The 7-inch, 800 x 480-pixel touchscreen is resistive -- which might be a bit of a dirty word these days -- but considering the intended audience, it's probably a fine choice. Our prods and pokes were met responsively enough, and Ice Cream Sandwich seemed to run just fine on the modest 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with 1GB of RAM. Archos claims you'll get eight hours of video playback, or 16 hours of music per battery charge, and we assume that's with the 802.11b/g wireless turned off. The plastic finish actually looks pretty good, and will wipe free of jam and chips easy enough. Also, the back has a rubberized feel that should help prevent it from slipping from those juvenile paws. It's penciled in for release in April, and the real kicker here is the price. The €99 (about $129) price tag might not quite be pocket-change, but it's pretty darn close. See Alvin and our hands-on after the break.
Gallery: Sony Xperia Z1 mini | 10 Photos
Gallery: Sony Xperia Z1 mini | 10 Photos
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Zach Honig contributed to this report.