Ben-DutkaAlthough we don't yet have the official press release in our inboxes, it seems the PlayStation Phone – which will be known as the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play – has been fully revealed.
Featuring a 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD screen, it's similar to other Xperia phones, as you will see by reading the huge preview over at Engadget . Previous rumors have been confirmed as well: it'll be powered by a Qualcomm MSM8655 chipset, there will be a single-core processor inside that clocks from 122.88MHz to 1GHz, and it's helped along with an Adreno 205 GPU. Combined with Gingerbread and 512MB of RAM, the unit appears to be quite capable. There's a ton more information so feel free to dive in; they talk about the button setup, structural explanation, and a few complaints, including the fact that they couldn't get the Wi-Fi to work, and the glossy batter door is "very flimsy." All we need now is a price and a date and of course, those are quite possibly the two most important details, as far as most consumers are concerned. After reading that big ol' breakdown, though, you'll probably make a decision…are you interested?
Although we don't really cover phones, this may fall under the "PlayStation" heading, so we'll see if we can hit up Sony for one of these bad boys. If we do, we'll tell you all about it.
There was a time I'd inspect those specs closely to see just how epic the phone is. Now? Now I just want a phone that plays PS games. Looks like I'm getting that!
Being that I'm horrible with keeping a phone in good condition I'd definitely need to know the price..I've seen a clip of it in action playing racing game and it looks as though the phone has six axis qualities to it
Dang, only on par specs. Was hoping for it to go above and beyond other smart phones. Interest slightly muted now.
Why? It's a phone. For something that goes beyond, look to the PSP2.
The on par specs probably mean that the price won't be too high. Which is of course always a plus.
I just feel in the next 8-12 months they'll announce a newer model with a Tegra inside, and then support for 1st gen fades.
Phones are much more mercurial than the PSP2 has to be. pushing out a new one in a year isn't a huge problem for phones. The PSP2 will have to be a stable reference platform for developers. The phone potentially runs games in a virtual machine which will remain stable regardless of the phone's hardware performance.
If this is any good, I will be replacing my Droid in the next 12-months, and this will be the one for me.
@ High
In 12 months? Don't you think it will be dwindling in its life cylce by that time?
Version 2….?
If the games run in a virtual environment, it won't matter which version of the phone I get.
Yup, price and date is what really matters.
And carriers. I doubt my carrier will get it.
I lost my PSP half a year ago and my phone is literally falling apart, so buying this is a considerable option. The only downside is that the PSP2 is coming in the news a lot lately and I don't want to buy both, just either.
What should I do?
Go with whichever one is cheaper. And if you want the other one two wait for the price to go down.
Last edited by Looking Glass on 1/26/2011 12:54:07 PM
buy the psp2, and let your phone company upgrade you to a better phone that you can afford
@ BTN Warrior
I'm using phone I bought without simlock and got a prepaid subscription somewhere else. So it's not up to my phone company to get me a new one. But I think I'll buy another cheap phone and get the PSP2, I don't want to be stuck with old hardware.
What type of games will it play? PSP2, PSP, only games for PSP phone? It seems the specs for the PSP2 are quite futuristic, and maybe do not align with what the PSP Phone has, so that would mean the PSP phone can't play PSP2 games? Seems bizarre that this would be their strategy. I'd think it would make much more sense that if the PSP Phone and PSP2 are launching at the same time (or about) that they would both have PSP2 game play ability.
Well, I think that if they did that it may go a long way toward defeating the purpose of making two different products. This way they are essentially aiming at two different markets at the same time: smart phone users and gamers.
On top of that games on the PS phone, or the Xperia Play, have the potential to greatly surpass other phone based games because of the unique control scheme. Personally I think that replacing analog sticks with touch sensor panels was a brilliant choice on the designers part. Now all they need is a reasonable price and they've got a potentially killer product.
I'm betting on PS1 and perhaps PSP minis as well as games specifically for it sold through PSN.
Never heard of a multitouch screen… is it just a touch screen or is there more than one way of touching it?
Also, for anybody wondering about price, the engadget article says to expect price and release date info during the MWC conference starting Feb 14th through the 17th.
I think by multitouch they mean you can use two or more fingers at once and it'll read different gestures, kind of like the iPhone or iPod touch.
It's like most smart phones these days you can use more than once finger at once, like when zooming a picture.
Oh, well that makes sense. First time I've ever heard the term multitouch, it threw me off.
@ Ben
personally i think the question to me is, how interested are you? i know you dont care much for these new phones and you have a old phone. does this make you want to upgrade?
i really want to know more about this and would much rather have this than an iphone. i wont go run out and score it day one as i need to know a lot of things about it. price, service carrier and when can i touch it.
totally un-necessary!
playstation phone?
REALLY!…
This thing CRUSHED every phone in benchmark tests. Take a look at Engadget's pics for the benchmark results – the Nexus S wasn't even close. Unreal.
The processor can also be optionally boosted to 1.2GHZ (I think this is software dependent) and has 512MB RAM. It will also ship with Gingerbread. All of those rumors from a few weeks ago about this phone being neutered were false and I'm ecstatic!
This is my next phone. I play emulators on my Captivate now, but with only a touch screen its very difficult so I end up using GameGenie codes (old school!). But yeah, with a dedicated game pad…God I'm so happy.
PSP2 announcement in 9 hours!
WHAT? PSP2 ANNOUNCEMENT IN 2 HOURS?!??! I think im leaning on the psp2 more than this phone. I've been dreaming to play ps2 games on my psp. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEE
Crushed? Wow, that's contrary to the early benchmarks reported. that's good news, but I wonder about battery life at 1.2GHz.
My biggest question is which carrier(s) is going to offer this. I sincerely doubt it's going to be built with different antennas for multiple carriers. I think the Xperia X10 is compatible with both AT&T and T-Mobile so I'm guessing either of those will carry this one. The X10 is also a sub-par android phone so hopefully sony ericsson has learned a few things since releasing it. If they release this on Verizon and it's good enough to replace my Droid Incredible, it'll be a day 1 purchase for me. Otherwise I'm holding out for the PSP2.
If they don't cover my existing carrier, that's OK, I'll delay until I'm out of contract and then switch. One thing is certain, if Sony puts their weight behind this (and they are), they are very unlikely to drop support, even if it's sales are lack luster.
The likely answer is in the Engadget article. Its antenna is HSDPA which means AT&T in the US. No way I'm switching as I'm very happy with my current provider. What a shame…
I hate AT&T.
Then again, Verizon isn't making friends with me either.
I hope if someone calls me on this PSPhone that it leaves a message telling them that I am on the final boss and call back in the next hour.
Hey sounds interesting, maybe for my next upgrade, but I don't use phones much so PSP2 keeps my interest for any gaming.
looks very good but could say more for the graphics on that prototype.
overall though, i'd get something else as a phone. this looks good, but as a PS phone… it just seems like its gonna be expensive and HTC and whatnot are doing similar/better things
or at least for my needs anyway.
I'm fine with my Droidx. I agree with Arnold's comments regarding controls when playing an emulated game, it's hard. But I'm going to be putting all my money into the PSP2 and I already own 2 PSPs.
You can't just add the two together?
I can't justify it, nope.
Xperia Play……………you're so replacing my 8-year vet Nokia 7610.
Last edited by Snaaaake on 1/26/2011 7:18:19 PM
I don't see this single phone lasting any longer on the market than any other available device, do you? Arnold, you seem impressed with the performance figures, but I'm a bit leary of what it has to offer… And I believe it's an justified outlook. Cell phones push forward in small, continuous leaps. This phone won't change that money making game.
In a year from its release, it'll be far less appealing. This will be the proving ground for Sonys product. Either it'll evolve or it'll fade away. Either way, what we get now may only be a precursor for what we'll get later. I, unfortunately, signed into a new contract with at&t with my captivate so this phone won't be on my list of toys.
I just cant help the underwhelming feeling I get from this. The only positive outcome I see is more gaming options on the go. As far as the breakthrough it'll be, well… Time will only tell, right?
Well, as pleased as I am with my current Xperia I can most definitely say that this will be my next phone.
Not sure where to post this, but the successor to the PSP has just been announced. It's called "NGP" as in "Next Generation Portable". I'm not sure I like the name, as I am accustomed to Sony's gaming devices having "PS" on them. Oh well.
As for the specs, IGN reported it has the ff:
– 5" OLED screen (4x the resolution of the PSP)
– 3G plus Wi-Fi
– GPOS (GPS?)
– Front and rear touchpads
– Six-axis motion sensing
– Flash-based medium
Games announced so far include a Golf game (HotShots maybe?), something like LittleBigPlanet, WipeOut, Resistance, and yes, Uncharted!
It's releasing this Holiday season in Japan. Ryan Clements said "This device looks hella slick."
Can't wait for the official photos to come out!
very disappointing considering the iphone 4 is a year older and is on top.
not to mention apple are releasing there new phone in a few months which will make this look like ancient history!
i wish sony would just scrap this, all i see in this future is millions spent on R&D, millions more on marketing and it selling worse than enslaved!
so many other better places they could be spending the cash!