Sony Mobile has announced the Xperia E1, a budget Android phone ahead of Mobile World Congress next month. The Xperia E1 is a mid-range music focused handset that features Sony’s Walkman Technology that makes E1 a smartphone for people who want to express themselves out loud. According to Sony, the Xperia E1 brings Sony’s leading audio technologies together with expertise in display, design, performance and the “best smartphone in its class”.
The Xperia E1 comes with a 100dB speaker and 30 days free access to millions of songs through the Sony Entertainment Network. Sony claims that its ClearAudio+ and xLoud technologies will be able to deliver crystal clear audio even at very high volumes. It also uses the Sony’s Walkman technology with shake-to-shuffle controls and a dedicated “long press to launch” Walkman button. Sony adds up all this with a dedicated Sony’s “WALKMAN” App that makes short work of combining on and offline music, creating playlists, as well as playing and sharing tracks.
The Xperia E1 features a 4-inch WVGA display with 800×480 resolution. The phone is powered by a 1.2 Ghz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 MSM8210 processor with 512MB of RAM. It comes with 4GB of storage space and microSD card slot. The phone packs a 1700 mAh battery, that is somewhat diminutive for a music phone. It also comes with a rear camera, but no words on specs of camera yet from Sony.
Sony Xperia E1 key specifications
- Display: 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display
- Processor: 1.2Ghz dual Core Snapdragon 200 Processor
- Memory: 512 MB RAM and 4GB storage (microSD card slot available)
- Music Features: Walkman key, shake to shuffle and hardware controls for easy music control
- Battery: 1700 mAh
- Available Colors: white, black and purple
Like the Xperia T2 Ultra smartphone, there will be two variants of the Xperia E1, with single and dual-SIM options. The dual-sim version lets users set up both SIM cards independently with custom ring tones and one-touch switching between SIMs before making calls or sending texts. users can keep both SIMs active at all times.
The Sony Xperia E1 will come in white, black and purple, all with HSPA+ connectivity. The phone will be available at a price less than 175 Euros (around $240) and to be launched at the end of February.