Back in September last year we heard that Sony were releasing a slimmer version of the PS Vita. Initially the PS Vita Slim was released in Japan but, the slimmer handheld console is now set to release in the UK come February 7th. While available in several colours in Japan, the UK will only have the option of the black model.

The Slimmer Vita is 20% slimmer than the first generation Vita and 15% lighter. The new model no longer features an OLED display but, instead Sony have opted for an LED display. Other changes include bettery battery life and 1GB of inbuilt storage. The suggested retail price for the new Vita is £180 for the Wifi model. The current ‘phat’ model in comparison can be bought for £169 with the Mega Pack of 10 games and a 16GB memory card.

A new megapack featuring Indie games is also soon to be released, which will feature 10 games from independent developers, such as Hotline Miami as well as coming with a 4GB memory card and is slated to be released priced at £20.

Just a few weeks ago, Sony announced a price drop for their Sony PS Vita handheld gaming system and now we know why. Today Sony have announced a new PS Vita. For the most part it’s pretty much the same as the original PS Vita but, Sony have made it thinner and lighter. The new Sony PS Vita is 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the previous model. The battery now lasts an hour longer as well. Most likely in part to the screen change. The newest PS Vita, PCH-2000 features an LCD display rather than an OLED display. Other changes include 1GB of inbuilt memory so you don’t need a PS Vita memory card straight away – although still highly recommended, especially if you’re a PS Plus subscriber. The best change they’ve made though, in my opinion is the Vita now no longer requires a propitiatory charger. Instead the latest Vita features a microUSB charging port.

The new PS Vita will also be available in a variety of colors: black, blue, yellow, grey, lime green and pink. There are also three special edition models planned which will feature additional colors, God Eater (camouflage), Otomate and Gundam Breaker. Sony have announced that the new Vita will go on sale October 10th in Japan priced at 18,980 yen (approx $190). The original PS Vita launched for 24,980 yen and got a price drop in Japan to 19,980 yen back in February so it looks like this new Vita will be cheaper than the original model, even after the price cut. Unfortunately Sony haven’t revealed information about the release of the latest Vita outside of Japan yet but, they did announce it at the Tokyo game show, so we expect international information about it soon and hopefully it won’t be a Japan exclusive.

Although it may not have been the most popular tablet in terms of sales after its release, the Sony P series is certainly one of the more ‘different’ varieties of tablet to be released. Despite the poor reception at its full price however, surely the latest deal from Currys in the UK will boost sales of the device further, as who can resist a deal for a 4GB tablet with 3G capability for just under £130?

The Sony P is the tablet that has two LCD touch screens (5.5″ each), 1GB RAM,Wi-Fi and 3G, along with the Micro SD card storage which allows users to boost the storage of the device to their liking which many tablets don’t allow. The tablet runs with Honeycomb – Android 3.2 – out of the box and features the Tegra 2 processor. There are also 2 cameras on the device, front and back facing with the rear camera offering HD quality. The screens themselves offer superb quality as they use Sonys own TruBlack technology.

Both Currys and PC World have the Sony P tablet on offer as a web deal currently at a reduction of around 34% on their price in store. Click and collect is available where by consumers pay the web price and then simply collect the item in their local store, if the store has stock of the tablet that is. At £129.99, this deal offers the cheapest Sony P tablet in the UK, a deal not to be missed.

Sony have revamped their Walkman range and the new models are the E470 Series. They feature a similar design to their previous Walkmans and come in a variety of colors including red, blue, green, pink and bronze. The new Walkman range however is their thinnest today measuring 7mm thick. The E470 features a 2 inch display and Karaoke mode, along with a few games, such as Sudoku and Tetrist.

For those looking for something a bit more advanced, Sony have also announced the F800 Series of Walkmans. The F800 Series runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. The F800 features a 3.5 inch display and not only supports Windows Media Player for transferring music but, also supports iTunes and can be connected via a cable or through Bluetooth.

Both the E470 and F800 will go on sale next month from Sony Stores. The E470 is priced at $79.99, $89.99 and $109.99 for the 4GB, 8GB and 16GB models respectively. The F800 starts at $269.99 for a 16GB model, while the 32GB model is priced at $299.99.

Sony Pictures Entertainment have recently officially announced that the latest in the series of James Bond movies will be the first in the history of the franchise to appear in widescreen in IMAX theatres.

Entitled ‘SkyFall’, the movie will be the 23rd movie outing for James Bond and Sony believe that now is the time to take full advantage of the IMAX technology which boasts over 350 square meters of projected image for the ultimate movie going experience.

President of Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures Rory Bruer has announced the release of the move on IMAX as:

“Skyfall will be the cool, must-see event release of the fall, and releasing the film in IMAX only reinforces that,”

Which was echoed by fellow ‘announcee’ Greg Foster who is the Chairman and President of IMAX:

“It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this legendary franchise, whose iconic characters and electrifying action will only be amplified in the IMAX format.”

James Bond Skyfall, is directed by Sam Mendes (who also directed American Beauty) and will star James Bond stalwart actor Daniel Craig in his third movie in the James Bond series (Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace being his first two outings as 007).

Skyfall will be premiered on the official 50th anniversary of the release of the first ever 007 Movie – Dr.No, on the 26th of October worldwide except for in the US where it will hit the movie theatres on the 9th of November.

With CES 2012 now over, we’ve compiled a list of Sony specific announcements and news from the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas.

We also learned some key stats from the event, such as more than 60 billion hours of Sony Music is listened to each year and there are more than a billion people who watch Sony movies and TV shows each year. There will be 300 million Sony networked devices in market over the next three years and there are currently 900 million products in households.

The Press conference also covered the Sony Entertainment Network and why it exists, which summed up is “to give consumers a single, cloud based, place for all their networked content (games, music, movies, TV shows), with one login and one digital wallet”.

The Sony PlayStation Vita will launch February 22nd with Netflix in the US and the Sony Tablet P will be released shortly and both will come with Sony Entertainment access.

The next stage in Sony Entertainment Network is PlayMemories Online which will let you host your photos and video “on the cloud”. This will launch in spring.

Xperia Handsets:
Sony Xperia ION is the first LTE smartphone from Sony and will be exclusive to AT&T in the US. Featuring a 4.5 inch display, 1.5GHz dual core processor and 12 megapixel camera, the Xperia ION along with the Xperia S will be the first handsets to drop the Ericsson branding since Sony bought Ericsson out of the joint venture. The Xperia S features similar specifications as the ION, a 12 megapixel camera and a 1.5GHz processor but, will come with a 4.3 inch display and will be released globally.

Cameras and Camcorders:
Sony’s top 2012 camcorders will come with a new technology called Balanced Optical Steadyshot which will reduce handshake blur by as much as 13 percent. We will also see camcorders with built in projectors with the ability to show images of up to 100 inchs on a wall with enhanced audio. The Bloggie Live Camera was also announced. A new Bloggie that allows you to stream video directly from the Bloggie camera using a Qik account. The Bloggie Live Camera features built in WiFi and is in stores now.

Google TV:
A Blu-Ray player with Google TV packed with features and enhanced Media Remote usage, an Android app that is available on the Sony Tablet S and Sony Xperia phones.

Music:
Sony will be launching an Android powered Walkman. The Walkman Z series features built in WiFi allowing you to connect to the Android Market and can be connected to a TV via a HDMI cable or DLNA. Sony have also announced Balanced Armiture Headphones which are around a quarter of the size of regular noise cancelling headphones.