Sony Xperia Z might arrive in Europe on February 18

Sony Xperia Z is the highlight of this year's CES, but it was only expected to hit the shelves in March. Various online retailers already listed the phone for the beginning of March and on about ?530 (?650) price.

According to an authorized Sony retailer for Poland we might not have to wait all that long. The website of the store lists the smartphone with a February 18 release. The price however stands at a rather steep ?680.

This is not an official Sony store, but is an officially authorized retailer, so there is some credibility to the announced date. Of course there is a note that the date is subject to change, but here's hoping this is just a standard disclaimer.

A hat tip for Tom, who sent this in!

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Del Toro's Horror Video Game 'inSANE' Might Still Happen

Guillermo del Toro really, really wants to make something involving the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, but circumstances (namely the economy) just keep it from happening. First, it was his "Mountains of Madness" adaptation which died a quick death at Universal who were gun-shy about spending a couple of hundred million on an R-rated horror movie, and then there was "inSANE," the Volition-developed title which died a quick death as THQ's financial fortunes took a dramatic turn last year.

But according to a Toronto Sun piece, there might be hope that "inSANE" could live again at another publisher.

“We are in talks with a very, very big company. I can’t say who, but it’s one of the big ones. They really responded to the game, they responded to what we were trying,” del Toro told the Sun last week while doing press for "Pacific Rim." The "Hellboy" and "Cronos" director added that some of the mechanics will need an overhaul so as not to duplicate things already out in the market, and he expressed his commitment to an immersive narrative experience.

Who could it be? EA, who've already got one horror franchise under their belts with "Dead Space." Warner Brothers? If this were further along and not in need of a mechanical overhaul, I'd suggest Activision. I kind of hope it's either Sony or MS, though, who would likely let the game take its time to gestate before release.

The project was originally set up at "Saints Row" developer Volition since 2010 with an originally planned 2013 release. According to del Toro, his vision of "inSANE" involved gamplay "where where every single action makes them question their own senses of morality and reality," making it sound a little like "Eternal Darkness."

[Source: Toronto Sun via Eurogamer]

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Tags guillermo del toro, insane, thq

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Sony C660X 'Yuga' leaks, might pack a quad-core Krait CPU

About a week ago a Sony C650X ?Odin? leaked through its User-Agent profile with speculations that it will be the next Xperia flagship. Not much info was available on it, but a new Sony smartphone has leaked now, and this one has a higher model number.

The Sony C6603 ?Yuga? (the final digit of the model number indicates region, so we?ll call it C660X) made an appearance in AnTuTu?s database. The benchmark lists the OS as Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and the CPU clock speed as 1.5GHz (but no GPU info).

The total score the Yuga managed is 11,321. For comparison, an Xperia T (Snapdragon S4 Plus, dual-core Krait @ 1.5GHz, Adreno 225) does 8,270 and an LG Optimus G (Snapdragon S4 Pro, quad-core Krait @ 1.5GHz, Adreno 320) scored 13,643.

The Sony C660X ?Yuga? is certainly closer to the S4 Pro chipset than the S4 Plus, particularly in the CPU and RAM scores. The GPU scores of the Yuga and the Optimus G are virtually identical, though the Xperia T scores the same too, despite its older GPU.

Still, it seems very likely that the C660X is packing a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset (the APQ8064 is the one used most commonly). Here?s hoping we get scores from other benchmarks, NenaMark for example lists the GPU model - if it?s Adreno 320, then the chipset will certainly be of the S4 pro variety.

Source (in Japanese) | Via

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Rumored Sony Xperia SL LT26ii might bring a CPU upgrade

About a week ago, a Sony Xperia SL LT26ii showed up on the Indonesia's version of the FCC. The site offered no info on its specs, but immediately there were speculation that the SL will be to the Xperia S what the arc S was to the Xperia arc.

Now, a tipster has contacted XperiaBlog and told them that the Xperia SL will offer a CPU upgrade and will be available in a new color. The tipster didn?t offer any details on the potential new processor, but if we follow the "arc -> arc S" example, it should be a frequency bump (the MSM8260 chipset is clocked at 1.5GHz in the Xperia S, but can run at up to 1.7GHz).

It's clear that they can't call the new phone Xperia S S, but the letter L might have been chosen for another reason. Remember the Xperia neo L, which increased the screen size of the neo V and launched with ICS instead of Gingerbread.

So far, this is all deep inside the rumor mill and we'd wait for more evidence confirming the existence and specs of the Sony Xperia SL - a leaked user agent XML or a camera sample accidentally uploaded to Picasa are usually how it goes.

Source 1 ? Source 2

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