Sony has announced the Xperia S (codenamed Nozomi), a 4.3” Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone that features a dual-core processor at 1.5GHz and a 1280×720 “Reality Display” with “Mobile Bravia Engine”.

Powering the Xperia S is a 12 megapixel Exmor R camera that can record 1080p HD video and the S can take an image from sleep in just 1.5 seconds. A 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera handles video chat duties. The Xperia S has NFC capabilities and is PlayStation-certified – as one would expect from a Sony-branded phone.

It’ll have Android 2.3 out of the gate, unfortunately, the handset will not launch with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), but Sony says that it will be upgradable “in the second quarter” of 2012. The phone will come in black or white (depending on markets). The Sony Xperia S UK release date has been set for March 2012, although we’ve yet to hear how much the new display and dual core innards hike up the price. Stay tuned.