Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray will tip up next month

UPCOMING SMARTPHONE the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray will tip up first from Play.com on 15 August with a SIM Free price of £349.

Announced less than two weeks ago, the Xperia Ray smartphone will arrive on UK shelves next month. The two places you will be able to get the phone are Play.com and The Carphone Warehouse.

Play.com is the only web site to have a specific date for the Ray whilst The Carphone Warehouse just quotes August with no pricing. Other online retailers such as Clove.co.uk and Expansys.com have a product page for the handset but no details about when it will be available or how much it will cost.

Internet retail giant Amazon.co.uk doesn't even have a product page for the phone yet. Mobile operator Three emailed us almost immediately after Sony Ericsson's announcement of the phone to say it will be stocking it.

We've contacted Three to see when it will be selling the phone but we are still waiting to hear back.

When it does tip up next month, the Xperia Ray will come in a thin 9.4mm case and weigh just 100g. It will also have optional gold styling, if you like that kind of thing.

It looks like Sony's old X series walkman but is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with a 3.3in touchscreen with 480x854 resolution. The handset will be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and feature an 8.1MP rear facing camera.

The other phone Sony Ericsson announced with the Xperia Ray was the Xperia Active, a phone for sporty types. The only place we can find that handset is Expansys.com, but it has no price of release date for the phone. µ