Is Sony Planning A Vaio Phone?

Sony could be planning a comeback for its Vaio brand if reports are to be believed, with photos and specifications regarding a smartphone device known as the VA-10J emerging in Japan.

Sporting a 5-inch 720p display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, 13MP rear camera, and 5MP front-facing camera, the VA-10J was apparently approved by Japanese authorities back in December, meaning it is ready to go on sale now.

The device could be officially revealed next week, following reports of a March 12 release date first reported last month by Japanese sources.

Renaissance?

Alongside the specifications mentioned above, the VA-10J also packs in 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, and will support Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box.

Sony sold the Vaio unit to a Japanese investment firm in February 2014, making it into a separate company. The first new laptops from the brand appeared last month, with the Windows-powered Vaio Z featuring a hinged lid alongside the Z Canvas, which came with a detachable keyboard that allowed a quick change in form factor.

The company already has an established smartphone business thanks to its Xperia product line, the latest edition of which, the Xperia Z4, is set to be released later this year, accompanying a similarly-titled tablet device unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this week.

However, Sony revealed in January that it would be cutting over a thousand jobs in its mobile devices division as part of a 30 percent downsizing of its mobile division, which is set to be cut to around 5,000 workers by March 2016 as it looks to refocus its operations in the industry.

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