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How would you change Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play?
It came with a bang, but even Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play seems to have already become yesterday's treasure in a world swamped with dual-core superphones. Still, the Play remains the only Android phone on the market with a full-on slide-out gamepad, and while the library's still lacking, there's oodles of promise here. And that, friends, is where you come in. For those that forked over whatever it took to snag one, we're anxious to know how you'd do things differently. We're guessing that SE didn't sink an absurd amount of resources into this thing without a successor in mind, so what are you hoping to see in Revision B? A higher-res display? A few more buttons to mash? Ice Cream Sandwich? Get as crazy as you wanna be in comments below, won't you?
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review
The PlayStation Phone. We've had quite the intimate history with this gamepad-equipped slider, learning of its secretive existence way back in August and then handling a prototype unit in January, so you'll forgive us for feeling sentimental and still entertaining our pet name for it. The Sony Ericsson marketing gurus renamed it the Xperia Play when it finally went official at MWC this year, but the PlayStation connection remains as strong as ever. Aside from the D-pad, iconic game keys, and two touchpads, this device comes with a little app named PlayStation Pocket, which will be serving up dollops of classic PlayStation One gaming to all those with a taste for it. Yes, the Sony influence is strong with this one, and the Android Market will be joining the fun with Xperia Play-optimized titles from third-party developers. So all we really need to know now is whether the Android smartphone underpinning this smash-bang fusion of old and new school entertainment happens to be any good. Shall we get Started? %Gallery-119806%
Xperia Play shows up in Verizon's inventory
By now you should be doubt-free that the Xperia Play exists and is coming to Verizon, but if not, let this clear things up. A well-trusted tipster has just sent us the above screen shot of the Sony R800X (the 'x' here indicating CDMA as opposed to the model R800i we've been seeing), better known as the Xperia Play, hanging out in Verizon's system. We're bummed to not have a release date or price, but we're digging for more info. Head past the break for some exclusive product details straight from the depths of Verizon's backend.%Gallery-117125%
Live from Sony Ericsson's MWC 2011 press event!
It's really no secret what Sony Ericsson plans to show off at its MWC 2011 press conference -- leaks notwithstanding, the Xperia Play (aka PlayStation Phone) was unveiled and made quite official in a Super Bowl commercial. We're about to see it presented all over again, but we'll also get a chance to see what else the company has up its sleeve... and under its thumbs, of course. The event kicks off 6PM local time (that's noon ET), so join us promptly, won't ya?
Xperia Play coming to Canada, exclusive to Rogers?
O2, Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile UK... who else is getting Xperia Play, you ask? Anyone in North America, perhaps? Looks like the once (and in our hearts always) PlayStation phone has popped up on Sony Ericsson Canada's site, and will be exclusive to Rogers -- that is, if a certain tip that Mobile Syrup has received is to be believed. Either way, it looks like it's less than a week until we get all the sordid details.
Sony Ericsson makes Xperia Play official in Super Bowl commercial, full launch coming February 13th
Sony Ericsson has finally stopped teasing, winking, and nodding knowingly and has just come clean -- the Xperia Play is most definitely real and it'll be one of the first devices announced at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We're treated to a date and time, February 13th at 6PM GMT, a pair of full frontal shots of the Gingerbread-running, gamepad-wearing smartphone, and the full version of that creepy ad we saw for it a couple of days back. Missed it on the Super Bowl? Scope it out after the break. P.S. - Missed our coverage of Super Bowl Media Day? Catch up here!
The Engadget Show: Xperia Play / PlayStation phone previewed, 'shoulder flippers' in tow (video)
We expect each and every one of you to watch the Engadget Show's initial live stream and to download / re-watch it when we post up the official HD files -- and that expectation goes double for episodes featuring Steve Wozniak. So when we tell you about this awesome breakout clip of Nilay and Josh playing with Sony's top secret Xperia Play / PlayStation phone prototype -- the one Richard Lai previewed last week -- it's not because we suspect it's the first time you've seen the footage. No, we just want to provide yet another excuse to watch Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha with slow framerate, and get a visual cue of the custom-made Josh Topolsky soundboard app. We imagine the games to be much Suite-r by the time the device makes its (much more likely than not) Mobile World Congress debut this month.
The Engadget Show returns this Sunday with Steve Wozniak!
Clear your calendars everybody, because this Sunday, January 30th, the inimitable co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak will be joining us for the first Engadget Show of 2011! It will be a night to remember as Woz joins us for an evening of frank, eye-opening, and all-around awesome conversation. We'll be streaming live at 6:00PM from Cooper Union's Rose Auditorium and we've got about 200 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis if you want to join us in person. We'll also have music from the talented Zen Albatross and the usual crazy giveaways. Trust us when we say that this episode is going to be epic. REMINDER: The Show will be taking place in a lovely new venue, the Rose Auditorium in Cooper Union's New Academic Building (ie. not the TimesCenter), located in Manhattan at 41 Cooper Square. Seating is extremely limited, so get there early! Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Cooper Union New Academic Building at 2:00PM on Sunday, January 30th, doors will open for seating at 5:15PM, and the show begins at 6:00PM We now have assigned seating, so the first people to get their tickets will get priority seating. This also means that once you get a ticket, your seat is guaranteed -- you won't have to get back in line to get a good seat. You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity is limited (only about 200 seats in the theatre), and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 (map after the break) The show length is around an hour Unfortunately, we won't be running the usual text-to-win sweepstakes for this episode (we know it sucks, but it's out of our hands), so if you want a seat you'll have to show up in person. If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Sony to announce PSP2 at January 27th Tokyo meeting?
Sony has a January 27th meeting in Tokyo to discuss "business [overview] and strategy." That much is true (and confirmed by Joystiq to Sony). What we don't know is whether MCV and VG247's sources are worth their weight in Lucida Grande. Both sites claim to have heard this meeting will be the launch platform for the PSP2. (VG247, for its part, has previously published pictures of an apparent PSP2 dev kit.) No major trade show debut, just a Tokyo meeting of unknown spectacle... then again, 3DS' unveil was a random press release, so stranger things have happened. We'd wager on another PlayStation Phone non-confirmation at the very least, but we'll have to wait and see.
PlayStation Phone captured in the wild, on video
Well, the leaks have been flying fast and furious: the presumed PlayStation Phone has been in the hands of folks for a hot minute, and now a video has popped up showing one lucky hombre playing Resident Evil 2 and Rage Racer on the device. The hardware is apparently on the up and up, although the fact that the titles had to be loaded through ROM Buddy (a third-party Android app for running ROMs) suggests that the software is still being tinkered with. Or that this is all a terrible hoax. That said, it looks like this thing is pretty much a done deal. See for yourself after the break. [Thanks, Dan]
PlayStation Phone sized up with numerous devices in another in-depth Chinese preview
Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. It's been literally less than 48 hours since we saw the first in-depth Chinese-language preview of Sony's still yet-to-be-confirmed PlayStation Phone, and believe it or not, we've got another one. (Our resident translator Richard Lai suggests this might be the same PS Phone just being passed around the various websites.) It's just as long and arguably just as in-depth with an absolute ton of comparison pics with the PSP Go, the Xperia lineup, a DSi, a Droid... the list goes on. Much of what's written is the same, and the PlayStation Pocket app is still a mystery. The preview does say a third-party emulator was downloaded and tested, with 70 percent success, but that doesn't actually tell us anything. Anyway, even if you don't know Chinese, hit up the source and bask in the glory of a ton more pics. [Thanks, Shaun]
Sony's PlayStation Phone gets in-depth preview in China, PlayStation Pocket app in tow
Well, that was quick. It was just two days ago when the elusive PlayStation Phone popped up on a Hong Kong forum, and now it's back again in full exposure thanks to Chinese website IT168. It's now confirmed that said Xperia-branded device is powered by a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, along with what's likely to be a 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 as featured on the HTC Desire HD. Interestingly, Neocore is reporting an impressive 59.1fps benchmark, which is a huge improvement from our exclusive look back in early December. Quadrant also reports a high score of 1,733, but hey, there's no saying that this is the final build, so the graphics performance may get even better. Other tidbits found in the latest leak include the generous battery capacity of 1,500mAh, the 854 x 480 resolution on a 4-inch LCD, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash sans 720p video recording (although it's probably just that the leaksters didn't look in all the submenu in the camera app), 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, a microSD slot, SIM slot, micro-USB, and a second mic on the back for active noise cancellation à la Nexus One. Interestingly, the still-empty game launcher app is now called "PlayStation Pocket." We're still unclear just what the app will run; will it be PSOne games (the company has written an emulator before), PSP games, or an entirely new lineup? (In contrast, the PSP Go has a 333MHz processor, 64MB RAM, and a 3.8-inch 480 x 272 display -- albeit on different, not-quite-comparable architecture.) Hopefully we'll know soon enough, eh Kaz? Anyhow, you can peruse some pictures and videos below, and definitely check out IT168 for the full skinny on this (somewhat tick) device. [Thanks, Dave] %Gallery-113164%
Kaz Hirai non-confirms the PlayStation Phone and tablet
Kaz Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, just twirled a fine dance around the PlayStation Phone. In discussing Sony's future strategy for offering a coherent and extremely expansive consumer offering, he used the words "tablets," "smartphones" and "PlayStation" in the same sentence, whetting appetites but never taking the leap to confirm what we all pretty much know his company is working on: Strategy encompasses driving the development of a variety of new strategic products and services including tablets currently in development as well as smartphones, all the while of course integrating the knowhow and the assets that we've accumulated from our PlaySation business. Oh Kaz, just admit it.
Sony's Kaz Hirai talks up virtues of touch controls, weighs in on PlayStation phone
The PlayStation phone keeps popping up time and again, and still no one at Sony is going to flat-out admit anything -- but that hasn't stopped playful speculation. Even SCE chief Kaz Hirai is joining in the fun. "We don't want gamers to be asking, what's the difference between that [a PS phone] and a PSP... we have to come up with a message that users will understand," he told The New York Times. "It would have to be a product that keeps the PlayStation's strengths intact." So that's the issue, then, differentiating a new PSP and a variant with phone capabilities -- nothing a good marketing campaign can't fix, if you ask us. But enough about the phone, what of the PlayStation's portable brand in general? Hirai seems to fancy touch controls, actually. "Depending on the game, there are ones where you can play perfectly well with a touch panel," he said, adding that "immersive games" -- the ones he think are Sony's focus, vs. the more casual fare offered by Apple and Android -- do well with physical buttons, and that some games work well with the two. We can't help but notice he said touch panel and not touch screen, which reminds us of the touchpad we saw on the PS phone leaks, but we wouldn't want to harp too much.
Exclusive: PlayStation Phone 'Zeus Z1' prototype benchmarked on video
We can't get enough of Sony Ericsson's PlayStation Phone (also known as Zeus Z1), and we're guessing neither can you. We were just sent a new video of the device in action, only now it's running Qualcomm's Neocore benchmark app. As you can see, the device managed 24.4 frames per second on average. That doesn't seem like much -- our Nexus S, for example, just pulled off 55.6fps -- but bear in mind, this isn't the final software (or hardware probably), so there's no conclusions at all to draw from this benchmark right now. Just think of it as another nice view of the phone as we inch closer to a finish line we still can't make out over the horizon. Sorry, no slide-out gamepad, but you saw that last week -- don't be greedy. Video after the break.
PlayStation Phone espied in Greece, said to have Gingerbread and 4-inch screen (video)
It's quite fitting for a device that's purportedly codenamed Zeus to make its first video appearance somewhere in the wilds of Greece. What we have here is the apparent full motion debut of Sony Ericsson's big crossover device, the PlayStation Phone, one half portable gaming console, one half Android smartphone. Unfortunately, we never see it flexing out its slider to reveal that delicious control pad, but judging from its curves and little design details, it does indeed look to be the real deal. Techblog.gr reports that it's dubbed the Sony Ericsson Z1 and comes with Gingerbread on board -- something that meshes well with earlier indications that some Zeus devices in the wild are already running Android 2.3 (and above) -- while the screen is a 4-inch panel that apparently offers great touchscreen responsiveness. See the mythical creature for yourself after the break.
Sony earnings call entertains PlayStation Phone, reveals tablets are on the radar
Earnings calls aren't usually that interesting, and that's doubly true when trying to listen via official translators. Still, we couldn't help but give an ear to Sony's fiscals, and sure enough, someone asked about our (still real) PlayStation Phone leak. We're not sure who answered since it's through interpreter, either Executive VP / CFO Masaru Kato or Senior General Manager of Investor Relations Division Gen Tsuchikawa (we're assuming the former). Citing the aforementioned device, the curious party asked if such a product would come out of Sony or of Sony Ericsson, and no, it wasn't a complete denial. Instead, we're told just how such a device would happen, that a gaming phone would be planned and prototyped under the (recently restructured) Network Services umbrella. We're also told how SCE's move to Sony City headquarters now puts them closer to the planning and engineering group, meaning the company "can better incorporate all these capabilities better... so when the timing is right we can probably announce to you the new product we have." Ericsson is later cited as a resource "on smartphone and for the games devices," although this might be something peculiar with translation. Again, that's far from a confirmation, but they're certainly entertaining the notion in a very, very detailed response. But that's not all; there's also apparently a tablet brewing in the background, one that would obviously fall somewhere in between PC and Sony Ericsson's efforts. There isn't much else said, but if you're up for psychoanalyzing executive commentary, we've transcribed and placed the full quote after the break.
Keepin' it real fake, part CCLVIII: shanzhai PSP Phone dampens our excitement for an actual PSP Phone
When one thinks of a PSP Phone, they usually imagine a handset with a number of cool, gamer-centric features, such as some sort of integration with the PlayStation network or -- imagine! -- the ability to actually play PSP games. What they don't imagine -- correct us if we're wrong -- is some sort of KIRFy cellphone shoved inside what is essentially the shell of a PSP. That said, we do have to give our friends in Shenzhen some props: not only have they beat Sony with this knock-off, but with the way things are going, they might have the PSP Phone market all to themselves in perpetuity. No specifics on this one yet -- price, stats, or street date -- but you probably weren't going to buy one anyways. Get a closer look after the break.
Sony Ericsson president: PlayStation phone "could happen"
Well, this is certainly one rumor that just won't die -- nor is it likely to, not as long as the company has its hands in both manufacturing handsets and game consoles. According to an article in the Financial Times, Sony Ericsson president Hideki "Handsome Dick" Komiyama discusses his struggle to reposition the company as one the world's top three phone makers. Among bright ideas and desperate measures mulled over, the man in charge lets slip that no plan is too crazy or far-fetched to consider. Even a PlayStation-branded phone? "Could happen," he is quoted as saying. And there you have it! Begin warrantless speculation: now.[Via Unwired View]
Sony Ericsson working on a PSP phone, minus the Ericsson?
Look, we've heard our fair share of PSP phone rumors, and there's really no reason to trust this one any further than your average baseless musings, but if Marketing Week's "sources in Japan and Korea" can be trusted, Sony's PSP phone could be hitting shelves as soon as Christmas 2009. What does seem clear to these shady sources is that Sony won't be forking over the PlayStation branding to its Sony Ericsson partnership, and instead will build its PSP phone all by its lonesome. Other "details" from "analysts" are slightly less legit-sounding, with some stating it would be "relatively easy" to work phone features into the PSP since it already includes WiFi. Um, ok. Still, reasonable or not, this is clearly a rumor that will never die -- until Sony builds the dang thing, in which case we can start talking up a sequel.[Thanks, Alex]
