Sony Yuga C6603 gets previewed

Sony's flagship phone for 2013—the Sony Yuga C6603—has been given the hands-on treatment by Russian website Mobile Reviews and more information about the device has been revealed.

The biggest thing seems to be the minimalism in terms of design. The phone has no touch or hardware keys at the front and uses on-screen buttons for navigation. Even the back side of the device is said to be plain, with only a 12-megapixel camera offering decoration.

The Sony Yuga C6603 (image credit: Mobile Reviews)

The main selling point of the phone will be the screen—the device sports a 5-inch screen with a 1080p resolution. This gives the phone a pixel density of 440 ppi. The display isn't without faults; while the screen shows good colour reproduction for multimedia apps using the Sony Bravia engine, other apps don't fare as well. Viewing angles are lower and the backlight is visible in the black areas of pictures.

The phone also comes with other basic features such as Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi on the a/b/g/n networks, LTE and a MicroSD slot. It might be worth noting that the C6603 supports SDXC format cards though, effectively pushing the maximum memory card size up to 128GB.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the C6603 Yuga will sport a glass back. If this handset does indeed come with a glass rear panel, then it will follow in the footsteps of the iPhone 4/4S and the Google flagship smartphone, the Nexus 4.

The advantage of having a glass back is that it makes the design of the smartphone really good. However, there are many disadvantages that can outweigh that sole feature. Having a glass panel at the back makes the handset susceptible to cracks and damages. One will need to be extremely careful while handling this device.

This is not the first time we have heard about the Sony C6603 Yuga. An earlier report claimed that the handset will come equipped with features such as a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. The camera used here is 12MP while the display is 5 inches with a resolution of 1080p.

The earlier report stated, “The handset design looks elegant with a boxy shape (no arc or NXT features here) and a very thin bezel either side of the display. It has a striking chrome power button on the right side with volume rocker in the middle. A dedicated camera button is also present where you’d expect it to be.”

As for the software running on this handset, the report states that it is a prototype running Android v4.1.1, a new kernel version (3.4) as well as 10.1.A.0.XXX firmware, which is Jelly Bean.