VAIO Phone Is Now Official, Costs $420
VAIO Corporation, now 95-percent owned by Japan Industrial Partners, just unveiled its first foray into the smartphone market. Following an industry trend of naming simplicity in recent months, the device is plainly called the VAIO Phone.
The handset is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, presumably within a Snapdragon 410 chipset. 2GB of RAM should offer adequate multitasking capabilities, while the 16GB of built-in storage can be expanded via microSD. The VAIO Phone sports a 5-inch IPS display of 720p resolution, and a rather common nowadays 13MP/5MP camera combo. Battery capacity is 2,500mAh, fitted in a body measuring 141.5 x 71.3 x 7.95mm and weighing 130g.
The smartphone boots Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, without much VAIO customizations. The Phone will set you back JPY3,000 upfront ($25 more or less), and JPY2,000 for 24 months, for a total of JPY51,000 ($420). Unlimited data plan is JPY1,980 a month on top of that.