Now Vaio is its own boss, free from Sony, it’s able to do as it chooses. Hot on the heels of two rather nice new laptops, it’s announced its first smartphone. Say hello to VAIO Phone.
Its a sleek enough looking handset, certainly, all glossy back plastic — but if anything that serves to make it look rather nondescript. Secs are middling, too. There’s 2GB of RAM, a 1.2GHz processor, five-inch 720p display, 13-megapixel camera and Android 5.0. Mercifully it comes free from bloatware, but the overall impression is one of a middle-of-the-road black tile to prod ones finger at.
It’s no iPhone rival, then — but it’s worth remembering that Vaio itself is far, far smaller than the Sony brand it stems from. If it takes a little while to find its smartphone feet, so be it. The phone will be available in Japan from March 20 on a small carrier called b-mobile. It will cost $US33 per month to snag a phone with an unlimited data contract, or $US420 to buy one outright. Currently there’s no word on when it might make an appearance internationally. [Engadget]