VAIO Corporation was formed when Sony sold its laptop business, but now the new company is entering a product category in which Sony still remains: smartphones. The VAIO phone was announced today through Japanese MVNO B-mobile, which is pricing it to move: you’ll pay ¥3,980 (about $33) a month for the hardware plus voice service and data.

It’s nearly identical to the Panasonic Eluga U2

The phone itself is a mid-range affair: there’s a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a 5-inch 720p display, and a 13-megapixel camera. It’s 7.95mm thick and runs Android 5.0. The phone looks a lot like a Nexus 4, with a glass back panel and staid black front, but Japanese site Blog of Mobile points out that it’s near-identical to a Panasonic handset available…

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