Sony Ericsson Xperia Play the PlayStation Phone

On the same day as the unveiling of Sony’s PSP2 (codenamed: NGP) Sony Ericsson have launched a new phone called the Sony Ericsson ‘Xperia Play’.

Photo courtesy of Engadget

The Xperia Play will be using the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and will launch with Orange UK, although it is likely to also launch with the other major carriers in the UK. The question is however, is this a games-console or a phone. Or more importantly, a phone trying to be a games console, or a games console trying to be a phone. This might sound like small differences but it can have a huge impact!

This phone comes loaded with a 5MP camera, 512MB of RAM and a ~1Ghz A9 processor. The main selling point of this phone is having access to the PlayStation Suite, which is likely to be populated with PSOne classics initially. Sony has, however, also invited Android game developers to have their titles certified and included in the PlayStation store itself.

With a processor speed higher than in the original PSP, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some of the popular PSP games being re-released for this device, though the lack of a UMD drive might pose a few problems for developers.

It also carries all the standard phone features, Wi-Fi, 3G and expandable memory via MicroSD. The screen however is a multi-touch 480 x 854 LED-lit LCD, which should allow you play games with a very high quality.

Whilst it pales in comparison to the newly announced PSP2, it is certainly a step up from the incumbent Xperia X10 and even the original PSP itself. This phone could be extremely popular, especially if the network providers get their act together and offer it on some competitive tariffs.