Sony in 2018: the smartphone camera sees double
Away from the big sensations at the Sony stand at the Mobile World Congress, the manufacturer is showing a little of its future. Including a dual camera for smartphones.
At one end of the Sony stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, you can try out the new headphones for everyday listening. The new smartphones from the XZ series are on display in the centre. But at the other end is a wall with three screens. Hardly any explanation. Hardly an attentive person there, intercepting visitors and trying to help them at the drop of a hat while also giving them the most effective promotional features of the new products.
Only one wall. Three screens. A cardboard sign next to it. With little text, but a large image - dark grey on black - and a clear message.
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Sony is talking about the near future of smartphones. The grey-on-black image shows a dual camera. Something that inattentive visitors to the MWC will see dozens of times, from Samsung to small companies from Shenzhen. Dual cams are nothing spectacular.
The three screens, on the other hand, are.
A look into the dark
Video producer Stephanie Tresch notices the wall. We're actually just passing through, wanting to press a few buttons on the XZ2 before heading on towards the China halls to see laser watches and other obscurities.
She looks into a hidden peephole above the screens.
"Unpack the camera. It's a sensation," she says, almost in awe.
The thing is: At the inconspicuous corner of the stand, Sony is looking to the future. Not only will the manufacturer, whose smartphones are regarded as camera giants, install a dual camera, no, it should also be able to hold a candle to the current king of cameras, the Samsung Galaxy S9.
The screens on the wall show a dimly lit diorama in the dark. One screen shows the footage recorded by a Sony phone. On the other screen is footage of the camera system of an upcoming smartphone with dual cam. But only the camera system. Although the display screen looks like an Android screen, it does not yet have any functions.
Stephanie asks. When is the dual phone coming? She actually already knows the answer, but the journalist in her won't allow the question to go unasked.
"We don't talk about our future releases," she is told at the stand.
According to the usual release calendar, a new flagship from the major brands is expected in early autumn, just in time for IFA in Berlin.
"I hope I can test the phone then," says Stephanie.
Spider-Man and Rumble Pack
At the other end of the stand, I want to take a quick look at a trailer. Comic fans will recognise the name Miles Morales. In a parallel universe to the normal Marvel universe, Peter Parker has fallen in battle and Miles Morales is Spider-Man. The half-African-American and half-South American teenager was the first Spider-Man back then who wasn't white. A minor sensation.
Now Miles is making it to the big screen in an animated film, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", which is due to be released at Christmas. The film distributor is Sony Pictures. That's why the trailer can be seen on the new Sony XZ2 at Sony's MWC stand, and the sound can be heard via Bluetooth on new Sony headphones.
I ignore the sign warning of a vibrating floor. I don't question why a floor should or shouldn't vibrate. I want to see Spider-Man for a moment. So I pick up the XZ2.
The smartphone vibrates to the rhythm of the music in the trailer. I discover a feature that I can't judge. Is it really practical in everyday life? Because the phone interprets the sound it plays and vibrates to the rhythm. The sound should be perceptible and the new vibration system allows finer gradations in the vibration.
In short, it used to be a round object that was rotated by a motor to generate vibration. In the XZ2, however, a pen inside the phone is knocked back and forth when vibrating.
I turn to Stephanie, who is holding the camera as I explain the feature.
"You, I think we need to test the phone more extensively at home."
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.