Although we’ve told you about Sony’s Xperia V a few hours ago, that particular rugged smartphone won’t be coming in the Philippines soon. So if you’re in the market for a rugged, pretty smartphone, you’ll have to settle for Sony’s Xperia acro S. This particular smartphone isn’t afraid of getting roughing it – Sony says that it’s dust and water resistant, as well as scratch resistant so you won’t have to worry about getting beat up. Unfortunately, its not the fastest of smartphones, as it only packs a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (an old Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon in fact) so you will have to keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up. There’s a 12-megapixel camera on the back, powered by Sony’s ExmorR for improved low-light performance, and the device supposedly is still able to track your fingers even if they are wet.
As far as water resistance is concerned, the Xperia acro S performs as advertised, and was able to survive a trip to the provided aquarium without any ill effect. Time will tell if this particular device will survive a longer and deeper trip underwater, though we’re sure none of you would want to give the Xperia acro S longer H2O exposure than necessary. Unfortunately, this particular device will still be using Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and Sony was a bit skittish when it came to discussing upgrade paths Sony has clarified that this will get ICS right out of the box. The Xperia acro S will retail for around Php 26,990.