Sony Xperia A passes by the FCC on its way to Japan
First the good news: there's a new upcoming Sony smartphone of the high-end kind. The Sony Xperia A is what it's called – a moniker we've actually heard before, and the FCC is where detailed information about it has just been discovered. The not-so-good news, however, is that we aren't likely to ever see this particular smartphone launch in the U.S.
The Sony Xperia A is bound to launch on NTT DoCoMo in Japan, bearing a model name SO-04E. Hardware-wise, it is similar to the Sony Xperia Z flagship, blessed with a 5-inch 1080p screen, 13MP main camera, 16GB of storage, LTE connectivity, and a 2300mAh removable battery. One missing puzzle piece is the processor powering this Android smartphone, so we aren't sure whether it's equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro or a different SoC.
Chances are that the Sony Xperia A will be introduced officially on May 15 by carrier NTT DoCoMo itself. That's also when we might learn whether the smartphone will ever land in countries other than Japan.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: