Marshall’s first smartphone, London, is for music lovers

If you’re an audiophile, the news of Marshall’s debut smartphone may be music to your ears. The audio and sound company, which specializes in making amplifiers, speakers and headphones, today launched a smartphone called the London.

As Marshall’s first phone, the device emphasizes high-quality sound and sports a number of features that promise to boost a user’s listening experience.

The London is equipped with two front-facing speakers, a quick access M button on the top edge that launches the music player, a scroll wheel in lieu of the usual two-button volume rocker and two 3.5mm headphone jacks. It also has a global equalizer for customizing your sound settings and can play FLAC files, or uncompressed tracks that are formatted to replicate the original audio file.

Enlarge Image

Aside from the audio goodies, the device itself isn’t particularly high-end. It has a 4.7-inch, 720p display, supports 4G LTE and runs the recent Google Android mobile operating system, 5.0.2 Lollipop. Powering the London is a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor from Qualcomm and a removable 2,500mAh battery.

Camera features include an 8-megapixel rear shooter and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Finally, it has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which you can expand with a microSD card.

Currently, the phone is available for preorder on Marshall’s Swedish online site and comes with the company’s Mode earbuds. The only pricing information that has been released is in Swedish krona — the device sells for SEK4,995, or roughly $585, £375 and AU$790 converted. Units are expected to ship out August 17.