We first saw the Sony Xperia E and its dual-sim cousin online way back on October 25, and Sony Mobile has just announced the Xperia E officially.
The Xperia E will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean under the hood, and will be the first device from Sony that will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box. As we mentioned in our October report, the Xperia E is an entry-level device and will include a 3.5” HVGA display, HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS navigation, HD voice and noise cancellation, xLOUD and 3D surround sound, a 3.2-megapixel camera at the back with VGA video recording, a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, and also includes 4GB of internal memory with expandable memory support through microSD. All of this comes in a package that measures 114mm x 61.8mm x 11mm, and weighs about 116 grams. In addition, the smartphone is powered by a 1,500mAh battery, delivering up to 6.3 hours of talk time.
As for the dual-SIM edition, it has not yet been announced by Sony Mobile, but seeing as how it, too, was seen strutting its stuff online in October, it will likely be only a matter of time before information about it falls into our laps.
The full Sony Mobile press release follows:
Sony introduces Xperia™ E – An affordable smartphone with HD Voice, data usage monitoring and battery power management
5th December 2012, London, United Kingdom
Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) today announced a new affordable addition to its Xperia smartphone range, Xperia E. Sony’s latest Android smartphone will be available in both single and dual SIM versions from Q1 2013.
Xperia E is a compact and competitively priced smartphone that is engineered for simplicity. Available in black, white and pink, Xperia E boasts outstanding HD Voice quality that makes phone calls clearer than ever before. It also features noise cancellation that filters out background noise so consumers can hold crystal clear conversations in any environment.
Xperia E has also been designed to let consumers stay on top of cost and power consumption. The data usage application monitors how much is being spent and the extended standby mode increases the standby time up to 4 times. When the screen has been in sleep mode for a few minutes, Wi-Fi and data traffic will be disabled and most applications will be inactive to save battery life. However, calling and messaging will continue to work as normal. Once you touch the screen to wake the device up from standby, all functions are back to normal.
It will also be available in a dual SIM version – Xperia Edual – so that consumers can easily switch between tariffs with just one touch to stay on the most cost effective plan.
“Consumers looking to take their first steps into the world of Xperia smartphones would be well advised to look at Xperia E or Xperia E dual. They are perfect for those seeking affordable access to the quality and functionality more traditionally associated with high-end Android smartphones,” said Calum MacDougall, Director Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.
Xperia E comes equipped with superior sound quality with the in-built “WALKMAN®” application that includes xLOUD™ audio technology, 3D surround sound and a manual equalizer. With access to millions of music tracks from the cloud based streaming service, Music Unlimited from Sony Entertainment Network, consumers can also easily view and share their content on TV, tablet and PC with DLNA wireless connectivity.
Xperia E will launch on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) for the latest Android user experience.