Panasonic Eluga: 4.3'' Waterproof Smartphone with NFC

Following our sneak peak at Panasonic's new Android smartphone, the firm's 'Eluga' mobile has now been officially announced. The handset sees the Japanese firm lunch head first into the European smartphone market with a final version of the handset that doesn't look to have changed much since our hands-on with its prototype. 

Panasonic has now officially announced the Android handset we've all known it's been cooking up over the last few months. This mobile will mark the firm's arrival in the European smartphone market.

The Eluga is a 4.3-inch mobile with a qHD OLED screen with 960 x 540 pixels. It weighs 103 g and is just 7.8 mm thick, making it one of the slimmest smartphones of the moment. What's more, apart from a very slight bump where the camera is housed, the Eluga maintains this super-slim design across the whole of the handset, unlike Huawei and Motorola who cheat by using thicker sections at the top or bottom of their Ascend P1 S and Razr. 

The Eluga runs on a 1 GHz dual-core processor and has a rear-facing 8-Megapixel photo and video camera. It seems that a flash has been added too, which didn't feature in the prototype model we saw, but we can't really see where Panasonic has built that into the handset. As well as its slim, stylish design, this handset stands out from other mobiles as it's waterproof and dust-resistant (although it's not shockproof). The Eluga can therefore resist immersion to 1 metre underwater for up to 30 seconds. On a more day-to-day level, however, that means you can chat away while it's pouring with rain or spill your drink on the Eluga without having to worry.

For the moment, the Eluga runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread rather than Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, although an update should be available around the time of its launch or not long after.

Panasonic's mobile can also communicate with TVs—but only Panasonic's Viera Smart models. This allows content displayed on the Eluga (page web, photo etc.) to be 'sent' to the TV screen over Wi-Fi.

With a processor that could soon look out-dated next to the monsters due to be unveiled at MWC and no sign of Android ICS, the Eluga will mainly be relying on its looks and its unusual waterproof and dustproof credentials to win over European users. 

Panasonic hasn't yet released pricing information for the Eluga but it's expected to be released sometime in March 2012.

> Phone Reviews: Mobiles and Smartphones

> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products