Sony's Xperia S was the first of a new line of smartphones to be launched this year sans the "Sony Ericsson" branding, after Sony paid Ericsson US$1.45 billion last October to exit the joint venture.
The smartphone will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but the company confirmed it is in line for an Ice Cream Sandwich update.
Update, March 26: Sony today confirmed the phone will retail through its Sony Centres for $579 from early April. Retailers including Harvey Norman, Optus, Vodafone and Dick Smith are also on board.
It comes equipped with an NFC chip, 12 megapixel camera and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera which records 720p HD video.
It packs a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.
It's 10.6mm thick with a 4.3 inch screen.
Sony's Xperia S was the first of a new line of smartphones to be launched this year sans the "Sony Ericsson" branding, after Sony paid Ericsson US$1.45 billion last October to exit the joint venture.