Panasonic Eluga is a lightweight, waterproof, and oddly-named Android smartphone

Back in December, Panasonic announced that it was preparing a full-on global assault on the smartphone market. Up first is Europe, where the company’s opening salvo will be fired in a 4.3″ shell. That phone has now gotten official as the Panasonic Eluga.

An interesting choice in names, to be sure, but it probably has something to do with the phone’s aquatic exploits (like the whale that rhymes with Eluga). It joins the ever-increasing list of waterproof and dustproof phones, though it’s anything but whale-like in terms of weight at just 103g. That makes it
lighter than even the waifish NEC Medias N-04C. Hardware details are very thin at this point, but Panasonic has revealed that the Eluga’s 4.3-inch display packs 540 x 960 pixels — no word on whether it uses an OLED panel as previously rumored.

As Sony and Samsung do with their Android phones, Panasonic has designed the Eluga to work in perfect harmony with its Viera smart TVs. Images and videos can be transferred from phone to television with a simple swipe, and you’re also able to display what you’re viewing in the Eluga’s browser using the just-released Viera Remote app version 2.0. One other slick function Panasonic offers is a controller mode, which turns your phone into a gamepad for big-screen fun on compatible Viera sets.

The Eluga is set to land on European shores in the very near future, and it’s being shown off by Panasonic ahead of MWC 2012. Keep your eye on this post for updated hardware details once they’re announced.

More at Pocket Lint and TechRadar

Source: www.geek.com