Sony IFA 2013 Press Conference Live Blog: New Xperia Z1, Cameras And More

A camera that clips onto your smartphone. A follow-up to the awesome Sony Xperia Z. Fantastic new cameras and awesome new speakers. This is what Sony announced at its IFA 2013 press conference. We were live covering it!

All times are in AEST

11:58
Good evening/soon to be morning! We’re here in Germany covering the IFA 2013 press conference and hope to see some great stuff.

11:59
Presumably we’re about to see the Sony lens that clips onto your phone, as well as the official launch of the new Sony Smartwatch 2. Hopefully we’ll also see some great stuff when it comes to mobile, home entertainment and perhaps even a celebrity guest appearance? Who knows.

11:59
What do you want to see in the Sony IFA presser?

12:00am, Thursday 5 September
We should be getting underway shortly. You can join us in watching the presser live on this link.

12:12
We’re getting close to kicking off, but in the meantime, we’re jamming to some great tracks. The funky number playing right now is called Kool On by The Roots & Greg Pom & Truck North. Catchy as all get-out!

12:13
And now some Chili Peppers (Look Around)! Hopefully the announcements are as good as the tunes.

12:15
And we’re away!

12:17
Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony is up first.

12:17

12:18
He says his job has been to grow the electronics business while trundling on with the home entertainment business.

12:19
Kaz is having a solid brag about Sony’s entertainment business. Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, Smurfs 2, Elysium and the One Direction documentary are all doing well.

12:20
Kaz brings up the head of Sony Europe to talk about the local market. He recalls that he couldn’t get on the stage last year because he broke his leg before the presser. Ouch.

12:22

12:24
And after quite a solid brag about Sony Europe, Kaz is back. Digital imaging, televisions, audio and mobile are promised for new products.

12:26

Two new digital cameras were just announced.

The Sony RX1R provides highest resolution than its predecessor, thanks to the removal of a filter. Great for panoramic landscapes, and the Sony RX100 Mark II for better light sensitivity. It also has a new 1-inch back illuminated CMOS image sensor and a fixed f/1.8 lens for good low-light shooting.

12:27

12:28

YouTube clips have crappy audio, that’s why Sony is announcing the music video recorder: a high-powered camera complete with a beautiful microphone for great audio on YouTube, Vimeo and other online sites.

12:29

There’s also the new Sony ActionCam, complete with GPS functionality that lets you track where you’ve been, as well as speed and even descent for skydivers. There’s even a new wrist-mounted live-view screen so you can frame up a shot.

12:30

There’s a new VAIO convertible called the VAIO Fit. It lets you lay your laptop flat so you can go from a clamshell laptop to a lie-flat tablet.

12:31

The VAIO Tap range is getting an 11-inch model with the VAIO Tap 11.

12:31

And now a new 4K Handicam pitched at creating beautiful home memories. These guys don’t stop!

That one launches globally next month.

12:32

Magnetic fluid speaker technology have been integrated from the 55- and 65-inch 4K TVs into a new 7.1 channel soundbar. Pretty…

12:34

There’s also a new 4K projector designed for Europe. Damn. Hopefully we’ll get that one soon.

12:35

High-resolution audio talk, now. High-res audio has three to seven times the audio quality of a CD. Sony is announcing a bunch of great audio products to take advantage of those technologies.

12:37

Quick name-check of the Playstation 4…

12:37

It’s official: “Ladies and gentlemen: this is the highly anticipated Sony Xperia Z1”

12:38

The Z1 has a 5-inch Full HD Triluminious Display and X-Reality Engine for Mobile to make the display look great. The processor is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Pro processor.

Australian Pricing: Sony Xperia Z1: A Waterproof Badass With A Killer Camera

It has a one-piece aluminium frame, and it’s completely waterproof. The 1/2.3-inch EXMOR RS image sensor packs in 20.7-megapixels into the phone too.

There are also new features in the UI, like Social Live for broadcasting your life and live camera feed straight onto your Facebook page for example, Info Eye for exploring points and objects of interests right from your camera view. Almost like Lumia City Lens meets Google Goggles. The Z1 also has Timeshift Burst for capturing 61 images within 2 seconds and never missing that shot. There’s also AR Effect which uses the AR engine to create characters and effects live on your phone, similar to Sony Wonderbooks.

Sony has also announced PlayMemories Online, which stores your photos and videos from your Z1 or any other smartphone into your Sony cloud library. It sorts, categorises and highlights your photos for great playback. “Best of all, storage is unlimited”. It’s available now in Germany, France, UK, US, France, Canada and Japan, with other locations planned in due course (aw).

12:45

Wearable tech time.

12:46

“Sony Smartwatch 2 will hit stores across the globe later this month”. Woo-hoo!

12:47

Here comes that Sony lens thing…

Meet the Cybershot QX10 and QX100! It’s a big whacking lens and it takes your Xperia Z or the Xperia Z1 and with a bracket, attaches onto the back of the smartphone to give the quality of an RX100 shooter on your smartphone.

12:48

You can also attach that lens gadget to “almost any smartphone”, promises Kaz. That’s pretty compelling.

Also: A Closer Look At Sony’s Remarkable QX100 Smartphone Camera Lens Attachment

12:50

Wow. Sony has its own Jony Ive-style design video!

12:53

Sony Xperia Z1 will launch later this month. Not sure if that’s for Australia, but we’re checking.

12:55

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for joining us for the first of our IFA pressers.


Hit refresh for the latest information…


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.