Panasonic and Fujitsu Seek To Enter Europe Phone Market

Fujitsu and Panasonic plan to enter the European smartphone market, as both are facing pressure in Japan by Apple and Sony. Panasonic on Monday unveiled its first model for the European market, the Eluga, which will be on sale from April. The Eluga has a 4.3-inch (960 X 540) resolution screen and is NFC-enabled. The phone will run on Android Gingerbread (Version 2.3.5) OS and will be updated to Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in Spring 2012. It is powered by a TI (Texas Instruments) 1 GHz processor (dual core), it has 1 GB RAM and 8 GB integrated memory, an 8 MP auto-focus camera, G-sensor, Ambient light sensor, GPS receiver, accelerometer, a microUSB connector, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, NFC and DLNA connectivity options. The smartphone is also waterproof.

Panasonic aims to sell 1.5 million smartphones in Europe during its next fiscal year to March 2013.

Fujitsu, already a large handset and tablet maker in Japan, is also planning to bring a range of smartphones and tablets to the European market.

Fujitsu is reportedly in negotiations with operators and specific launches and timetables are yet to be agreed upon.

Specifications ELUGA