MWC: Sony underwhelms at MWC by adding to Xperia smartphone range

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS GIANT Sony showed the world how not to carry out a press conference at MWC, when it kept everyone waiting for over an hour and then eventually released a couple of devices that looked very familiar.

After squeezing what seemed like the whole of Europe's media into the smallest room it could find, Sony eventually launched two dual-core Android devices.

The Japanese manufacturer revealed the Sony Xperia P and Xperia U devices, which are dead-ringers for the Xperia S that was launched at CES.

The Xperia P will feature a 4in display, and is the first handset to use Sony's White Magic display technology. The smartphone will also come with an 8MP camera that will shoot HD 1080p video and will have NFC and a unibody frame.

Meanwhile, the Xperia U will have a 3.5in screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor and a 5MP camera. It is expected to be released some time in the second quarter. Disappointingly, both devices will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but are expected to be upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich after launch.

Highlights of the Sony press conference, which started an hour late and which was plagued with technical difficulties are below. µ