+ regaining halo : sony +

Before the turn of the millenium, Sony was THE electronics brand. But high prices, the somewhat lack of milestone products and the onslaught of the Koreans have driven the Japanese electronic giant's status down in the past few years.

I have no doubt it is back though. Innovation and design, both the company's forte can be seen again in many of their recent products. A whole line of halo products launched recently sees the company regaining top spot in everyone's gadget wish list. I'd like to think of it as the electronics equivalent of Mariah Carey.

Following are some of their recent efforts that more than caught my eye.

Left: Network Walkman HD5 20GB hard disk based MP3 / ATRAC3 player. 40 hours battery life. Display that works in 2 orientations. $499 (Cheaper than an iPod).
Right: Vaio Pocket 40GB hard disk based MP3 / ATRAC3 player. Colour display that shows album and artiste information. G-sensor touchpad controls. $599.


PSP gaming and entertainment console. Play games and watch movies on new UMD disc format. Listen to MP3s. Brilliant LCD display. Attracts more attention than an iPod. $455.


Playstation 3 gaming console. Supports up to 7 bluetooth controllers. Rumoured to have more powerful graphics engine than Xbox360. Blu-ray discs format. Coming early 2006.


Vaio VGN U8G notebook cum portable media player. The smallest and lightest notebook device. $2599


Cybershot T7 ultracompact digital camera. Slimmest camera in the world. Comes with 5.1 megapixel sensor with 3x optical zoom. $799


Vaio TV PC. An iMac with TV tuner. Unavailable in Singapore.


Wireless DVD home theater system. As the name suggests, no wires at all. Status unknown.

The current product blitz, coupled with the sheer desirability of the Sony brand, should keep all its rivals busy at their workstations to come up with worthy competitors for its products.
Hail Sony.