8-inch screen, accelerometer: Sony takes the wraps off its updated Vaio P

Sony Europe today unveiled their newest version of the “ultra-mobile PC” VAIO P, which was teased by the company late last month. And apart from a new design and fresh colors, Sony added quite a number of interesting features and functions.

For example, there’s an accelerometer now, which allows you to browse through websites, pictures or PDF pages by tilting the device to the left or right. Turn the VAIO on its side to view that content in portrait mode, “turning pages” with the trackball, mouse buttons and an additional touchpad.

And it has quite a few other nice specs (model name: VAIO P11S1E):

• Intel Atom Z540 processor (1.86 GHz)
• 8-inch screen with 1600×768 resolution
• Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) OS
• 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
• 64GB SSD Flash Drive
• Two USB ports, one SD card slot, one Memory Stick Duo slot
• GPS, digital compass
• WLAN 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• 3G built-in
• stereo speakers and microphone
• webcam
• weight: 632g, size: 120×19.8×245 mm
• 5 hours of battery life

The new Vaio P will be available in five colors (orange, green, pink, black or white) starting June, at least in Europe (Japan gets it on May 22). Sony hasn’t said anything yet about pricing in the US or Europe. But Japan is to get a model with an Atom Z530 (1.60 GHz) for $1,080, which means Sony plans to roll out a number of different versions of their new PC.

Note: As of this writing, neither Sony America nor Sony Global are mentioning the new Vaio P on their sites.