After Sony sold the VAIO brand, well-known by laptop-users and not only, to Japan Industrial Partners, we heard some rumors about about a new smartphone which was supposed to launch soon.
Something looks familiar…
Of course, we initially though that a few months will need to pass for us to see the final product, but these guys moved quicker than expected, as the first VAIO Phone was unveiled today.
At a first look, it reminds us of the Nexus 4, but this is just a personal opinion. It sports a 5″ IPS display, with a 720p resolution. Ah c’mooon guys, why not full HD? A screen so big requires way more pixels!
Under the hood, it has a Snapdragon 410 chipset, with a quad-core CPU, running at 1.2 GHz, aided by 2 GB of RAM. In terms of internal storage, it has just 16 gigs, but there’s a microSD card slot too, so you can expand this with ease.
Moving on to the camera department, the VAIO Phone comes with a common setup, consisting in a 13 MP rear snapper and a 5 MP front facing unit. As for the battery, it has a capacity of 2,500 mAh. Considering that it has just a 720p display, we won’t be surprise to hear that it will last more than most 5″ phones on the market.
No bloatware, nice!
Surprisingly, the VAIO Phone comes with an almost-stock version of Android 5.0 Lollipop, as there are just a few VAIO apps, but they’re not so relevant.
Last but not least, the price. Unfortunately, for the moment is available just in Japan, for JPY3,000 upfront ($25 more or less), and JPY2,000 for 24 months, for a total of JPY51,000 ($420), according to GSM Arena. A bit expensive, compared to other mid-range devices, we’d say. There are no details about its availability in other area, but if it will be well received by the Japanese market, we don’t see why it won’t hit the US and Europe too.
Any first thoughts about the VAIO Phone? Would you buy one?
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