Panasonic has revealed its new smartphone for the European market. It follows the company’s announcement in December that it was working towards the launch of a dustproof and waterproof Europe-focussed smartphone in March 2012.
The new Panasonic ELUGA - the name comes from ELegant User-oriented GAteway - is an Android smartphone that meets IP57 for dust and water resistance. It’s just 7.8mm deep and has a 4.3-inch 960x540 pixel screen. There’ll be built-in NFC, an 8 megapixel camera and the ability to ‘throw’ content from the phone to compatible Panasonic televisions. The device has a 1GHz dual-core processor and will launch with Android v2.3.5, offering an upgrade to v4.0 later in the Spring.
Panasonic aims to sell 1.5 million Eluga smartphones in Europe this year.