Sony Unveils The Xperia ZR, This Little Number Let's You Take Underwater Photos And Videos up to 5 Feet [Video+Photos]

Everyone loves it when new phones are unveiled, even though they are just the usual, by the numbers Android ones. Thankfully, the newest smartphone to be unveiled by Sony is not part of that parcel. In reality, it's actually rather nice.

Named the Sony Xperia ZR, or the Xperia A SO-04E in the event that you happen to reside in Japan, the device itself is pretty awesome to look at, just similar to all of Sony's smartphones released these days. The sweetness is significantly more than skin deep though, and the ZR is waterproof up to 5 feet, which makes it scuba-safe.

If you have the nerve to take your mobile phone into the ocean with you, then you will have the ability to film both HD movies and photos in glorious HDR due to its 13MP camera and Exmor RS image sensor. This translates to amazing 1080p video. Under water. With a mobile phone.

The Xperia ZR really comes to life in the specifications section beyond that camera, too. Sony has equipped the ZR with a powerful Snapdragon S4 Pro four-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of memory and most of the radios you'd expect including NFC and LTE. The device runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This is now rather outdated.

All of this is behind a 4.6" display with 720p resolution which includes an OptiContrast OLED screen with BRAVIA technology and promises to lessen glare even if in direct sunlight. That is clearly a bold claim, so we will take that with a pinch of salt until proved otherwise. Still, that is what it promises.

To be able to show the unit off, and the four colors it is going to be for sale in, Black, Blue, Pink and Cyan, the Japanese corporation has released two ads showing the latest device in all it's glory, among which features the smartphone being useful for a quick shot of underwater filming in a swimming pool. We're uncertain we would wish to take the device down to the nearest swimming pool for fear of it being dumped, but you get my drift of the concept!

Sony's mobile phones took a big spin recently, the Xperia ZR appears to carry on that trend, particularly if you are a supporter of the waterproof mobile phone's idea and we must state, it is one attractive mobile phone. There's a lot of competition on the market nowadays though, even though this one really is  alone when it comes to smartphones you can go swimming with!

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Apple Announces That The Full Size iPad 4 is Now Available With 128GB of Storage

Apple has announced the full-size iPad with Retina display now comes in a 128GB capacity, which is double the previous maximum. From 5 February, the 128GB model will cost £639 with just Wi-Fi, or £739 with Wi-Fi + 4G.

It's a big expense, although considering the Wi-Fi-only 64GB model currently costs £559, 80 quid to double the storage doesn't seem too unreasonable.

For me, it's what Apple didn't announce that was more interesting: there was no 128GB iPad mini. With every upgrade Apple seems to be aiming to make the "iPad maxi" the "pro" version, introducing the mini as an everyday user's best choice.

The iPad mini is to the full-size iPad what the MacBook Air is to the MacBook Pro -- smaller, less expensive, more convenient, yet just as capable at handling what most people want an iPad for as its bigger brother; the iPad maxi (which I wouldn't be surprised if Apple ended up callng the iPad Pro in the future, once the iPad mini gets a Retina display) is the model for the creative professionals.

I can say with some confidence that a full-size iPad no longer has much use to me; the mini, on the other hand, has become something I value more than my phone. In fact, if push came to shove, I'd give up my phone for a week faster than I'd give up the iPad mini.

I put this to the test this year. The iPad mini allowed me to cover the whole of CES earlier this month without using any paper or turning my iPhone on. I didn't even take a notepad into the conference halls. Its size was just right to be carried around the show floor, acting as a writing device (Pages), a shorthand notepad (the GoodNotes app and a Bamboo Stylus), a dictaphone (SoundCloud) and a photo editor (iPhoto). Hell, it was even the camera as well on a couple of occasions. I never considered doing this with the main iPad because it was just that bit too big and I always needed two hands to use it.

But as a result of the iPad mini having become my go-to device for damn-near everything, a 128GB model is on my wish list. The 64GB model I use is already full and that's despite iTunes downgrading my lossless audio CD rips into 256Kbps AAC files. The rest is taken up with photos, a few RPG games (Baldur's Gate alone is about a 2GB install) and various other apps and media files.

A 128GB iPad mini won't happen until Apple can divide the mini and the "Pro" a bit more, and for that we'll have to wait for the next generation of both models. It will happen, but not for a few months yet. [WiredUK]

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