Sony Xperia Ion Now Available for Free on Contract via Best Buy

Sony Xperia ion made it to shelves back in June, though the smartphone was announced back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012, in Las Vegas.

The Japanese company promised the Xperia ion would be exclusively available in the United States via AT&T.

However, Sony launched an international version of the Xperia ion as well, in order to fulfill demands in other regions of the world.

Obviously, the international model does not come with LTE support, instead it offers users HSPA+ (42Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76Mbps).

Anyway, the smartphone is currently available at AT&T for as low as $99 USD (80 EUR) with a new two-year agreement.

Still, Sony fans looking to purchase the Xperia ion will be happy to know that major retailer Best Buy has a much better deal on the phone.

Customers who don’t bother committing to a long-term contract will be able to grab the Sony Xperia ion from Best Buy for free with a new two-year agreement.

The retailer also throws in free shipping, though customers should know they will receive their devices in 2-5 business days. The current deal on Sony Xperia ion is available at most Best Buy stores. Check it out here.

Keep in mind that the Xperia ion will be shipped with Maroon 5 album “Overexposed”pre-loaded. We also expect the handset to be powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system out of the box.

Hardware-wise, the Xperia ion is pretty powerful, as the smartphone is equipped with a 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor, which is complemented by an Adreno 220 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. The phone comes with 16GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD memory card.

Last but not least, the device boasts an impressive 12-megpaixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, as well as a 4.5-inch HD (720 x 1280 pixels) capacitive touchscreen display.