Sony Mobile has launched its Xperia tipo and Xperia tipo dual smartphones in India.
Priced at Rs. 9,999 Xperia tipo is the first sub-Rs. 10,000 smartphone from the company. This smartphone was up for
pre-order earlier in the month at a popular e-commerce website for Rs. 9,499. As the name suggests, Xperia tipo dual is dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) version of Xperia tipo and is priced at Rs 10,449.
Both these smartphones have same specs, which is 3.2-inch TFT display with 480x320 pixel resolution and run on Android 4.0. There is 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor on board along with 512MB of RAM. This smartphone comes with 2.5GB internal storage and can be expanded up to 32 GB via microSD. Sony has tied up with Box to offer 50GB of cloud storage for life with the purchase of these Xperia smartphones.
For camera, there's a 3.2MP autofocus rear camera on board. The connectivity options include Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. Sony Xperia tipo is available in four colour options - black, white, red and blue while Xperia tipo dual is available in two colour options - black and silver. There also a handful of apps such as Bollywood Hungama, Cricbuzz and appXtra that come pre-loaded on both these smartphone.
Launching the smartphone, Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India said, "With the Xperia brand our aim has always been to innovate ahead of consumer demand. After the launch of Xperia NXT series earlier this year, we are now launching the phone that will reach out to entire India".
According to Sony, Xperia tipo and Xperia tipo dual are targeted at the youth and the features and price of these devices are in sync with the same.
Sony had earlier announced that it will be exiting the feature phone market and concentrating only on smartphones and these two new smartphones mark its entry in the entry-level smartphone arena. However, both these smartphones will have a stiff competition at hand.
Sony Xperia tipo is pitted against likes of HTC Wildfire S, HTC Desire C, LG Optimus L3, and Samsung Galaxy Ace. While Sony Xperia tipo dual will have to slug it out with LG Optimus Net Dual, LG Optimus L3 Dual Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos and Samsung Galaxy Y duos.
The advantage that Sony has is that, apart from HTC Desire C, all the other smartphones are running on Android 2.3 while Sony Xperia tipo and tipo dual run on Android 4.0. On the down side, Samsung and HTC have better brand value as against Sony in the smartphone market.
Key specifications- 3.5-inch (480 x 320 pixels) TFT capacitive touch screen display
- Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
- 800 MHz processor
- 13 mm thick and weighs 99.4g
- 3.2 megapixel camera auto focus camera
- 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio with RDS
- 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi
- 512MB RAM, 2.9GB internal memory (up to 2.5GB user-accessible memory), up to 32 GB expandable memory with microSD
- 1500 mAh battery