Sony Mobile is working on an entry-level Android based smartphone, codenamed Tapioca. Images of the new handset have now been acquired by one Xperia Blog website and can surely be said as a very decent handset.
The Mobile Indian had reported about the Sony ST21i Tapioca early in January. As per the recent images, the Sony ST21i Tapioca smartphone has rounded corners and looks bit stubby. Of course, this smartphone will launch with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on it. Considering Sony’s Xperia Mini branded smartphones, we can expect the Tapioca to be priced roughly around Rs 15,000.
Sony Mobile will certainly bring some affordable and entry-level smartphones running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The company has the penchant for making such devices appear entry-level and palm-friendly in a literal sense. Best example of that are Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro. Physical design of the Tapioca appears to be mix of Motorola Droid X and Xperia Mini, of course with the rounded corners.
The Sony ST21i Tapioca will feature single core 800 MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A mobile processor with Adreno 200 graphics chip. This may appear as the old processor but it is actually a refreshed version of the one with same model number. This Snapdragon MSM7227A chip, which is also used by HTC Explorer, uses slightly different architecture and performs better. Apart from that, Sony ST21i Tapioca will have 512 MB RAM along with 4 GB on-board storage option.
This smartphone will feature 3.2-inch touchscreen display with 320×480 pixel resolution. At the back lies a 3 Megapixel camera with LED flash and its quite unlikely if this smartphone will have a front facing camera. Packing a 1460 mAh battery, this smartphone can be expected to give longer run time.
There is no word on its official launch but we can expect announcement regarding the same in a month or two.