Remember how VAIO used to be a brand used by Sony for its computers, but then the VAIO brand became its own company? Well VAIO’s been busy making its own computers, but now it’s apparently decided to get into the smartphone game.
A new VAIO phone has been announced for Japanese carrier b-mobile. The phone will launch on March 20 with a 5-inch 1280x720 display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 13-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a microSD card slot. The VAIO phone is powered by a 2500mAh battery and Android 5.0. As for price, which is perhaps the most important spec detail, the VAIO phone will be sold for 51,000 yen (around $422) or 4,000 yen (around $33 USD) per month with a service plan.
Interestingly, the VAIO phone is the spitting image of the Panasonic Eluga U2, both in terms of design and specs. The Eluga U2 is considerably cheaper than the VAIO phone, though, costing around 7,990 Taiwan dollars (around 30,000 yen or $253 USD).
It’s exciting to see a new competitor enter the smartphone space, but that excitement is dampened a bit by the fact that VAIO’s first Android phone appears to be a rebranded version of a Panasonic handset. Here’s to hoping that VAIO continues to release mobile hardware and that its future offerings are a bit more original.