Sony Xperia ear duo

The Xperia Ear Duo offers a new listening experience while staying connected to the world. You can enjoy music, make calls, listen to your schedule, forecasts and more, all while being able to hear your surroundings.

FIT AND FORM

The design is really unusual. The Xperia Ear Duo’s look like no other earbud out there. Rather than follow the true-wireless trend of stuffing all the tech inside a single, bulbous earbud, Sony has put the components inside an oblong section that’s slung under your ear, with the tiny earbud itself connected to the end of a fixed, curved pipe. Think of them like upside down hearing aids. This does make fitting an art. You have to slide the earbud into place, while maneuvering the main component to nestle under your earlobe.

FAST CHARGING

The Ear Duo’s quoted four hours of battery life per charge isn’t any better than most other true wireless earbuds, and an hour worse than our favorites, including Apple’s much cheaper AirPods and Jabra’s new 65t. The case recharges them for a total of 16 hours use, which again is about average in the market. Handily, the case has a quick charge feature where seven minutes plugged into a power socket will return an hour of earbud use — perfect for a journey home if the battery unexpectedly runs out.

Colours

Available in black or gold, the metallic finish merges seamlessly with your style and accessories.

Price

The company will put the Xperia Ear Duo on sale in the spring for an announced price of $280 or 280 euros.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Open-style design for dual listening
• Truly wireless design for ultimate freedom
• Daily Assist helps you through the day
• Connects with Google Assistant and Siri
• Stylish case with up to 3x battery charge

WEIGHT

Core unit 10.6g each, Charging Case 76g

DIMENSIONS

Core units 17.5 x 59.6 x 10.2 mm, Charging case 89 x 89 x 25 mm

Sony a7III

Following the recently refreshed A7R III, tonight Sony announced its "basic" model update with the A7 III mirrorless camera. This time around it's packing a 24.2 MP sensor, internal 4K HDR video capability (downscaled from 6K) and what Sony says is the longest rated battery life of any mirrorless camera thanks to its Z series battery. It will cost $2,000/£2,000 for the body alone when it goes on sale in Europe in March and in the US this April, or as a kit with FE 28‑70 mm F3.5‑5.6 lens for $2,200/£2,200. That's a bit pricier than the A7 II was when it was introduced in 2014, but the list of improvements justifying it is long. Owners will find items like dual SD slots, a USB-C port as well as microUSB , HDMI and wireless connections via WiFi, NFC and Bluetooth. The BIONZ-X processor is 1.8 times faster than its predecessor's chip, and the camera has pulled in a 693-point autofocus system from Sony's A9 model. It also shares a frame with that camera (and the A7R III) so it's ready for all E-mount accessories. Interestingly, since the A7 III has Sony's absolute latest autofocus system, it actually works a bit better than the one on the A7R III, the company said, yielding faster focus with less "wobble." It also does a full sensor readout for 4K video, unlike the A7R III, which can only readout an APS-C-sized chunk of the sensor (full-frame 4K is possible with the A7R III, but results in less sharp, pixel-binned video).

SPECIFICATIONS

Lens Mount  Sony E-Mount
Camera Format  Full-Frame
Pixels  Actual: 25.3 Megapixel
Effective: 24.2 Megapixel
Max Resolution  24 MP: 6000 x 4000
Aspect Ratio  3:2, 16:9
Sensor Type / Size   CMOS, 35.6 x 23.8 mm
File Formats
Still Images: JPEG, RAW
Movies: AVCHD Ver. 2.0, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, XAVC S
Audio: AC3, Dolby Digital 2ch, Linear PCM (Stereo)
Bit Depth  14-Bit
Dust Reduction System   Yes
Memory Card Type  SD, SDHC,  SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick PRO HG-Duo
Image Stabilization  Sensor-Shift, 5-Way
AV Recording
Video Recording  Yes, NTSC/PAL
Video Formats
3840 x 2160p at 23.98, 25, 29.97 fps (100 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
3840 x 2160p at 23.98, 25, 29.97 fps (60 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080p at 100, 120 fps (100 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080p at 100, 120 fps (60 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080p at 23.98, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94 fps (50 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080p at 50, 59.94 fps (25 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080p at 25, 29.97 fps (16 Mb/s XAVC S via H.264)
1920 x 1080i at 50, 59.94 fps (24 Mb/s AVCHD via H.264)
1920 x 1080i at 50, 59.94 fps (17 Mb/s AVCHD via H.264)
Aspect Ratio  16:9
Video Clip Length   Up to 29 Min
Audio Recording  Built-In Mic: With Video (Stereo), Optional External Mic: With Video (Stereo)
Focus Control
Focus Type  Auto & Manual
Focus Mode  Automatic (A), Continuous-Servo AF (C), Direct Manual Focus (DMF), Manual Focus (M), Single-servo AF (S)
Autofocus Points  Phase Detection: 693,  Contrast Detection: 425
Viewfinder/Display
Viewfinder Type  Electronic
Viewfinder Size  0.5″
Viewfinder Pixel Count  2,359,000
Viewfinder Eye Point  23.00 mm
Viewfinder Coverage  100%
Viewfinder Magnification  Approx. 0.78x
Diopter Adjustment  -4 to +3 m
Display Screen  3″ Rear Touchscreen Tilting LCD (921,600)
Screen Coverage  100%
Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity  Auto, 100-51200 (Extended Mode: 50-204800)
Shutter  30 – 1/8000 Second  Bulb Mode
Remote Control   RM-VPR1, VCT-XPR10, VCT-VPR1, RM-SPR1, RMT-VP1K (Optional)
Metering Method  Center-Weighted Average Metering, Multi-Zone Metering, Spot Metering, Highlight Weighted
Exposure Modes  Modes: Aperture Priority, Auto, Manual, Movie, Program, Shutter Priority
Metering Range: EV -3.0 – EV 20.0  Compensation: -5 EV to +5 EV (in 1/3 or 1/2 EV Steps)
White Balance Modes  Auto, Cloudy, Color Temperature, Custom, Daylight, Flash, Fluorescent (Cool White), Fluorescent (Daylight), Fluorescent (Warm White), Incandescent, Shade, Underwater
Buffer/Continuous Shooting  Up to 10 fps at 24.2 MP for up to 89 Frames in Raw Format,  Up to 10 fps at 24.2 MP for up to 177 Frames in JPEG Format, Up to 8 fps at 24.2 MP   Up to 6 fps at 24.2 MP,  Up to 3 fps at 24.2 MP
Flash
Flash Modes  Auto, Fill-In, Hi-Speed Sync, Off, Rear Sync, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, Wireless
Built-in Flash  No
Max Sync Speed . 1 / 250 Second
Flash Compensation  -3 EV to +3 EV (in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps)
Dedicated Flash System   TTL
External Flash Connection   Hot Shoe
Performance
Self Timer  10 Seconds, 5 Seconds, 2 Seconds
Connectivity  1/8″ Headphone, 1/8″ Microphone, HDMI D (Micro), USB 2.0 Micro-B, USB 3.0, USB Type-C
Wi-Fi Capable  Yes
Power
Battery  1 x NP-FZ100 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack, 7.2 VDC, 2280 mAh
Operating/Storage Temperature  Operating  32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
Physical
Dimensions (W x H x D)  5.0 x 3.8 x 2.9″ / 126.9 x 95.6 x 73.7 mm
Weight  1.43 lb / 650 g

Canon EOS M50

Canon has responded to criticism of the lack of 4K in all but it's high-end DSLRs by launching the EOS M50, its first mirrorless M-series camera with Ultra HD 4K video. Packing a new DIGIC 8 processor, the 24.1-megapixel, APS-C model can shoot 3,840 x 2,160 video at 24 fps, or 1080p video at 60 fps. It strongly resembles the high-end, DSLR-like M5, rather than the smaller M10 and M100 models. As you'd expect with that hump, it has an OLED optical viewfinder with touch and drag autofocus, and also pack Canon's vaunted Dual-Pixel phase-detection AF, a vari-angle, flippable touchscreen ideal for vloggers, 120fps slow-motion video (at 720p), a new silent-shooting mode and WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity.

Key Features:

• 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• Dual Pixel autofocus for stills and video
• DIGIC 8 processor
• 2.36M-dot OLED EVF
• 1.04M-dot vari-angle LCD
• 7.4 fps burst in AF-C (10 fps in AF-S)
• 4K/24p UHD video (1.6 x crop)
• 1080/60p and 720/120p HD video
• Wi-Fi and NFC with Bluetooth
• 235 shot-per-charge battery live (via CIPA)

Pricing and availability

The Canon EOS M50 will be available in April for $780 body-only in either black or white. It also ships in a variety of kits, including with the EF-M 15-45mm for $900, as well as with both the EF-M 15-45mm and EF-M 55-200mm for $1250.