Sony has announced the launch of two new handsets, the Xperia Go and Xperia Acro S, which are both scratch resistant “…meet industry standard IP ratings (International Protection) for protection against dust and water immersion.”
The Xperia Go will feature a 480 x 320 3.5″ Reality Display, 5 megapixel camera, 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, and will launch with Android 2.3, later upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). The Acro S will come fitted with a 1280 x 720 4.3″ HD Reality Display, 12 megapixel camera, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM and will ship with Android 4.0 installed.
While the Xperia Go is the baby in terms of hardware, its IP rating (IP67) should allow the device to survive being immersed in water up to 1 metre deep for up to 30 minutes, though we wouldn’t recommended testing this. The Acro S’s IP55 and IP57 ratings should allow much the same protection in addition to warding off “water projected by a nozzle”.
The phones are expected to be available globally any time from September onwards this year.