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Sony announces the affordable Xperia E1 Android smartphone

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Sony came out swinging this morning with a one-two of smartphones, the gigantic Xperia T2 Ultra and the considerably smaller Xperia E1. The latter is a new budget option with a colourful design, costing around £175.

To give an idea of size, the Xperia E1 has a 4-inch display which is dwarfed by its partner in launch, the 6-inch Xperia T2 Ultra. The display isn’t anything mind-blowing, offering a reasonable 800 x 480 resolution which stacks up at 233 pixels per inch.

Beneath the screen beats a Qualcomm MSM8210 1.2GHz processor and 512MB of RAM – again, nothing too special but certainly enough to run basic games, watch videos and listen to tunes. Sony plans to focus on music with the Xperia E1, too, offering 30 days’ free access to its Sony Entertainment Network to test out the phone’s impressive 100db external speaker. To top it off, Sony’s trademark Walkman logo is on the power button so you can really tell this is a phone for music fans.

There’s only 4GB of internal memory provided, so if you’re looking to fill up the phone with music and other media you’ll need to slot in a micro SD card which can accommodate cards of up to 32GB. The phone runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, so you won’t be falling behind the times in terms of software and apps, which is nice.

In terms of photography, the Xperia E1 is not the one. The rear camera is a measly 3.15-megapixel sensor which will snap images 2,048 x 1,536 in size and WVGA video at 30fps. There’s no front camera, unfortunately.

The Xperia E1 will be available in black, white and purple and will offer HSPA+ mobile connectivity for internet, email and downloads on the go. The price will be €175, or around £160-£170 but Sony hasn’t yet revealed when the phone will be available to buy.

UPDATE: The Xperia E1 is now listed for €139-€149 in Germany.