Sony has been innovating in the market with their phones, bringing in new features that eventually are adopted by their competitors, such as IP 68 rating and a great camera sensor. Their smartphones can be a hit or miss to certain segments of the market, so is the Sony Xperia X a hit or a miss to Malaysia's masses?

When Sony revealed their three new camera-centric Xperia X series at the MWC 2016, words went around that Sony had actually replaced the Xperia Z series with those new smartphones. Well, turns out that it was true. As news just came yesterday that Sony Mobile is indeed discontinuing the Xperia Z series, here's what they have to say:-

MWC is one of the most important events for smartphone manufacturers as it provides a platform for these companies to show off their tech. Samsung and HTC have almost confirmed the launch of their flagship devices, but we haven't heard much about Sony's own Sony Xperia Z4 flagship. Some even say considering the lack of information and leaks about the device, the company may not announce it at the event. However, a recent leak from Weibo says otherwise. The leak reveals the front panel of a device which it claims is the upcoming Sony flagship. The phone does have the traditional Sony branding on top and the design looks more or less like the existing Xperia Z3. From the images, it looks like the bezels have become much thinner and the front camera and sensors have swapped places. The camera now lies on the left side and the sensor on the right. As for the tech specs, the Xperia Z4 is expected to come with the latest Snapdragon 810 processor along with 4GB of RAM. The phone may feature a 5.5-inch 2K display, 20.7MP rear camera, 4.8MP front facing wide-angle camera and a 3420 mAh battery. Sony will most likely unveil the device at MWC 2015, so stay tuned for more updates.

Sony started the whole water-proof smartphone trend with their Xperia Z smartphone, but truth be told, you can't really do much except take videos and pictures underwater. Well, now you can do something else as Sony release their new Underwater Apps for the Sony Xperia Z and Xperia Z1 smartphones, and even then, they must be from the US region. Most of the apps don't do much except to showcase your waterproof smartphone but the Goldie, Photo Lab, Plantimal, Sink Sunk, Rainy-oke and Tiny Umbrella do let you show it off a bit more. The only functional app to us would be the Sink Sunk app for those of you who'd like to play a game while scuba diving. As it is, Sony has opened it up to developers so we might see some useful underwater apps in the near future. No news when non-US Xperia Z and Xperia Z1 smartphones may get access but we'll let you know as soon as we find out.

When you say flagship smartphone, the characteristics most people will think about is super thin with premium features and an equally premium price. While the Huawei Ascend P7 is certainly super thin at just 6.5mm and packs in a whole bunch of premium flagship-level features, it certainly isn't priced as one. It is also one of the lightest smartphones we've ever reviewed. Is it excellent enough though? Read our full review of the Huawei Ascend P7 smartphone below and find out.

Following in the footsteps of the Sony Xperia Z with it's tempered glass encased smartphones is Lenovo who recently revealed three new smartphones for the midrange. These would be the Lenovo S660, Lenovo S850 and Lenovo S860. Granted, only the Lenovo S850 has the premium glass encased chassis but the other two have interesting features as well. The Lenovo S860 should be noted as having a large 4000 mAh battery that can be used to charge other devices while the Lenovo S660 features a scratch and fingerprint resistant brushed metal backside, both of which are features you rarely see on a midrange smartphone. Check out the tech specs and features for the Lenovo S860, S850 and S660 below:

• Lenovo S860
• 1.3GHz Mediatek processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 5.3-inch display (720p)
• 8MP rear camera + 1.6MP front camera
• Supports 3G, Dual-SIM, dual front speakers
• 4000 mAh battery (can charge other devices)
• Android 4.2
• $349 (RM1145)

The ASUS FonePad 7 is generally known better for it's budget price than for it's performance but the 2014 edition promises to not only fix issues in the previous version but make it even better. Does it manage to do so with flying colours or is it just another slightly above average all-in-one tablet device? Read on and find out in our in-depth review of the ASUS FonePad 7.

Rumours about the upcoming successor to the Sony Xperia Z otherwise known as the Sony Xperia Sirius D6503 continue to come out. As it is, they are fleshing out a better and clearer picture of this rumoured cameraphone and while it seems like tech specs for a 20.7MP camera sensor, 5.2-inch display and 3GB of RAM have already been mentioned, other features are also coming out. These features include rumours that the Sirius could allow Full HD 1080p video recording at 60 frames per second on top of also offering a 15.5MP manual camera mode shot in a 16:9 aspect ratio. No news still on when we may see it or for how much but we expect it to make an appearance at the upcoming MWC Expo 2014 at the end of the month.

When the Sony Xperia Z first came out it created a big splash, which is why many people are quite excited about the Sony Xperia Sirius D6503, which may be the Sony Xperia Z 2. Screenshots of the cameraphone's camera app were recently leaked along with some possible tech specs and features as well. So far, estimated tech specs for the smartphone include a Snapdragon 800 processor, 5.2-inch Triluminous display, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 20.7MP rear camera with 4K and 1080p at 60fps video recording and Android 4.4.2. Most of these tech specs are still unconfirmed, but the screenshot of the camera app seems to confirm that it will be able to record 4K video. No news on when exactly we might see a Malaysia release date or pricing, but we hope that it doesn't go too premium by the time it arrives.

With 2014 already here, we look back at the year 2013 for all the awesome mobile phones to have come out in 2013 for Malaysia. There were quite a lot of them, so we picked based on innovation, performance, design and potential successfully delivered. In no specific order we list out the following mobile phones that rocked our world currently available with local Malaysia support as follows:

• HTC One - The First Good-looking Android Phone
• Sony Xperia Z - The First Stylish Water-proof smartphone
• Samsung Galaxy S4 series - A performance smartphone for every user
• Nokia Lumia 1020 - The Ultimate Cameraphone
• LG G2 - Best all-rounder performance with functional rear controls
• Sony Xperia Z1 - The most feature-filled smartphone
• Nokia Asha 500 series - Bringing hybrid smartphone capabilities to the masses
• Apple iPhone 5S - The world's first 64-bit smartphone with well-done fingerprint scanner
• Nokia Lumia 1520 - The Videographers phablet
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - The Ultimate Phablet with 3GB RAM
• Motorola Moto X - Always on and always listening
• Vivo Xplay 3S - World's first 2K display smartphone
• BlackBerry Z10 - World's first BlackBerry smartphone with no QWERTY keyboard