AT&T Sony Xperia Ion LTE Pre-order Price Revealed

At CES 2012, Sony unveiled the Xperia Ion LTE, the first Sony phone to run on the 4G LTE network. While Sony and AT&T have yet to officially release the price of the phone, Negri Electronics announced the pre-order cost of the unlocked version today.

The online retailing site isn’t known for announcing products and its prices, so there is a bit of skepticism to be taken with this announcement. If the price holds true, consumer will be able to get the phone for $570 off-contract.

More about the Sony Xperia Ion
Specifications for the Xperia Ion are rather impressive. The phone will sport a 4.55-inch 720p HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA engine that will feature a resolution of 1280 x 720.

It will run on a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM. The Ion will ship with Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread). Negri is also reporting that customers will be able to upgrade to Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in the future.

Media enthusiasts should be pleased with this smartphone. It is going to come with 16GB of memory with the option to add up to 32GB with a microSD card. It will also include a 12.1MP rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording and a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video conferencing. Sony has made the device PlayStation Certified, which will allow avid gamers a chance to play console-like games on the phone.

Other features are going to include HDMI video-out, Wi-Fi, the Android Market, aGPS, Twitter and Facebook integration, and a variety of Google applications. Customers will be able to get this phone in two colors: black or white.

Coming Soon... Sort of
Although AT&T committed to this smartphone at CES, the announcement of the unlocked version raises the possibility that the device may be offered by Verizon and other carriers in the future. Whether that happens or not, the model will launch from AT&T at some point in the second quarter of this year.

The Sony Xperia Ion will mark the first Xperia to be released with just the Sony brand since the company bought out its mobile phone partner, Ericsson, in October 2011. Sony Ericsson has released the previous models from this series, including the Xperia Play.

Source: Negri Electronics