Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Review – Specification, Features, Price

The Xperia Play, made by Sony Ericsson is a marriage between video games and a smartphone. Running the Android operating system, and coming pre-loaded with 6 high quality games, it threatens to corner not only the cell-phone market, but the handheld gaming market as well.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Specifications:

• Android™ OS 2.3 Gingerbread
• 6 Preloaded Console-Quality Games
• 4″ inch, 16-Million color screen
• Weighs 6.17 ounces
• 16mm Thick
• 5 MP Camera
• VGA Front Facing Camera
• Genuine Gaming Controller
• Access to Over 150,000 Apps in Android Market
• 1GHz CPU (Qualcomm MSM 8655)
• Adreno 205 graphics processor
• 8GB MicroSD pre-installed
• 512 MB of RAM

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Features:

The Xperia Play is a phone made for games. With the slide out controller, great processors, solid amount of storage, and great amount of RAM, it is certainly capable of running some of the highest quality games we’ve seen on a phone yet. The fact that the controller is laid out basically like the Playstation’s along with it being Playstation certified are certainly huge draws. But with those draws, come drawbacks, specifically the fact that the phone is not technically a part of the Playstation Network, meaning users have to buy their Playstation games all over again, aside from the 6 that come pre-loaded. The touch sensitive circles that replace joysticks also leave much to be desired when attempting to play these newly purchased, or re-purchased, games.
The lack of 4G is also a negative point when looking at this phone, gaming device combination. There will only be more and more 4G coverage areas springing up going forward, and entering in on a new 2-year agreement with a 3G phone might not be too feasible, although this does not severely detract from the phone’s performance at all.
There are a good bit of positive things to note about Sony Ericsson’s new phone competitor, though. The bright 4” screen with a 854×480-pixel FWVGA resolution makes it possible to notice even the slightest bit of color detail in games, photos, and even movies. The typical android hot-keys for Back, Home, Menu, and Search sit underneath the screen. The good thing about these is that Sony has gone for the option of making them physical buttons, unlike many other phone creators, who have provided touch-sensitive alternatives. This makes the phone feel slightly more durable, and the silver color of the buttons accents the black appearance of the front of the phone quite nicely.
The Xperia Play app is where most of the gaming on this phone will take place. Apart from the 6 pre-loaded games (Madden NFL 11, Star Battalion, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, The Sims 3, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, and Crash Bandicoot) you will have to buy the rest of your games through the V Cast App, as Sony has partnered with the carrier to provide games through that route, and that route only. Of course, you can also download games from the standard Android Marketplace, but keep in mind that while games can be designed to take advantage of the Xperia Play’s control pad, not all of them have been designed to do so, in fact, only a few of them have.

Price:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play comes in at a very low $99.99 price-tag with a new 2-year agreement with Verizon that must include a data-pak if bought online. It would be $149.99 in the store. Otherwise, you’ll be shelling out $449.99.

Verdict:

If you are a hardcore mobile gamer, then the Xperia Play should be a pass for you, especially if you already have a smartphone. Even for casual Android gamers, the gamepad will not help you much in playing the games you already have. To keep it short, this was a great move in the direction of combining a gaming device with a cell phone, but you should still wait for something better.