Japanese technology company Panasonic, known for its consumer electronics goods such as refridgerators, air-conditioners and television sets, has now forayed into the smartphone business in India with the launch of its flagship handset Panasonic P51 for ₹26,990.

Speaking at the P51 smartphone launch, Panasonic India president Daizo Ito said, "Panasonic has a great legacy of being the pioneers of innovation in every segment. Continuing with our legacy, we are now launching our innovative smartphone which will redefine the Indian smartphone consumer experience. India has always been one of the alpha markets in the region and I take great pride in introducing our smartphone to India. We are confident that our product will provide the Indian consumer a great multimedia experience and the best 'value for money' proposition," reported NDTV.

Panasonic P1 sports a 5.0-inch IPS based capacitive screen panel with HD 1280x720p display resolution and runs on the latest Android mobile OS v4.2 Jelly Bean powered by 1.2GHz MediaTek quad-core processor..

With a price-tag of close to ₹27,000, the Panasonic smartphone has 1GB RAM and 4GB in-built memory, which is not much compared to the recently released Google Nexus 4 (₹25,999) which comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB memory. But the saving grace is that P51 houses a microSD slot so that buyers can expand the smartphone's memory up to 32GB.

According to a report, Panasonic has joined hands with Jaina Marketing as the marketing and distribution partner. The company will also take care of back-end customer support for P51 sales and queries. Sales of the smartphone would begun from next week.

Panasonic is also reported to launch eight more phones with prices ranging from ₹6,990 to ₹35,000 in India this year.

Key Specs of Panasonic P51 include:

Model

Panasonic P51

Display

5.0-inch IPS capacitive screen with HD 1280x720p display resolution and protected by Asahi Dragon Trail Glass shield

OS

Android v4.2 Jelly Bean OS

Processor

MediaTek  Quad-core processor with 1.2GHz

RAM

1GB

Storage capacity

4GB, memory  expandable up to 32GB via microSD card

Camera

Main: 8.0-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording capability

Front:1.3-megapixel camera

Battery

2500 mAh

Network

2G & 3G

Add-ons

Stylus, flip-cover free, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DPand EDR, USB v2.0, Dual-SIM

Dimensions

144.0 x 75.0 x 8.5 mm

Weight

135

Price

₹26,900/-