So we heard Panasonic is preparing to enter European smartphone market, but up until this point we didn’t have a single device to show you. Enter Eluga, the Japanese company’s first Android device “made for export.”
It’s a thin (7.8mm) phone with a 4.3-inch qHD (540×960 pixels) touchscreen, that’s also pretty durable — IP57-certified against water and dust. Moreover, Eluga comes with an 8-megapixel camera on the back (though without flash), 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, 8GB of built-in memory, NFC capability, as well as the ability to act as a remote control for Panasonic HDTVs…
We like it a lot, even though we would give Panasonic an extra credit if it had included flash with that rear-facing camera, but I guess something’s gotta give.
In any case, the Eluga will hit Europe at some point in April. As I’m writing this we still don’t know how much Panasonic will ask for the unlocked phone or whether it managed to corner some carrier partners. We’ll be following this story and let you know as soon as we hear something new…