Xperia Play (Playstation Phone) Soon

By Alex Angove

Last updated 09 February 2011

The much awaited and rumoured “PlayStation Phone” is finally starting to gain a little substance in the tech media. Making its commercial debut with the moniker “Sony Ericsson Xperia Play”, the gaming/phone hybrid is already making ripples in the smartphone market.

The Xperia Play (as we shall henceforth refer to the PlayStation Phone), if you aren’t aware, is the first phone targeting at a gaming-centric market. Aimed at bridging the gap between portable gaming consoles and mobile phones the Play is certain to find more than a few interested customers.

The Xperia Play Commercial

Sony Ericsson has stirred up more than a bit of attention with their new and somewhat macabre advert for the Xperia Play. The ad begins with a nefarious looking young man making his way through winding dark alleys carrying a pair of scissors.

After entering a poorly lit room in the back of a dodgy factory he hands the scissors to a sweaty and hardly professional-looking surgeon who is standing over a real-life Android logo.

Dirty bandages are slowly peeled off the Android’s hands to reveal two badly stitch-on human thumbs. The Android then exits to the street with the slogan “Android is ready to play.”

Despite the obvious seedy overtones and probable negative Pavlovian response we can now expect when actually touching this phone, we’re still pretty excited.

Still a Smartphone

Despite its gaming focus the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is more than just a gaming phone. It still has everything we’ve come to expect from a smartphone.

The 4 inch, multi-touch display works as well as other high-end Android devices and makes for a satisfactory interfacing experience. The Bravia graphics engine also helps with on-screen video performance and we found the viewing angles to be pleasantly diverse, with a viewing angle of close to around 80 or so degrees.

The slider mechanism is snappy, allowing the gaming pad to pop-out or disappear with a satisfying firmness. The actual gaming pad looks pretty good and comes complete with Left and Right bumpers on the top for a wider range of gaming possibilities.

However, no word on gameplay yet, as the gaming options we’ve seen are still pretty limited. Don’t take this to heart, however. The phone isn’t expected until April 2011, so we’re sure to see some exciting game footage before then.

Other features include a 5MP camera with LED flash, a forward-facing VGA camera for video calls, a Micro SD card slot and (roughly) 1GHz single-core processor. Although information on the processor is still hardly confirmed at this stage.

You’re also supplied with Sony Ericsson’s own UI complete with the Timescape widget, which may or may not be your cup of tea. It might not be quite as popular as HTC’s Sense interface, but if you turn off Timescape we find it to be a pretty responsive system.

A short while back Engadget managed to get their lucky hands on a prototype which gives a pretty good idea of what users can expect, at least down at the basic level, from this intriguing device.

For a hybrid handset we have to admit it looks pretty sharp and we’re pleasantly surprised so far with its functionality.

The WhistleOut Opinion

It’s about time someone started looking for new ways to spice up the growing smartphone market and we think Sony Ericsson and PlayStation’s Xperia Play is a fantastic step in the right direction. We’ve been carrying powerful computers around in our pockets for years now and have thus far barely tapped their potential.

So far Android seems to be leading the way in innovation this year; first with the Motorola Atrix and now the Xperia Play. Apple will definitely have to offer a few funky functions to the iPhone 5 or we might actually start to see Android take over Apple in the more niche-related areas of the market in 2011.

We’re definitely going to maintain a vigilant lookout for competition regarding the Xperia Play. Expect to see more than one gaming phone announced this year if the Play’s current popularity transfers over to sales proceeding its release.