Panasonic has re-entered the smartphone market with the Eluga, announced at an event in Hamburg on Monday.
The Eluga has a 4.3" qHD 960x540 OLED touch screen, 1GHz OMAP4430 processor, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, weighs 103g and is 7.8mm thick. Its facade has no physical home key. Panasonic claims it is waterproof to 1 metre and dust proof. Its d-shaped form factor is designed to make it feel comfortable in the palm of the hand. The Eluga was used to show off a new 'swipe to share' app (also available for iOS devices) that can send still and moving images to a TV by holding a finger on the desired image then swiping upwards once a box appears at the top of the screen. NFC support, an 8MP camera
An upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be available over the air in May.
Panasonic would not confirm which networks would be carrying the device.
The Eluga will go on sale in April and will be joined by a further two handsets to be debuted at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.
Panasonic said it expects the Eluga to sell 1.5 million units over the next 12 months.
TechCentral Reporters