Incoming: Sony intros Xperia miro, Xperia tipo smartphones

Sony has introduced two new smartphones called the Xperia miro and Xperia tipo. Both phones come in relatively compact screen sizes – less than four inches, for a change – and a non-premium spec that looks to target young smartphone users.

The Xperia miro is listed as a “stylish social phone,” with an interface that’s geared towards users with active social network lives thanks to full Facebook integration. Past that, it’s a relatively basic Android smartphone – one that looks good, at least – that features a 3.5-inch display with a 320 x 480 resolution, an 800MHz processor, and 4GB of built-in storage.

It does offer a little more than the usual for entertainment though. The Xperia miro sports a front-facing cam for video chats, while a five-megapixel camera at the back is capable of recording 30fps videos. The phone also features Sony’s xLOUD audio technology that enhances audio quality, and offers access to Music Unlimited’s music-on-demand service. Connectivity features include the usual Wi-fi and Bluetooth, as well as DLNA support for streaming video to a TV.

The Xperia tipo is tagged as a “hassle-free Android smartphone,” which is marketing-speak for “only the basics.” Running on the same 800MHz processor, the tipo comes with a smaller 3.2-inch screen with the same resolution, a smaller 2.9GB of built-in storage, and a weaker 3.2-megapixel camera at the back (no front-facing cam here). Geared for users looking for a smartphone on a budget, the Xperia tipo comes with a function that lets you track data usage and other mobile costs to help you avoid “phone bill shock.”

For budget users who need to juggle two phone numbers, Sony also introduced the Xperia tipo dual, which is basically similar to the vanilla tipo, but with a pair of SIM slots that you can enable with a dedicated button and an interface that lets you configure different numbers with ringtones and notifications.

Prices haven’t been revealed, but the relatively basic spec list and the entry-level target market tells us that they won’t cost much when they start shipping by the third quarter of 2012. Despite the entry-level hardware, all three phones will be shipping with Android 4.0.