Play your mobile content on any device with the new Throw feature

Yesterday we announced the Xperia Z, which includes the new feature Throw. This feature lets you seamlessly play your music, and share videos and photos on your smartphone on another device.  With only a few clicks, you can easily connect your phone to a TV or a speaker by using screen mirroring, DLNA or Bluetooth®. To enable this seamless wireless content sharing, we have developed the Throw software engine which helps optimise and streamline your experience.  Read on for more details about how Throw works!

The Throw feature is integrated in the WALKMAN®, Album and Movies apps on recent Xperia™ smartphones, including Xperia™ T as well as the just announced Xperia™ Z and Xperia™ ZL (in other models, such as Xperia™ S, the feature is called Play on device.) With Throw, you’ll find that both the user interface, as well as the software, have been improved compared to previous versions. Now when you enjoy a music track, photo or movie on your phone, the Throw feature lets you pair your devices and play your content on a TV or speaker directly from the WALKMAN®, Album and Movies apps. This means you don’t have to go to the Settings menu to pair the devices.

The Throw icon – simply touch it to play your content on another device.

The Throw feature supports a range of different carrier technologies, to always be able to play your content in an optimised way:

• TV – DLNA, screen mirroring.
• Speaker – DLNA, Bluetooth®.

Use Throw to easily play your content on another device

Screenshots from the WALKMAN® app showing how you can access the Throw feature from the menu.

So how does it work then? Well, when you’re watching a video or photo, or when you’re playing your favourite music in one of Sony’s media applications – WALKMAN®, Album and Movies – you can “throw” your content to another device simply by choosing Throw  in the user interface. Then a list of all available devices appears and you can easily select the one you want to play your content on. In addition, the throw icon will appear in the Sony media applications as soon as a DLNA device or a paired Bluetooth® or screen mirroring device is within range.

Screenshot from the Throw UI showing a list of available devices.

If a connected device supports more than one way to connect, the Throw feature automatically selects the most suitable technology for your content. The connection methods are prioritised in the following way:

1. Screen mirroring
2. DLNA
3. Bluetooth®

However, if you want all possible ways to connect to be shown in the list, you can easily define this in the Throw settings.

So, are you eager to check out the Xperia™ Z or the Xperia™ ZL with the improved Throw feature? Drop us a comment below and let us know what you think!