Sony Xperia ion announced for Taiwan global launches coming soon.

If you can remember, Sony Mobile did announce an Xperia ion early this year and it was destined for AT&T. We have not heard much about the phone even with the announcement of the newr brands the Xperia Sola which led to a majority of the fans thinking maybe the phone had been swept under the rug or was undergoing a spec review. But finally Sony Mobile has held a press conference in Taiwan and formally announced that the Sony Xperia ion will be heading to the market. No official release date or pricing was revealed, but the handset is expected to launch next month. This will be the international GSM version (LT28i) of the handset rather than, then AT&T LTE version (LT28at) destined for the United States.

The Xperia ion has not been announced for any other countries so far, although Sony did confirm that it would be coming globally so we would expect further announcements shortly. Have a look below for a first hands-on video of the LT28i Xperia ion sans AT&T branding as well as some pictures of the device. It certainly looks like a very good looking handset in our eyes.

Xperia ion

SPECIFICATIONS

Facts
Size: 133 x 68 x 10.8 mm
Weight: 144 grams
Operating system: Google™ Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Dual Core
GPU: Adreno 220
SIM: Micro SIM

Colour
Black

Display
4.55-inch HD display
Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
1280 x 720 pixels (323 ppi)
16,000,000 colour TFT
Shatter proof sheet on scratch-resistant glass

Memory
Internal phone storage: 1 GB
RAM: 1 GB
Flash memory: 16 GB eMMC
Expansion slot: microSD™, up to 32 GB

Camera
3D Sweep Panorama™
12.1 megapixel camera
16x digital zoom
Auto focus
Face detection
Flash/LED
Front-facing camera (VGA)
Geotagging
HD video recording (1080p)
Image stabiliser
Red-eye reduction
Self-timer
Scene recognition
Send to web
Smile Shutter™
Sony Exmor R™ for mobile image sensor
Sweep Panorama™
Sweep Multi Angle
Touch capture
Touch focus
Video light
Video recording

Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
Music Player
Shazam™ service
xLoud™ Experience

Internet
Android Market™
Bookmarks
Google™ search
Google Voice™ Search
Google Maps™ for Mobile with Navigation, Places and Latitude™
Pan & zoom
Web browser (WebKit)

Communication
Call list
Facebook™ application
Facebook inside Xperia™
Google Talk™ application
Noise suppression
Polyphonic ringtones
Sony Ericsson Timescape™
Speakerphone
Twitter™ (Timescape™ integration)
Vibrating alert

Messaging
Conversations
Email
Gmail™
Messaging
Multimedia messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)

Design
Auto rotation
Gesture input
Gyroscope
Keyboard (on-screen, QWERTY)
Reality Display with Sony Mobile BRAVIA® ENGINE
Screenshot capturing
Wallpaper

Entertainment
3D Album
3D games
Accelerated Adobe Flash Video
Google Media Uploader
Media browser
Motion gaming
Radio (FM radio with RDS)
Sony Entertainment Networks
TV launcher
YPmobile
YouTube™

Organiser
Airplane mode
AT&T Address book
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Contacts
Document readers
eCompass™
Infinite button
LiveWare™ manager
Notes
OfficeSuite
Setup guide
Stopwatch
Tasks
Timer

Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)
aGPS
Bluetooth™ wireless technology
DLNA Certified®
GLONASS
HDMI support
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB support
Native USB tethering
NFC
USB High speed 2.0 support
USB host
Wi-Fi®
Wi-Fi® Hotspot functionallity

Networks
UMTS HSPA+ 850 (Band V), 1900 (Band II), 2100 (Band I)
GSM EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
LTE Band IV and Band XVII

Battery life
Talk time (GSM): Up to 10 hours
Standby time (GSM): Up to 400 hours
Talk time (UMTS): Up to 4 hours
Standby time (UMTS): Up to 350 hours
Music listening time: Up to 12 hours
Video playback time: Up to 3 hours
Embedded Battery: 1900 mAh typical
1840 mAh minimum