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Sony owes Xperia owners a refund over faulty water resistance
When you buy a phone billed as water-resistant, you generally expect it to survive accidental dunks. Some Sony phone owners have a very different story, though -- their supposedly resistant phones took water damage that required an expensive fix. If you're one of them, we have good news. A preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit will offer a 50 percent refund of the retail price to US customers who bought a water-resistant Sony Xperia device and had to file water damage claims. The list of affected hardware covers a whopping 24 phones and tablets sold in the US, ranging from the Xperia Z1 through to relatively recent devices like the Xperia Z5.
Sony's waterproof Xperia Z2 Tablet coming to Verizon for $600
We already knew Sony would eventually release an LTE version of its super-thin, waterproof Xperia Z2 Tablet; we just had no idea which network it would work on. Turns out, the lucky winner is Verizon. That's right, the Z2 Tablet is going to be a Big Red exclusive here in the states, at least for now. That's something of a departure for Sony: the last-gen Tablet Z was compatible with both AT&T and T-Mobile. In any case, regardless of whether you're already a Verizon customer, you can pre-order one tomorrow for $600, sans contract (shipments are expected to start next week, on July 17th). If you place your pre-order early enough, Verizon will also throw in a free noise canceling headset, while supplies last. For a limited time, too, you can buy the tablet for $500 with a new two-year agreement, but let's be real: Smart shoppers don't lock themselves into new service contracts just to get a 4G tablet.
Sony's Xperia Z2 Tablet approved for the US of AT&T
The mighty approver of gadgets, the FCC, likes engaging documentation about as much as we like digging through it for clues. Thankfully, a heap from Sony published today provided a very clear indicator as to what's been green lit for US consumption: the model number SGP521, better known as the new Xperia Z2 Tablet. Sony's thin, light and powerful slate will be available in WiFi-only and LTE flavors, with this specific model sporting a cellular radio capable of riding on basically any frequency you might encounter. The FCC docs agree with Sony on this, so it's curious then, that tests were carried out solely on LTE Band 17. That's AT&T's domain, suggesting this Z2 Tablet variant will be the locked kind you buy bundled with a data plan. There's no doubt other networks will have their own versions, of course, to complement device-only purchasing options. The FCC approval comes as no real surprise, given Sony said it expected to ship the tablet worldwide in March. The US price remains a mystery, however, but with Sony's online UK store asking for £499 (around $824 converted) to preorder the 16GB LTE model, we'd gamble on a roughly similar dollar figure.
MHL 3.0 does 4K video output, 10W charging and data transfer over a single cable (video)
You may have already followed the announcement of Sony's Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet last week, but did you know that they are also the first mobile devices to feature MHL 3.0? For those who haven't caught up, this standard allows 4K video output -- over a bandwidth of 6 Gbps -- from a micro-USB port, while giving back up to 10W of power to keep your phone or tablet juiced up. Better yet, you also get a dedicated 75 Mbps channel for data transfer, as opposed to just 1 Mbps in earlier versions, which is only enough for HID input (like keyboard, touchscreen, mouse and even gesture control). It's still snail pace compared to the likes of USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, but at least you can now transfer files to and from your mobile device over the same cable. Besides, it's possible to achieve a higher transfer rate of up to 600 Mbps using special connectors, such as USB 3.0's 10-pin configuration. At MWC last week, Silicon Image demoed MHL 3.0 -- powered by its SiI8620 transmitter chip -- working between an Xperia Z2 and a Sony 4K TV, with the bonus capability of navigating through the phone using the TV's remote. The company also showed off file transfer between a USB drive and a Snapdragon 800 development board over MHL 3.0, though products (likely monitors, set-top boxes and docks) that support this feature won't be out until later this year. For now, you can check out our demo video after the break.
