Sony Xperia Tipo ST21i and Xperia Tipo Dual ST21i2 to join the budget smartphone war

You’re probably already familiar with Sony’s upcoming budget Xperia phone, which is known so far by its model number and codename as the Sony ST21i Tapioca. After it made an appearance on the website of one Indonesian telecommunication regulator, we can finally put a (retail) name to the handset. Prepare to get acquainted with the Sony Xperia Tipo.

Along with the Xperia Tipo, the website reveals that the model may have a cousin in the form of the Xperia Tipo Dual, otherwise known as the ST21i2. Does this mean Sony is working on a smartphone with dual-SIM capability? That’s a possibility given how popular this type of phone is in the Asian market. Combined with the right price and the Sony brand, this will give the Japanese company some much needed sales boost in the region.

We expect both phones to come with the same specs, save for the extra SIM card slot for the Xperia Tipo Dual . The Xperia Tipo is expected to come with a thick body and a rather ho-hum set of specs with its 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, 3.2-inch HVGA display with no BRAVIA engine, and a 3MP rear camera. The saving grace of the phone will be the inclusion of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box.

We still don’t have information about the phone’s price and availability, but you’re welcome to check out the hands-on experience of the Sony Xperia Tipo that we reported a while back.

Do you think Sony is churning out too many Xperia models this year? The strategy didn’t really work in HTC’s favor last year, but perhaps different timing combined with the same strategy will be successful for Sony.

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