Awooga for the Yuga!

There has been a lot of talk over the past month of so about the next Sony Flagship, codenamed Yuga (C660X). Today, Mobile-Review, who have previously been accurate in their early reviews, have posted about the up and coming device which is set to be a huge entry into the smart phone market.

Whilst Mobile Review have a tendancy to be on the spot, it's important to consider that until a full announcement has been made, these should all be regarded purely as speculation for now. The article is very in depth and can be found here however for the sake of keeping things short, I want to focus on some of the things that stood out to me.

The Yuga will make it's entrance as a first for many. Sony's first 5"+ smartphone, their first quad core phone (Qualcomm APQ8064 w/ 4 x Krait), the first 'full LTE' device ever, the first HDR (High Dynamic Range) video camera phone, etc. You begin to get the picture that Sony is now taking the approach of being 'first' rather than lagging behind the competition.

Xperia devices have previously been limited to SDHC meaning a maximum expansion of 32GB through SD cards. The Yuga on the other hand, brings support for SDXC, raising the bar and allowing up to 128GB expansion.

The camera seems to have gotten a major overhaul. Whilst the pixel count has gone down from 13MP to 12MP (pixels aren't everything), more effort has been put into the more (and less) subtle additions such as enhancements to autoselecting scenes, as well as the brand new 'Superior Auto' which appears to add new modes such as burst mode, picture effect (filters such as sketch, fisheye and kaleidoscope), and more. The article also details the ability to record video whilst simultaneously capturing still images.

One of the screenshots produces the 'share' menu, which seems to suggest twitter integration a la. Facebook Inside Xperia, with the addition of Twitter For Xperia (Twitter Inside Xperia, anyone?).

Interface wise, it looks as though Sony may finally have taken the leap involved in completely revamping the launcher, offering features that have been longed for dating back to the Xperia X10.

Such enhancements include the ability to add additional screens to the launcher and a more fine tuned way of adding widgets and shortcuts to the launcher, alongside general customisation such as themes and wallpapers.

The lock screen also appears to have undergone a makeover, and includes easy access to key areas of the phone such as camera and music, as well as a nice 'smash' animation upon unlocking.

That's all for now, however head over to Mobile Review to see what more you can gleam from their comprehensive review of Sony's up and coming flagship model.