AT&T and Sony announced that the Xperia Ion smartphone - which boasts a 12-megapixel camera - will be available on June 24 for $99.99 with contract.

Sony and AT&T announced today that the Xperia Ion smartphone, with its 12-megapixel camera and 4G LTE, will be available on June 24 for $99.99 with contract.

We played with the Xperia Ion at the CES trade show this January. It's a black, slab-style smartphone that competes directly with the likes of the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III in AT&T's lineup.

Sony's standout features include that 12-megapixel camera and the ability to be controlled by a TV remote when attached by an HDMI cable. That way, you can leave the phone next to the TV and sit back on your couch to control the interface.

The phone has a 4.6-inch, 1,280-by-720 display and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, although Sony promises an upgrade to Android 4.0 eventually. It connects to the Internet via LTE, HSPA+, and Wi-Fi, and it has 16GB of internal memory along with a memory card slot. It uses a 1.5-Ghz Qualcomm S3 processor, which is fast but not quite as fast as the S4 in today's leading phones.

At $99.99, the Ion is $100 cheaper than AT&T's two flagship Android smartphones, the Editors' Choice HTC One X and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III. Those phones have the newer Qualcomm S4 processor, but only 8-megapixel cameras.

We'll have a full review of the Ion when it becomes available.