By Annalyn S. Jusay
Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, has always been associated with sleek cars and even sleeker gadgets. If you’re in this country, it would be a sin to just visit the shrines, temples and museums and miss out on all the technological inventions which are often unveiled earlier than in any other part of the world. Tokyo, for instance, has the famous Akihabara district where thousands upon thousands of electronic items are sold at discount prices. But should your hectic tour itinerary make you unable to visit the Electric Town, head on to any of the Sony Style concept stores which dot Tokyo. During a recent visit, we dropped by Sony Style in Odaiba, a bit smaller than the one in Ginza, but boasts of a gallery-full of the latest innovations from Sony – from robots to audio systems to Playstations to HDTVs. Needless to say, it’s a must-stop for techies and digital aficionados. Here are some of the items you can find, all proudly labeled Sony of course:
HDR-HC1 Digital HD Handycam is the world’s smallest high-definition (HD) camera which now makes it possible for ordinary mortals like you and me to record HD images at home in the HDV1080i format. Sized at a very portable 71 x 94 x 188 mm, the HDR-HC1 has four times higher resolution than the standard camcorder using mini DV tape. Its features include MPEG-2 compression, Memory Stick Duo recording, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens for superior images, a wide 2.7 inch LCD screen and an Enhanced Imaging Processor. This HD Handycam also has a complete array of manual shooting controls, including 10x optical and 120x digital zoom as well as shutter speed and white balance. What’s good about this camcorder is that while it’s meant for HDTVs, the images recorded can be converted to conventional standard-definition format for viewing on non-HD televisions.
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T7 maybe a few months old in the market but still we can’t help but admire its ultra-slim body which measures 9.8 mm at its thinnest. Perfect for storing in your pocket, this beauty boasts of a remarkably large 2.5 hybrid LCD screen, a 5.1 megapixels resolution and high-quality Carl Zeiss lens with 3x optical zoom. You can also choose from up to 10 Scene Selection modes (e.g. fireworks and twilight), a high-speed burst mode for quick shooting and a magnifying glass mode for taking close-ups of objects up to 1 cm.
While the catalog I had with me only showcased the 8.0 mp DSC-F828, we also can’t wait for the Cyber-Shot DSC-R1 which boasts of an APS-class image sensor
that is more than 12X the size of the typical digital camera sensor and delivers 10.3 megapixels of resolution for superior, professional-looking images. It also does a host of things which ordinary digital SLRs cannot such as fulltime live preview for 100% framing accuracy, advanced viewfinder displays and a remarkably wide 24 mm angle.
If iPod has its Nano, then Sony has its equally pretty Walkman Bean, so called because it is shaped like one. Weighing only 1.6 oz., this babe has a built-in 1 GB of memory for storing up to 695 songs, a built-in tuner as well as a built-in USB connector for easy, cord-less transferring of data. Like other models in the NW series, it also boasts of super-quick battery charge of only 3 minutes and a one-line Electroluminescence display for the easy viewing of song titles and other data.
The smaller, the better and we can’t help but covet the Vaio Notebooks S series.
From the outside, they look ultra-elegant with their slim designs and latchless closure, not to mention the fact that they weigh as light as 1.3 kg. Their other assets include the latest Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, one-touch DVD creation, and superb sounds through Sony’s proprietary Sonic Stage Mastering Studio Audio Filter which lets you transform sound according to your preferences. They also offer standard wireless LAN at 802.11b, USB connectivity, Bluetooth, PC card slot and a wide range of software applications which we’ve come to expect of these high-end laptops.
An encounter with a robot can be a fascinating, first-time experience and that’s we felt when we came face to face with AIBO, the robot. AIBO means “companion” in Japanese and also stands for Artificial Intelligence Robot. Weighing only 1.5 kg., AIBO has four legs and 20 motorized joints which enable him to demonstrate 20 degrees of freedom or movement. Through different sensors attached to his frame, he is able to have the different senses. For example, the embedded stereo microphones enable him to hear while a camera placed in the head lets him see. He also has memory stick and PC card slots. While we found him truly amazing, AIBO is no longer available for sale and has been replaced by other more advanced robots in the Sony line-up.
