Technologies

Sony Xperia 1 VII Lets You Shoot Video Without Looking

The premium phone’s AI video skills sound intriguing but its high price might be a problem.

Sony’s latest flagship Android phone, the Xperia 1 VII, packs a variety of exciting tech features from its Snapdragon 8 Elite chip to its promise of AI-based audio quality upscaling. But it’s the video tools that really caught my attention, in particular the ‘AI Camerawork’ and ‘Autoframing’ functions that apparently let you shoot steady, professional-looking video without even looking at your phone.

It certainly sounds like a novel idea, but this phone needs novel ideas — and plenty of them — to justify its whopping price tag. At £1,399, the Xperia 1 VII is significantly more expensive than both the equivalent iPhone 16 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both those phones have seriously impressed us in their full reviews so Sony will have its work cut out for it if it hopes to pry that much cash out of your hands.

Read more: Best Android Phone in 2025

The phone is up for the preorder today in the UK, although Sony currently has no plans to bring it to the US. For reference, that £1,399 UK price converts to about $1,860. Ouch.

AI video shooting

The AI video tools certainly seem to be the big reason to choose this phone. While I have yet to test it myself, Sony’s press materials suggest that it works by using a wide-angle lens, AI-based subject tracking and «posture estimation technology» to keep your subject in frame.

The idea is that you only need to roughly point your phone in the vague direction of your subject and the phone will do the rest. It sounds like it could be great for things like skateboarding videos where you and your friend are speeding down the street, although how it really performs in such high-paced scenarios remains to be seen.

It’s not just the video camera that’s been given the AI treatment. Sony says the phone has its «best sound quality to date» thanks to AI-based algorithms that actively upscale compressed, streamed music to make it sound as good as it can. Sony has even equipped the phone with a wired headphone jack to keep audiophiles happy.

Sony also says it uses technology inherited from its Bravia TVs for better looking colors on its 6.5-inch display. I’m quite surprised at its low resolution though; the Xperia 1 VII’s 1,080×2,340-pixel resolution gives it a pixel density of only 396 pixels per inch (ppi). That’s quite a bit below the iPhone 16 Pro’s 460ppi or the S25 Ultra’s 501ppi and for the Xperia’s price, I’d have expected more. Still, I’ll reserve judgment on the overall quality until I’m able to see it for myself.

Other features include a triple rear camera system, IP68 water resistance and a 5,000mAh battery. While Sony’s spec sheet simply states «USB PD fast charging,» it makes no reference to the actual speed it’ll charge. The company does say it’ll support the phone with six years of security updates, which is fair, although a year less than what Samsung or Google offer for their much cheaper handsets.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 14, #233

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 233, for May 14.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

When you start seeing obvious last names in Connections: Sports Edition, you might think it’s an easy grouping of four. But today, there are eight names, so you need to know how they relate in order to put them in the right groups. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app, but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Show me how.

Green group hint: Numbers for outfielders, etc.

Blue group hint: City of Brotherly Love.

Purple group hint: Not Johnny or Billy, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Teach.

Green group: Baseball fielding stats.

Blue group: Current Philadelphia sports stars.

Purple group: Jimmy ____

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is teach. The four answers are coach, drill, instruct and manage.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball fielding stats. The four answers are assist, error, fielding percentage and putout.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is current Philadelphia sports stars. The four answers are Barkley, Harper, Hurts and Maxey.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Jimmy ____. The four answers are Butler, Garoppolo, Graham and Rollins.

Technologies

VPNSecure Customers Discover Their Lifetime Subscriptions Were Canceled

The new owner of VPNSecure said it didn’t know about the lifetime deals when it bought the VPN provider two years ago.

Lifetime means lifetime. Except when it doesn’t. That has been the dilemma of some VPNSecure customers, whose lifetime subscriptions were canceled by the new owners of the VPN provider — without the customers being told in advance that the subscriptions would end.

A Reddit user posted a copy of a message they said they received from VPNSecure’s new owner. In that message, the company tells customers that it did not know about the lifetime deals when it purchased the company in May 2023.

A VPN, or virtual private network, encrypts your internet traffic and masks your IP address, which can make your physical location detectable. A VPN enables you to keep your online activity private and trick apps and websites into thinking you’re in a different state or even country. For an in-depth look at VPNs, check out CNET’s guide to everything you need to know about VPNs and how they work.

In its email to customers, VPNSecure outlined the situation regarding the lifetime deals. The email said that the owner bought «the technology, domain, and customer database-but not the liabilities. Unfortunately, the previous owner did not disclose that thousands of Lifetime Deals (LTDs) had been sold through platforms like StackSocial.»

According to the email, the company deactivated accounts that had been dormant for six months or more, then later canceled all the lifetime deals as of April 28.

In the email, VPNSecure said that its «resources were strained by these LTD accounts» that «provide no sustaining income to help us improve and maintain the service.»

A representative for VPNSecure did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Customers are not happy

Several miffed customers weighed in with angry comments on Trustpilot.

«I had bought a ‘lifetime’ subscription a few years ago,» one person wrote. «Horrible new owners come in and cancel everything claiming ignorance. Either they’re idiots or they’re scammers — not sure which is worse.»

In response to customer reactions, VPNSecure is offering discounted new subscriptions to users whose lifetime deals were canceled. They can pay $1.87 for a month (instead of $9.95), $19 for one year (instead of $79.92), or $55 for three years (instead of $107.64). The deals are available until May 31, according to the email that was posted on Reddit.

Technologies

Coming Soon to Apple Devices: Brain Control Accessibility Features

A standard for brain implants that would allow disabled people to control devices such as iPhones and the Apple Vision Pro could be available for developers this year.

Apple is making progress on a standard for brain implant devices that can help people with disabilities control devices such as iPhones with their thoughts. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Apple has plans to release that standard to other developers later this year.

The company has partnered with Synchron, which has been working with other companies, including Amazon, on ways to make devices more accessible. Synchron makes an implant called a Stentrode that is implanted in a vein on the brain’s motor cortex. Once implanted, the Stentrode can read brain signals and translate that to movement on devices including iPhones, iPads and Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset.

As we saw last year, a patient with ALS testing the Synchron technology was able to navigate menus in the Vision Pro device and use it to experience the Swiss Alps in VR. The technology could become more widely available to people with paralysis. The company has a community portal for those interested in learning about future tests.

Synchron has also been working on ways to use the interface with ChatGPT.

Effects on accessibility

Although Apple is planning to release its standards, it may be a while before the kinds of technology made by Synchron and Elon Musk’s brain-interface company Neuralink reach a mass audience of those who need it.

«It’s important to keep in mind that while amazing medical interventions are becoming possible, the timeline for full mainstream adoption of people with severe mobility disabilities is still long, and we should maintain a focus on ensuring that we are making products accessible now,» said Bob Farrell, vice president for solution delivery and accessibility at Applause, a technology testing company that recently released an accessibility report.

Farrell said that Apple has helped lead a shift in the tech industry to make products available to a wider audience of those with disabilities.

«Apple recognized the social and business benefit to building inclusive products, and we’re seeing an uptick in other industries focusing on inclusivity, like gaming,» he said. «Game companies are now competing for accessibility awards and driving innovation forward in an industry that has traditionally argued it’s exempt from legal requirements around accessibility — yet demand for inclusion remains, and companies are innovating in this area.»

Making products truly inclusive, Farrell said, takes a lot of work and commitment and, Apple aside, not all of them invest and prioritize or seek out input from people with disabilities.

«We encourage more organizations to involve people with disabilities at every stage of the product-development lifecycle, from early conceptual research to both formal and informal usability testing with assistive technologies,» Farrell said.

«We’d also encourage more companies, especially those leading in consumer tech, to collaborate with accessibility experts and the disability community from the outset. Real-world feedback and testing can uncover critical usability issues that internal teams and automated tools will miss,» he said.

Other Apple announcements

Separately, Apple announced a set of new accessibility features it plans to roll out later this year. They include:

Accessibility Nutrition Labels in the App Store will show accessibility features in games and other apps.
A Magnifier tool for Mac, similar to the one available in iOS.
Braille Access through compatible braille devices allowing for note taking, access to more books and live captions for braille displays.
An Accessibility Reader mode across iOS, Mac and Vision Pro.
Live Captions for Apple Watch.
Enhanced View on Vision Pro.
Other features and updates are listed on its blog.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is on May 15.