More rumours on yet another new Sony Ericsson Xperia handset destined to launch in 2012. This time we have details of the Sony Ericsson ‘Pepper,’ which judging by the specs is likely to be the successor to the
Xperia neo V (rather than the original neo).
According to our source, the handset will come with a 1GHz dual-core chipset, 3.7-inch Reality display with FWVGA (480 x 854) resolution. Camera duties will be handled by a 5MP camera sensor, capable of 720p HD video recording. Like the Nozomi and Nypon, the Pepper will come with a sealed battery (1320mAh capacity) and will initially launch with Android Gingerbread before being upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at a later date.
If these specs turn out to be correct, it looks like Sony Ericsson will not want to position this handset as closely with its flagship as it did with the original Xperia neo. The Xperia neo sat very close to the Xperia arc in terms of specs, having the same 8MP Exmor R camera sensor, HDMI output and even one-upping the Xperia arc in terms of a front-facing camera. The only things separating the handsets were screen size (3.7-inches versus 4.2-inches for the Xperia arc) and styling (Xperia arc obviously being a lot more desirable).
For the 2012 Xperia range, the Pepper would sit close to the
Nypon (1GHz dual-core, 8MP Exmor R, 4-inch qHD display) in terms of size but will have an inferior display and camera sensor. This would make sense in terms of differentiation, as these things won’t be important for everyone, and for those people it will come at a cheaper price too.
