Sony Xperia Ion LTE launches at CES
Flagship handset waves goodbye to the Ericsson name
Published: 10 January, 2012
READ MORE: US | Sony Ericsson | Handset | Android
Although the deal hasn't officially been finalised yet it looks like for all intents and purposes Sony Ericsson is now just Sony as the company has launched its latest handset with just four letters on the front. The device known as the Xperia Ion delivers some competitive specs in a sleek form factor and looks a lot more attractive than the updated Xperia handsets which were released last year.
While the removal of the Ericsson part of the branding may seem premature the press release features the disclaimer that the Sony logo is subject to regulatory approval.
With a 4.6" display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 16GB of internal storage the handset ticks all the boxes when it comes to desirable specs. Another key feature is LTE connectivity on AT&T's network as the phone is an exclusive for the carrier. In addition to this there's a 12mp camera on the rear, Adreno 220 GPU and NFC. For gaming fans it will also be PlayStation Certified giving the user access to exclusive games from Sony's PlayStation Suite.
Unfortunately for all this goodness there's one slight downside, it won't be released with Ice Cream Sandwich installed. Anyone who buys the device will have to make do with Android 3.2 until the ICS update arrives.
There's no indication of a release date yet but the Ion is expected to touch down at some point during the second quarter at AT&T. It isn't the only Xperia handset for the US Sony has on show at CES and the Xperia S aka the long rumoured Nozomi has also been officially announced.
Last year saw Sony Ericsson offer some solid devices though even the highly anticipated Xperia Play didn't manage to live up to its hype. This latest crop of smartphones seems to hold more promise with some competitive hardware which will place them at the top-end of the scale rather than closer to the middle.
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