MWC 2011
MWC 2011: Sony Ericsson overview
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play features a 4" FWVGA screen, but strangely is the only one of the newly announced devices not to pack a Reality display. Sony Ericsson says sacrifices were necessary if they were to get all the gaming potential they wanted in the little fella and obviously their latest display technology didn't make the cut.
And speaking of gaming potential - the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play is certainly the device with the best game controls we have seen. You get a D-pad, touchpad (plus, of course, an ample touchscreen) and action buttons.
Now we aren't particularly sure about the Adreno 205 GPU that's assisting the 1 GHz Scorpion CPU. We feel that a dedicated gaming device deserved a far superior GPU so it would be able to run more elaborate games. Still the ones demoed on the XPERIA Play at the Sony Ericsson event were all very cool and none of them had any issues whatsoever with the performance so we might be getting too picky.
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play hands-on photos
Another great thing about the XPERIA Play is that it will have access to some great games (including Sony PS One titles).
More Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play hands-on photos
We played a few very quick games on the XPERIA Play and they all seemed pretty enjoyable.
Playing Crash Bandicoot on the XPERIA Play • Game keys
Sony Ericsson came up with a nice dock for the XPERIA Play - it's called Sony Ericsson DK300. Available as an accessory the thing will hit the shelves in black and white versions in March. There's no price mentioned yet, though.
The XPERIA Play dock
Your Xperia Play automatically detects when you plug it in the dock and launches the desktop clock application.
XPERIA Play second encounter
The pre-MWC event wasn't enough for us so we headed to Sony Ericsson booth to play with the new gadgets for a second time. For starters we snapped a few more photos of the gaming smartphone:
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play hands-on photos
We also learned a few interesting new facts about the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
- There will be no PSOne emulator. The PSOne classics will be ported directly to the Android platform, but they will be available only through the dedicated Game Store.
- Sony Ericsson is going to revise the games before they enter the Game Store so they get the PlayStation certification. Otherwise they won't be published there, but in the Android Market only.
- The promised 60fps in games won't be constant but optimum. Lots of the upcoming titles should run at or about that frame rate, though.
- The XPERIA Play doesn't have a Reality display or an Exmor R camera sensor. They are sacrificed in order to minimize the device size.
- The XPERIA Play will launch with 50 game titles in its Game Store, but they will expand rapidly until the end of the year. Lots of Sony's partners are working on new games or porting classics right now.
- XPERIA Play launches in March worldwide except the States. Verizon will offer it exclusively in the US starting from April.
- There's no pricing info yet.
That's all the stuff we know so far. Here is a thorough video demonstration from the Sony Ericsson's booth.
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play might not be powered by some of the latest chipsets with dual-core processors, but it seems Sony Ericsson is on the way of creating a similar ecosystem like Apple's. It will be less restricted of course, but it should help the Play get a market niche of its own. And with the Sony's varied gaming partners this won't be so hard to accomplish.
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