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.

Sony have unveiled their plan to create a whopping 16.4MP camera sensor which is specifically designed for use on mobile phone handsets which is exciting news for those of us that use their phone cameras as their primary cameras.

The IMX081PQ is an Exmor R based CMOS sensor and uses a back illumination to reduce noise in photographs. This technology is usually found in still cameras and camcorders in Sonys range of products. The IMX081PQ allows for 1080p video creation.

Also revealed was the IMX105PQ which is an 8.13MP sensor which uses similar technology but, will be used in smaller handsets by Sony and potentially by other mobile phone manufacturers in the future.

Initial production of the sensors isn’t due to begin until Q1 of 2011 and a few sample images can be found at the via link below which takes you to the full Sony press release for the new camera sensors also.

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Earlier in the week it was revealed that Sony Ericsson were no longer planning to use the Symbian operating system on it’s future mobile handset releases. The company fully intent to take the Android OS and run with it, hoping to become a major player in the Android handset market (no comment from this Xperia owner). Now SE have announced that they are planning to release a Windows 7 based mobile phone and that it may not be all that far away from release.

Both Jan Uddenfeldt and Aldo Liguori from Sony Ericsson have stated that the company has no further plans to work with Symbian systems in the future with Mr Liguori confirming as a spokesperson for SE that, ” We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system”.

So, that seems to be the end of Symbian phones from Sony Ericsson and now Microsoft’s head of marketing in the UK Oded Ran has confirmed that Sony Ericsson are actively working on a WP7  handset, at least one handset actually.The Microsoft statement ties in with a comment recently made by Mr Uddenfeldt himself stating that a, “Windows 7 Phone  is on the roadmap”.

It appears that the future is looking rosy for Windows 7 in the SE camp and we feel that it won’t be very long before Sony Ericsson are releasing specific product details for their own Windows 7 powered handset. Hopefully they won’t forget that Android update along the way though.

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Although Sony Ericsson had never confirmed the release date for the updated version of the Android operating system used on it’s Xperia X10 hansdets, the company has now moved to announce on it’s official blog that the update is not imminent and will not arrive before October 2010.

The Xperia X10, the Xperia X10 Mini and the X10 Mini Pro all run on the Android operating system currently and are using the 1.6 version of the Google OS. Whilst other handset manufacturers have pushed out their mobile phones with Android 2.1 or 2.2, the Xperia range has sadly been left behind by the reluctance of Sony Ericsson to update the firmware to a firmware that many users desire greatly. Sony Ericsson have never actually explained why there is such a delay to update and the latest announcement could see some Xperia users leave their Sony Ericsson handsets behind and move on to brands such as Samsung, HTC and Apple.

Running on an outdated firmware such as 1.6 Android is slowing the development of Android applications and games for the Xperia range and with the upcoming release of another Xperia handset, in the form of the Xperia X8, the Xperia phone range is left unable to play many games and applications available on the Android market because many applications are created with 2.1 or 2.2 compatibility in mind. This is a shame for Xperia owners who paid a healthy sum for their handsets and are struggling to get the best use out of their phones.

Hopefully Sony Ericsson are a big enough company, with enough care about their customers to resolve the updating issue sooner rather than later. They certainly aren’t a company that lets their customers down regularly so fingers crossed that Android 2.1 arrives soon.

Official SE blog

If you’re after the Xperia X10 Mini, it could be worth taking a look at the offer Argos has on in the UK. The handset usually retails for £179.99 and the pricing is no different at Argos, although you do need to also top up £10. You will however get some extras free with the handset if reserved and collected in store. Unfortunately the offer isn’t available online, so you will need to collect from your nearest store with stock.

When adding the Xperia X10 Mini to your basket, you can add three accessories as well which would normally cost £49.97 but, when adding all three you get them absolutely free. The first accessory is a 4GB card. The handset comes with a 2GB micro SD card as standard, so you can double the amount of memory straight away. You also get a universal screen protector. While not the best, as you’ll need to cut the screen protector to size, it will do the job of protecting the screen. A mobile phone drive pack is also included in the offer. The pack contains a bluetooth ear piece, in car charger and a universal vent holder which is dash mountable.

Ifixit.com have had the pleasure of taking a E10i (European, similar to the E10A US model) Xperia X10 Mini and opening it up and dismantling it. Sounds like fun? Well, fortunately they have also documented the procedure so that anyone who wants to try it can do (we aren’t advising anyone does so) and anyone, like us, who just wants a nosy inside the X10 Mini without risking breaking one can see it all for themselves.

Apparently the procedure was pretty easy to do and although they didnt put the handset back together they seem sure it will be a simple task too.

The full tear down can be found on the ifixit site.