speaker holes to the left of the fingerprint scanner, to the air vents on the bottom, and the mic on the right side toward the bottom of the keyboard. I’m seriously impressed.

I’m been wishing for a smaller and cheaper Vaio UX, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

I don’t see “amazing sliding action! inch nor “incredible lighted power button! inch listed as any of the miniature UX’s features. I can still dream though, right?

Thanks to bladeiai from MicroPCTalk for the heads up.

News about a new Sony VAIO “Ultra Mobile inch has me pretty excited. I’ve been a long time fan of the Sony VAIO UX series, and have been wishing that Sony would reinvent the Clie UX as well.

According to a teaser page on Sony.jp, they’ll be coming out with a new device. Unfortunately, I don’t think that this one will be the answer to my dreams. Let’s take a look at what we know and what we can infer from the available information:

The first thing we should ask is: “What’s in a name? inch Sony is calling this an “Ultra Mobile inch. Generally, Sony’s line of thin, light, and high performance laptops has been referred to (in the US at least) as ultraportables so that may be something to consider, though it is quite possible that he translation simply comes across differently. While I wish more than anything that Sony was reinventing the VAIO UX series, Sony refers to those machines as “Micro PCs inch, so I doubt we’ll be seeing a new VAIO UX or anything similar (ie: no slider).

I think what we can definitely rule out is some sort of ARM-based handheld device. The device is quite clearly going to be a VAIO, and Sony hasn’t released any non-x86 VAIO devices (except for a failed “VAIO Pocket” DAP back in 2004 [thanks lvyelion]), so we can pretty easily rule out something like the rumored PSP-phone or a new Sony Mylo. And while I don’t read Japanese, the teaser page pretty clearly indicates that the device will be running Windows 7, again ruling out the possibility of any Android or other mobile OS device:

The last thing to talk about is the orange symbol on one of the teaser graphics. Several have pointed out that it looks like a paperclip, and it could also be the view of the computer from the side. The Sony VAIO P [product page][review] actually fits the image pretty well, as the lid is quite thin compared to the body of the computer. Still, it’s probably best to not take that image too literally. Best we can infer is that it’ll be a laptop style form-factor.

Based on the demographic being shown in the teaser (young and hip) it’s possible that Sony has a new line of netbooks coming down the road, or it could be a new Sony VAIO P as Engadget says they’ve been told by a “previously proven inch tipster.

Still seems odd that they’d start up a teaser campaign just to add a new VAIO P to the P-series. Maybe Sony is actually working on something more akin to the UMID BZ [product page] or Sharp Netwalker [product page].

What say the readers? What would you ideally like to see from Sony compared to what you think we’ll actually end up seeing?

Update: Live session over. Thanks for all that joined-in. Unboxing, open review video and first impressions will be up at my xperia sub-blog.

Yup. Heads-up because Chippy just bought his first ever Android phone!

I’ll be unboxing it this evening. Check out the details at a new sub-blog I’ve started just to track my experiences on the Xperia X10. We’ll have JKK of JKKmobile with his 2.1 Droid and i’ll have the Archos 5 Andoid tablet to test against.

Hope to see you later.

I Bought An Xperia X10, Started A Blog. Live Unboxing Tonight. « My Xperia X10.

• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• 480×320 touchscreen
• 3.2MP camera
• touch optimized OS

Sound like a new product? I wish. These are a few specs from the Sony Clie UX50 which was one of the greatest devices I’ve ever owned, and one that I feel was ahead of its time. The Clie UX50 was available at least as far back as 2003, and had the ultimate form factor. It was a tiny clamshell device with a swiveling screen that could be folded down flat over the keyboard when you didn’t need it. Let me just throw you a few pictures so that you can have a look at this beauty:

Images courtesy Cnet

At the time of release, the camera on this thing was comparable to what you’d buy if you went out to purchase a new point-and-shoot camera. The 3.2MP camera swiveled in the bezel as well, making it functional as both a front and rear facing camera. Previewing the shot on the 480×320 screen was so much better than the tiny LCD’s that they had on point-and-shoots at the time.

This thing was slim too. Check out how it stacks up against the iPhone (iPhone is purple, UX50 is red):

It ran Palm OS and Sony had built a pretty slick 3D launcher to replace Palm’s boring menu. If you look at this and you’ve also seen the Nexus One’s application launcher you’ll notice that they look suspiciously similar.

The keyboard was, simply put, the best thumb-board I’ve ever used. Full QWERTY along with a dedicated row of number keys — it was even backlit! The keys were well spaced and offered great feedback. An intuitive sticky-key system made punctuation and shift key usage quick and efficient rather than a pain, like it is on some devices.

The form factor of this device was seriously incredible and I can’t believe that we haven’t seen it well executed since the Clie UX50 (not that I’ve seen anyway). The ability of the screen to swivel fold back around on itself to cover the keyboard was great because you could turn it into a slate in just one second, not only that, but the keyboard also functioned as a stand if you wanted to prop the device up for viewing media.

Now obviously the UX50 is quite old and the hardware is way outdated at this point. If a company came along and could remake the UX50 with snapdragon and Android… I’d have one purchased before you could say “iPad! inch and I think a lot of others would as well. Why oh why did Sony scrap this design and move on to things like the Xperia and Sony Mylo? I wish I could say, but I for one think that they could make a killing with a modernized Clie UX50.

I’m pretty much locked-in when it comes to mobile phone choices. 2 years ago I bought a Nokia N82 and the camera on that is so good that even today I’m having trouble finding an upgrade. I’m so used to taking good quality evening, home and low-light snaps with it that I rarely have any other camera with me. To me, camera, internet and mobile phone go together like bread and butter and if you’ve tasted Xenon flash before, there’s no going back. (It’s not just brightness BTW, the short period of flash helps to freeze movement and results in far sharper low-light captures of people and other moving objects.)

I took a brief look at the Sony Ericsson Satio a while back but it didn’t really register in my ‘want’ list because I didnt know about the CPU. When I found out that it’s got the same CPU in as the iPhone 3GS (AAS Review) I started to get interested again. Today I checked it out in the T-Mobile shop here in Bonn and sure enough, it’s got a lot of potential. The touchscreen is resistive but, like the Nokia N900, gives good haptic-assisted response. The slider-protected (essential) camera is 12MP and the pre-focus is quick and accurate. The only thing I found missing on the camera side (in my 10 minute test) was the ability to force the flash on (for fill-in.)

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