Panasonic, the Japanese electronics giant which exited mobile phone business few years ago, is planning to make a come back with an Android smartphone named Eluga.
The attractively designed Eluga is pretty slim at just 7.8mm thickness and weighs 103 grams. The best part is that the phone is waterproof and dustproof – a very desirable feature in Indian market.
The phone will come with a 4.3 inch qHD (960 x 540) display, an 8 Megapixel camera, 8 GB built-in memory, and Near-field communication (NFC) feature. However, it does not have Flash, so taking pictures in low light conditions will prove difficult.
Eluga is based on a 1 GHz dual-core Processor (OMAP4430) preloaded with Android Gingerbread (version 2.3.5). However, the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update will be available for this handset by mid this year.
Just like Sony tablets, Eluga will control the Panasonic branded TVs, Blue-ray players, Home theatre and other devices. Another function called Swipe and Share, will allow you to share images and videos with a TV or a cloud-based receiver wirelessly.
Panasonic has announced that this phone will initially be launched in European markets in March this year followed by Asia and the USA markets. The company has also said that the phone will be priced very competitively. A similar phone called DoCoMo (Japanese operator) NEXT series P-04D has already been launched in Japan. DoCoMo NEXT has also been manufactured by Panasonic and shares the same specification as Eluga.
Panasonic sells its TVs, and other electronics products in India. Looking at the pricing of these products, it is safe to assume that while it will not be the cheapest but would be priced below Sony and Samsung products (if Panasonic follows the same pricing strategy as of TVs).
The phone will be manufactured in a factory in Malaysia.