14 DAY TRIAL // Shortly after announcing plans to enter the European smartphone market, Panasonic launched its first device to be available outside Japan, the ELUGA.
Showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Panasonic ELUGA sports a 4.3-inch OLED capacitive touchscreen display that supports 540 x 960 pixels resolution.
Obviously, the smartphone is IP57 certified, which makes it both dust- and water-proof. However, Panasonic ELUGA won’t be the only smartphone launched by the Japanese company in Europe.
Panasonic ELUGA Power is the improved version of the ELUGA. The former comes with a larger 5.0-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports 720 x 1280 pixels resolution.
Unlike the standard ELUGA, Panasonic ELUGA Power comes with microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
On the inside, the smartphone is equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8270 Snapdragon processor, which is complemented by an Adreno 225 graphics processing unit.
In addition, the smartphone packs 8GB of internal memory and 1GB of RAM. Customers who want to purchase an Android 4.0 smartphone might want to wait for the Panasonic ELUGA Power as the device will be shipped with Ice Cream Sandwich.
Keep in mind that Panasonic ELUGA will be delivered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system at launch, but it will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade within the next few months.
On the back, Panasonic ELUGA Power boasts an impressive 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, as well as a secondary front-facing camera.
Another considerable upgrade from the standard ELUGA is the battery. Panasonic ELUGA Power features a 1800 mAh Li-Ion battery, whereas the ELUGA embeds only a 1150 mAh Li-Ion battery.
According to Panasonic, its new technology allows ELUGA Power’s battery to charge from 10% to 50% in just 30 minutes.
Those who want to buy the ELUGA Power should know that the smartphone only supports microSIM cards.
