Sony Xperia PLAY - Have Sony finally cracked mobile gaming?

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1st March 2011, 23:40
Harrison

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Sony Xperia PLAY - Have Sony finally cracked mobile gaming?

Have any of you seen this yet?

Attachment 782

http://www.sonyericsson.com/mwcnews/xperia_play/

The Sony Xperia PLAY is the amalgamation of the PSP Go and an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) 4" touch screen smartphone.

Full specs at: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsso..._play-3608.php

So the PSP Go finally makes sense, and could answer the question of why the Go even existed. It gains the touchscreen I've thought the PSP has needed for a long time, and instead of the analogue "nubs", this now has analogue touch pads. It is also using a Snapdragon 1GHz CPU (so as fast as any other smartphone currently available) and an Adreno GPU capably of 60fps gaming.

No news yet if existing PSP software will run as it is on the PLAY, or if only titles ported specifically to this new phone will run, but the system has been demoed showing original PSX software running perfectly on it. Have a search on youtube and you should find a video showing RE2 running.

This is due for release this month (March 2011), and I think the release has actually been waiting for the release of Gingerbread (Android 2.3).

I need a new phone, and was seriously looking at the Samsung Galaxy S, but now the Experia PLAY is about to be released, and with Gingerbread long before the Galaxy S will see an update I'm going to wait and see what the prices will be.

Anyone else tempted?

Attachment 783
7th March 2011, 21:14
Sharingan

Looks like a nice phone, great design. Definitely tempted, but since the previous Xperia was so disappointing, I'll be doing some research first before investing in another Sony Ericsson phone. Nice to see that it's using Android.
11th March 2011, 21:02
Submeg

Have a look here
24th March 2011, 06:40
J T

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharingan

Looks like a nice phone, great design. Definitely tempted, but since the previous Xperia was so disappointing, I'll be doing some research first before investing in another Sony Ericsson phone. Nice to see that it's using Android.

Let's hope they bother to update this one, eh?

My wife has the x10mini and it was stuck for AGES on 1.6 (I know some of the tardiness was due to carrier ****wittery, but still). Now it's -finally- on 2.1, and will no longer be receiving any OS updates. And it's not that old at all. Thanks a lot Sony, I'm glad people have hacked the bejesus out of your PS3 already.

Although, the PS3 being opened up actually made me more interested in getting one. But still, up yours phone division, grrrrr.
24th March 2011, 08:47
Harrison

Android updates are not just a problem on Sony phones. Samsung and other makes of Android phone also have issues with updates. The Samsung Galaxy S for example was stuck on 2.1 for a very long time, and only just got the 2.2 update available, although still not as a push update from the provider, but requiring manual updating through Samsungs Kies software, which when I tried last week failed and nearly bricked the phone. All makes have their problems.

At least this Xperia Play will come with Gingerbread 2.3 as standard... but the new Samsung Galaxy S II is due for release in May, which has a faster dual core CPU, 8MP camera and some other nice features...
24th March 2011, 10:16
J T

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harrison

Android updates are not just a problem on Sony phones. Samsung and other makes of Android phone also have issues with updates. The Samsung Galaxy S for example was stuck on 2.1 for a very long time, and only just got the 2.2 update available, although still not as a push update from the provider, but requiring manual updating through Samsungs Kies software, which when I tried last week failed and nearly bricked the phone. All makes have their problems.

Indeed,but it is rather galling to have a phone that isn't old by any means effectively abandoned by the manufacturer. I think the number of android OS versions (and the vast majority's ignorance of them) as well as the carriers putting a lot of uninstallable shite on the phone is a huge negative. I don't want to have to root a phone just to get rid of tons of junk I don't use, and open it up to things that I do. Bah.

I hope google start putting their foot down a bit more and don't let the telcos keep nobbling the nice OS.
24th March 2011, 11:32
Harrison

There is quite a large Android hacking community out there though, with a lot of custom versions of Android. Even 2.3 is available for the Galaxy S unofficially already and the hackers add their own features to the OS, although as they are never specifically versions from the phone maker some feaures are sometimes disabled. But if you have a phone without any official 2.2 or 2.3 update available then it is an option worth invetigating to keep an old mobile going.