Sony must’ve forgotten to pack this one for its Mobile World Congress trip, as it’s just announced the Xperia Sola today. It’s a 3.7″ model running at 854×480 resolution and with the same Reality Display tech we’ve seen in Sony Ericsson phones for some time, running on a 1GHz STE NovaThor dual-core processor.
Android 2.3 will be the Sola’s OS when it launches in “Q2″ of this year, although the launch announcement says an update to Sony’s Android 4.0 release will appear in “Summer 2012.” Here it is, using a rather different design style from the more powerful and larger Xperia S and Xperia P:
You also get DLNA sharing and NFC support inside the Xperia Sola, a 5MP camera with 720p video recording, 8GB of storage space and 512MB of RAM. For those of you not won over by today’s rush for bigger and bigger screen sizes, this ought to make a good option.
Here’s the press release – tech specs can be found over on the Xperia Sola home page.
The power of Sony and a sense of magic
Sony Mobile Communications today announced Xperia™ sola* as the latest addition to its portfolio of Android powered Xperia smartphones. Complete with Sony technology, premium entertainment and innovative floating touchTM navigation, the NFC enabled Xperia sola comes equipped with Xperia SmartTags, allowing consumers to change their smartphone’s settings and applications to fit their lifestyle in an instant. Xperia sola will be available to consumers globally in black, white and red in the second quarter.
A floating touch of magic
Making its smartphone debut exclusively on Xperia sola, Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen. Once the desired link is found it can be highlighted and a simple tap will load the page. Floating touch will evolve with new user functionality and applications through software updates and engagement with developers.
Calum MacDougall, Head of Xperia Marketing for Sony Mobile Communications, commented; “Xperia sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web and latest technology to show off. With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access to the latest content through Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia sola is perfect for consumers looking for ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone.”
Simplify the everyday with SmartTags
Xperia sola is NFC enabled and comes with two NFC Xperia SmartTags in the box as standard to simplify consumers’ everyday smartphone experiences. By touching an NFC Android smartphone on a SmartTag, a pre-configured profile in the smartphone will launch. The two SmartTags included with Xperia sola can be personalized with up to 10 commands. Out of the box they are ready for the living room to turn on Wi-Fi™ and launches Google™ news and weather apps, or for the bedroom, which turns on the alarm and switches to silent mode. Xperia sola supports NFC pairing, allowing consumers to enjoy great connectivity with other NFC smartphones, applications and services by tapping their smartphones together.
Powerful entertainment anytime, anywhere
Xperia sola boasts razor sharp clarity with Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine, xLOUD™ and 3D surround sound audio technology delivering crisp and loud sound, and a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast performance. Xperia sola also comes with fast capture to take the camera from sleep to snap in a little over a second with a single key press.
Consumers can also access premium entertainment experiences with Sony Entertainment Network**, where they can watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters on Video Unlimited or listen to millions of songs*** through Music Unlimited.
It’s smooth to use, the 1080p display is sharp, clear and bright, the device is extremely light and thin and therefore very pocketable and portable — much more so than other 5-inch phones we’ve used. And yet… we’re a bit unimpressed by the overall package…
A relatively high-spec smartphone, with a 4.5″ display running at 480 x 854 resolution and powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, plus the Ascend G510 arrives running Android 4.1.1 — albeit potentially hindered by Huawei only sticking 512MB of RAM inside it..
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
DTEG
/ March 13, 2012Ah, the much-rumoured Pepper at last. I like this a lot, and contrary to some of said rumours, it does have a memory card slot. I wonder if the battery is user replaceable though?
Gary_C
/ March 13, 2012Powered by the Ericsson NovaThor U8500 processor, too. That’ll be interesting (in a sad nerdy way).
DTEG
/ March 13, 2012U8500 is supposedly good for battery life, 1320mAh otherwise being a bit skimpy. I believe it’s in most of the 2012 range, so hopefully it’s a good gamble for Sony…
Dave
/ March 13, 2012Sony are just pumping out good looking phones, i hope this starts an evolution in the smartphone arena.
Chris
/ March 14, 2012Two things that jump out at me here: 1.) The screen size. 3.7″ may not be the biggest on the market, but it’s still bigger than a rival fruit based phone. 2.) oddly Sony seem to have kept the same green logo, despite their recent divorce.
DTEG
/ March 14, 2012Re size, do bear in mind the different aspect ratios. Sony’s 3.7″ works out a couple of mm narrower than the fruity 3.5″ when held vertically. So it is overall (just) larger but may not be as finger friendly as some might hope – though for those of us after a candybar replacement rather than a tablet with a microphone, that’s not necessarily too bad a thing.
As for the logo, the “divorce” basically meant Sony bought out Ericsson’s portion rather than that they went their separate ways. So they get to keep everything they want other than the name itself – logo included, which has strong brand recognition.