Panasonic has made its first major entry into the Indian smartphone market, with the P51, a dual-SIM Android handset featuring a 5-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, and 2,500 mAh battery,
Panasonic has launched its P51 dual-SIM Android smartphone in India, based on v4.2 Jelly Bean. The smartphone was launched at an event in New Delhi, with Panasonic India’s president, Daizo Ito making the announcement.
Apart from dual-SIM (WCDMA-GSM), the biggest USPs of the Panasonic P51 are the bundled capacitive stylus and handwriting recognition support, its large 2,500 mAh battery, and its 5-inch IPS HD (1280×720 pixels) display. It will also ship with a smart magnetic flip cover.
The Panasonic P51 runs on a 1.2GHz quad-core processor (the MediaTek MT6589 chipset we’ve been seeing in the recent budget quad-core handsets), coupled with 1GB of RAM. It bears 4GB of built-in storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. Weighing in at 135 grams, the P51 is 8.5mm thick.
Other specifications of the Panasonic P51 include such connectivity options as dual band 3G / UMTS, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, a 3.5mm jack, and microUSB port. The P51 features an 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash and such features as Panoramic View, Face Detection and HD video recording. It also has a front-facing 1.3MP camera.
The P51 has been priced at Rs. 26,900, rather surprising considering the recent pre-order availability of the much more capable Nexus 4 at Rs. 25,990. One might say the Nexus 4 doesn’t ship with a capacitive stylus or feature microSD card storage expandability, but these disadvantages are easily outweighed by the various other benefits. Be sure to check out our first impressions of the Panasonic P51 from the event.
