After the long delay, Sony has finally, officially announced the Xperia Play AKA the PlayStation Phone, an Android smartphone aimed at the gaming-eccentric crowd.
If you’re wondering if your carrier will be able to support the Xperia Play, the good news is that it will be released in both CDMA and WCDMA versions at the same time. Sony Ericsson has equipped the Xperia Play with a 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD, powered by an Qualcomm MSM8655 chipset coupled with an Adreno 205 GPU, 512MB of RAM, and 8 gigabytes of built in memory expandable through an SD card-slot.
If you’re wondering about what games it’ll play, Sony has long since announced that the Xperia Play will be the spearhead of the PlayStation Suite, a service that will bring PSX and soon after PSP games into Android.
Sony-Ericsson Xperia Play Official Specs
1GHz Scorpion (Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon) processor
Adreno 205 GPU
4.0″ display @ 480 x 854 pixels
Touch sensitive gaming controls
PS-like gaming buttons
Multi-touch input method
400MB RAM
up to 32GB via microSD, 8GB included
HSDPA/HSUPA
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
GPS w/ aGPS support
5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Li-Ion 1500mAh battery
Screen
16,777,216 colour TFT
Capacitive multi-touch
4 inches
480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)
Camera
5.1 megapixel camera
Auto focus
Flash / Photo light
Geo tagging
Image stabiliser
Send to web
Touch focus
Video light
Video recording
Video blogging
Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Google™ Music Player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™ service*
Sony Ericsson Music player
Stereo speakers
TrackID™ music recognition application
Internet
Android Market™*
Bookmarks
Google™ search*
Google™ Voice Search*
Pan & zoom
Web browser (Webkit)
Communication
Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
Google™ Talk*
Noise Shield
Polyphonic ringtones
Speakerphone
Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
Vibrating alert
Messaging
Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
Conversations
Email
Google Mail™*
Instant messaging
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)
Design
Auto rotate
Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen
Wallpaper animation
Entertainment
3D games
Dedicated gaming keys
Flash Lite™
Gesture gaming
Motion gaming
Video streaming
YouTube™
Organiser
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document editors
Document readers
E-Manual
Flight mode
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Infinite button
Phone book
Set-up Wizard
Widget manager
Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
aGPS
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified
Google Latitude™
Google Location Service
Google Maps™ with Street View
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB Connector
Modem
Synchronisation via Facebook™**
Synchronisation via Google Sync™
Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
USB 2.0 high speed support
Wi-Fi™
Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality
* The service is not available in all markets.
** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.
Google™ services*
* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client
Gmail™
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Google Latitude™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Media Uploader
Google Music Player™
Google Phone-top Search
Google Search widget
Google Sync™
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search
Set-up Wizard
YouTube™
Facts
Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
Weight: 175 grams
Phone memory: 400 MB
Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7
Colour
Black
White
With Sony touting the Xperia Play as a gaming platform, it has convinced several big gaming industry entities to pitch in development support making games available at launch. The partner list includes:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Digital Chocolate
Digital Legends
Electronic Arts
Fishlabs
Gamehouse
Gameloft
Glu Mobile
Handy Games
Namco Bandai Networks
Polarbit
PopCap
Trendy Entertainment
Unity Tecnologies
As for battery life? Sony-Ericsson has the following numbers from their press release:
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*
The Xperia Play will arrive in the US will be the first followed by Japan shortly after. Price is still unconfirmed.
