Panasonic outs dual-core Euro-centric Android phone
Eluga caviar?
Panasonic today showed off its upcoming smartphone - it's first for Europe - the Android-based Eluga.
The skinny - it's 7.8mm thick and weighs 103g - handset sports a 4.3in, 540 x 960 (qHD) display and packs in near-field communications (NFC) contactless payment and file transfer tech.
The smartphone runs Android 2.3.5 running on a 1GHz Texas Instruments dual-core CPU. There's 8GB of Flash storage on board and an 8Mp camera on the back. Bluetooth 2.1 and 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi join 3G HSPA for wireless connectivity.
Eluga is also waterproof and dustproof, Panasonic claimed. The phone uses iPhone-style Micro Sim cards.
Designed specifically for the sensibilities of fashionable Europeans - think Prada by LG - Eluga will be pitched hard. Panasonic said it wants to shift 1.5m of the things between a "Spring 2012" launch and April 2013.
Panasonic was vague as to whether those are European or global shipments - we suspect the latter - but it'll undoubtedly use its 2012 Olympics sponsorship to promote the phone.
There's no word yet on pricing - or any deals with operators to make the Panasonic Eluga available up-front more cheaply. ®
COMMENTS
RE:"The phone uses iPhone-style Micro Sim cards."
What on earth was it about micro sim cards that required that A Certain Phone be mentioned? What on earth was the relevance here? Apple certainly love it when lazy writing treats their product as a kind of SI unit to be mentioned on every conceivable (and inconceivable) occasion but I think that we should resist this kind of thing.
Re: Re: Do Europeans go swimming a lot with their phones?
"dropping the phone in the toilet is no. 4 on the insurance claim list for mobile damage in Ireland- and no. 5 in Germany"
Must be Windows Phone mobiles, as that is where they belong!
IP57 is not really a waterpoof rating, IP68 would be
I hate to be petty, but technically IP57 is incorrectly described in the specs. The first number, 5 stands for Dust Protected and the second number, 7 stands for 1 Meter for 30 minutes Immersion. A truly Water Proof, Submersible rating is IP68 (fully submersible to 30 meters, usually rated for 24 hours, See Rolex) while the stated IP57 would be considered "highly water resistant" See Timex).
IP68 also applies when the enclosure has been opened and closed numerous times. IP57 does not include the enclosure ever being opened,
Oh, And I'm willing to bet they are "Self certifying" the IP rating with no 3rd party testing.
Re: Do Europeans go swimming a lot with their phones?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20081595-71/study-19-percent-of-people-drop-phones-down-toilet/
Mind you, they could be insurance frauds with the purpose of upgrading for free.
Re: Sharp corners?
I suppose you have to be careful when giving them to children!
