Sony has released its much-awaited smartphone, the Xperia S, its first phone without the Ericsson name attached. Back in October, Sony announced it would acquire Ericsson's 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, making the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony, which means, the brand Sony Ericsson is history.

Sony hopes its 1.5 billion dollar acquisition of phone partner Ericsson will help make up for crucial lost years in the smartphone world.

When the mobile market shifted its focus from simple mobile phones to smartphones, Sony failed to compete with platforms like Apple's iOS and Google's Andriod.