Sony had previously said that it planned to push out the PLAY update by the end of May or the beginning of June. That was followed by an ICS beta ROM for unlocked Xperia Play devices, pushed out as a test platform prior to the official upgrade, and which Sony claims resulted in some serious issues among owners.

Sony has detailed exactly what was giving it headaches with ICS on the PLAY, but there are indications that it’s gaming stability that has been the problem. “The ICS upgrade would have compromised stability,” the company said, “where we look to ensure a quality gaming experience with games optimized and developed for Xperia PLAY.”

As for other devices, the Xperia arc, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will start to to see Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 upgrades from next week. Xperia arc S, Xperia ray and Xperia neo V users will also get a 4.0.4 update.

Sony statement:

“In regards to Xperia PLAY, after extensive in house testing with our developer teams and working with our partners, we have concluded that a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smartphone on Ice Cream Sandwich – therefore, we will not make the Android 4.0 upgrade available for Xperia PLAY.

This decision was also verified when we received similar feedback from the developer community; both experienced developers and advanced users, along with game content providers following our ICS beta ROM for unlocked Xperia PLAY smartphones.

Our priority has and always will be, to provide the best possible user experience on Xperia smartphones. In this instance the ICS upgrade would have compromised stability, where we look to ensure a quality gaming experience with games optimized and developed for Xperia PLAY”

With AllJoyn, most of the work is done by developers before you, the user, ever gets it in your hands – this is part of what makes AllJoyn so excellent – you barely even need to know it’s there! The next thing that makes AllJoyn so enticing is its ability to connect devices together without a middle-man – you’ll see several different examples of ways this is happening in the videos below. Then there’s the support developers get from Qualcomm when developing with AllJoyn – there’s nothing like having an ultra-pro group of technical specialists there to help you when you’re working with a new technology, especially when you’re a developer on the rise.

Namco’s Pacman Kart

First peek at a presentation of Pacman Kart from Namco working on a pair of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play smartphones. Here you’ll hear how when both devices are connected to one another directly with AllJoyn – pay special attention to the end of the video where we speak on how these devices could be connected with their Wi-fi radios or their built-in bluetooth, AllJoyn not needing you to choose between them – it just works!

Phunware on a tablet connected to smart TV

Next take a look at a set of apps created by Phunware to work on a Qualcomm-powered tablet (an HTC Jetstream for those of you wondering) communicating with a Qualcomm-powered smart tv (powered by an S3 chip). You’ll find that the connection between the tablet and the television is in-sync because AllJoyn is communicating between the two devices with the radios built-in to either. The first example has an interactive trivia game controlled by the tablet. The next example has video playing on the television while related links and images appear on the tablet. The final example has a karaoke game that uses the tablet as a microphone, able then to play the song back with the voice you recorded the song in on the television immediately after you sang it.

JamJoyn music

JamJoyn is shown next, this an application custom-made for AllJoyn in which music is able to be controlled by several different devices all working with the same stereo. The devices used here are the HTC Thunderbolt and the HTC Nexus One (both running Snapdragon processors, of course) working with a Jawbone JAMBOX, each of them able to control the music by switching tracks, adding to a single playlist, and more. In this use case you’ll find the list of songs sitting below a control panel on both devices – the JAMBOX is connected to the Thunderbolt with an audio output cord, but both devices can control the jams.

Whiteboard

AllJoyn shows its power again with an app by the name of Whiteboard in which regardless of how many devices you’ve got open with the same canvas, anyone can draw and the canvas will be modified accordingly. Imagine the use of such a tool in an educational setting – especially in an art class! You could have a set of tablets all showing off the same piece of artwork with each one able to modify the rest – brilliant!

Fight Game: Heroes

We also got the chance to play the brand new mobile game Fight Game Heroes connected with AllJoyn on Qualcomm MSM8960 developer platform tablets. It was your humble narrator versus Cory Gunther and, believe it or not, I get knocked out in no time flat. Have a peek and see how versatile this system is on a couple of tablets made for developers only!

We’ll certainly continue to keep you updated on Qualcomm’s work with AllJoyn and will continue to bring you use-case scenarios as they appear on the mass market. Exciting stuff coming from a group that brings you not just the processor, but a network of finely tuned hardware in every device they work with. Developers get your thinking caps out!

Apparently the FreeXperia group had existed before now, but Sony Ericsson has today for the first time voiced and promised their support officially. The FreeXperia group was up until this point supported by Sony Ericsson with devices and technical know-how and just announced today by SE they are in the process of creating some brand new ROMs for Xperia devices like the Xperia PLAY and the Xperia arc that are based on CyanogenMod, the most famous ROM of all.

At this point we should warn you, as Sony Ericsson does, of the following:

Important note: By unlocking your phone and running a custom ROM you may void the warranty. See your phone’s warranty statement for details.

In the spring of 2011, Sony Ericsson first announced that they’d be unlocking bootloaders for their Xperia line of devices. What this means, for the lay person, is that they’d officially be able to be unlocked for hackers to play around in their guts. What’s happened since then is a group called FreeXperia has popped up in the developer underground to push custom user interfaces and ROMs to the Xperia line of phones. Amongst those are, again, Cyanogenmod, and now Sony Ericsson is voicing (and providing) support in several ways.

Karl-Johan Dahlström, Head of Developer Relations, speaks on the matter:

During some time now, the FreeXperia group of independent developers have been working on the CyanogenMod custom ROM for our latest Xperia™ phones. From a Sony Ericsson Developer program perspective, we were impressed by the passion shown and decided to help out with some bits and pieces, since we are aware that Sony Ericsson phones have been somewhat difficult to work with from an open developer point of view. A few proprietary solutions needed to be explained and we helped them with that. This included the camera, where we provided debugged and rebuilt camera library binaries, which we will soon make available on Developer World under a special EULA license. We also supported the group with approximately 20 devices, to make their work easier.

It’s exciting to see this support coming from on high at Sony Ericsson and we look forward to the 3rd party developer community gaining continued support through the future!

[via Sony Ericsson]

Those specs are looking a whole lot less appealing several months down the line, however, as is the XPERIA Play 4G’s Adreno 205 graphics, 5-megapixel main camera and VGA facing front-camera. Still, if you’re an avid gamer and you demand dedicated controls then there’s not much else on offer: the Play 4G is still the only phone to have dedicated PlayStation buttons and a touch-sensitive analog pad.

Seven titles will be preloaded: Dungeon Defenders Second Wave, Asphalt 6 Adrenaline, Star Battalion, Madden NFL 11, The Sims 3, Tower Bloxx: My City and Crash Bandicoot. Meanwhile there will be 150 other titles up for purchase.

AT&T will be bundling the XPERIA Play 4G with the Sony Ericsson Multimedia Dock DK300 and MC100 music cable as part of its $49.99 package. You’ll need to agree to a two-year agreement with a mandatory data plan, of course.

The proof of success comes by way of a video showing the PS1 title Crash Bandicoot 3 running on the device. According to the developer, the game is nearly 100% functional. The only things that are not functional are the instruction manual and multi-disc games won’t work.

Yifanlu notes that work is still left to be done. The next step is to create a GUI for converting ISO to APK. The time frame is expected to be “no more than a day on that.” Once that is complete, you can get the hack for yourself and start playing your own custom ISOs. Check out the video below to see Crash in action.

[via Android Community]

I’ve got this device in my pocket right now. It’s not the only device I’ve got in my pocket, but I’ve been unable to leave it by itself since I realized I’d be able to download a stack of games for it without too much effort thanks to the slick V-Cast system Verizon has set up with the device, allowing you the user to know exactly which games are optimized for use with the device and which aren’t. Thus far there aren’t more than a couple handfuls of games available for the device, but the ones that are present quite a who’s who of developers (and incidentally makes Gameloft look like a superstar with the vast majority of the titles being theirs.)

The other device I’ve got in my pocket is the HTC Sensation. The difference between these two devices is surprisingly small given that one of them has a single core, the other doesn’t have a game pad, and they’re both made by different manufacturing companies altogether. That said, they’re both good enough for any average young person’s main device in the USA, certainly and no problem. That’s assuming this young person has also had some experience with a PlayStation controller, but given that the PlayStation and its omnipotent controller that’s essentially stayed the same since its first incarnation in 1994. Have you never held and used a PlayStation controller?

I pity you, the person who has never felt gaming perfection.

The Xperia PLAY, for those of you that don’t know, was the original hero phone chosen by Google to represent Android 2.3 Gingerbread. For some reason, and we’re still not sure why by the way, Google abandoned the project and went with the Nexus S instead. Google DID go quite a ways with Sony Ericsson though in spite of this to bring us a rather fantastic vision of what Gingerbread is and should be used for. You’ll experience nothing but zippiness in this device not only because of this optimization but because of its Single core Scorpion ARMv7 1Ghz processor. It whips its hair back and forth, if you know what I mean, and doesn’t hesitate to run some of the most advanced games on the market, laughing at dual-core phones as it does so.

Now, on to the games. The following is a collection of game review videos your humble narrator has filmed over the past few weeks, each of them with their own individual review post as posted on SlashGear’s sister site Android Community. Come with me, if you will, on a strange journey:

Seem like an alright lineup? I’m not going to quit there, as it’s become obvious that there is a massive interest in this device via the games its got running on it. AKA we’ve been getting a lot of hits on those reviews and you, the readers, have been loving the ability to get a look at this unique device. That or you just want to see me fumble around with the controls because I’m basically terrible at actually winning video games.

The controls on this device are precise and nice. The only place and time I found myself having trouble working with them was at 2 am in the JFK airport in NYC where I’d been awake for around 24 hours and was waiting for a very, very late flight. Beyond that, my thumbs have been happy as a cake.

New games are coming in every few days, I’ll be continuing to review them, and there’s no end in sight for the fun that is to be had with this device. Do I recommend you buy it? Totally depends on if you’re a PlayStation sort of person (chances are that you are,) and if you like to have fun.

If you’d like to see some extended reviews of this device, head to any one of our several reviews here on SlashGear or over at Android Community:
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Review [Euro]
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Review – To Play or Not to Play?
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Review [Verizon]

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play is the very first “PlayStation Certified” smartphone, and this means it’s NVIDIA Tegra 2 powered Android platform is fully optimized for videogames and heavy graphics and sound. UBM’s teardown was done on a Canadian model of the XPERIA Play, but much the same, it reveals all the various components and the suppliers of those components that pack in the awesome gaming power

A primary components listing includes:

Qualcomm MSM8255 – 1 GHz Snapdragon baseband processor
Qualcomm QTR8200 – RF Transceiver
Qualcomm PM8058 – Power Management IC
Micron MT29F8G16ADBDAH4 – 8Gb NAND Flash
TriQuint TQM7M5013 – RF Power Amplifier
Synaptics T1320A – Capacitive Touchscreen Controller
Elpida B4064B2PD-6D-F – 2Gb LP DDR2 DRAM
austriamicrosystems AS3676 – LED Light Management
Maxim MAX17040 – Compact, Low-Cost 1S/2S Fuel Gauge
Avago ACPM-5001-TR1 – UMTS Band 1 Power Amplifier
Avago ACPM-5008-TR1 – UMTS Band 8 Power Amplifier
AKM Semiconductor AK8975 – 3-Axis Electronic Compass
Broadcom BCM4329 – 802.11n Low-Power with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and FM (Tx and Rx)

And here are the various component pictures:

And in case you missed it, you might want to check out our full review of the European release of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play. Our review on the U.S. release should be coming out very soon.

The Facebook integration automatically pulls in your Facebook events into the phone’s calendar, as well as adding online galleries to the phone’s local photos and videos. You can also read and post comments on media, “Like” the tracks you’re listening to, and use a media discovery app to find out what audio your friends are currently enjoying. Other improvements include:

• Battery performance
• General software stability
• Wi-Fi stability
• HD Video recording performance (Xperia arc)
• Touch responsiveness

Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson has also announced that the Gingerbread update for the XPERIA X10, confirmed back in March, will also include the Facebook Inside XPERIA functionality. Still no timescale on that upgrade’s release, however.

We criticized the GSM Play for its single-core processor and low-brightness display, and of course neither of those have changed in the switchover to CDMA. What you do get is EVDO Rev.A connectivity along with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and a 4-inch, 480 x 854 touchscreen. The gaming control slide pops out with a reassuringly solid snick, revealing the traditional PlayStation D-pad, four button cluster, two touch-sensitive pads that do the work of analog sticks, and start/select keys. Oddly-shaped shoulder flappers are also fitted, plus a second Android menu button.

In the box there’s a 1,500mAh battery, a USB wall charger, 8GB microSD card and a 3.5mm adapter cable. Meanwhile, Verizon preloads Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Star Battalion, and Madden NFL 11. The carrier’s PR material suggests the XPERIA Play is the “best in class platform with 3D gaming”, though its Adreno 205 GPU has already been superseded by the Adreno 220 GPU in the dual-core HTC Sensation.

From bottom to top: Samsung Galaxy S II, Droid Charge and XPERIA Play.

We’ll be putting the Verizon XPERIA Play through its paces ahead of the full SlashGear review later in the week, so until then enjoy the hands-on video and unboxing gallery.

Related Verizon XPERIA Play coverage by Android Community:

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Hands-On and Unboxing [Verizon]
Raving Babies for Xperia PLAY Review
Xperia PLAY Comes with Screen Skin Protector Attached
Gun Bros for Xperia PLAY App Review

XPERIA Play unboxing and hands-on

Pre-orders for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play was recently launched at Verizon. But the pricing there had the handset at $199.99 with a new 2-year agreement. Amazon’s listing today, has the handset at $99.99 with a new 2-year agreement. But if you’re an existing customer, you can upgrade your plan and get the phone for $149.99.

However, the phone is currently listed as backordered on Amazon, meaning you may have to wait 8 or 9 more days before it ships, even though the phone is set to launch May 26th. Make sure to check out our review of the Xperia Play, which will be getting an update next week that adds deep Facebook integration.

[via Android Community]

The update to Android 2.3.3 will fix certain security issues but will most notably bring deeper Facebook integration. Liking music and uploading photos are some of the features that will be more integrated with Facebook such that those activities are automatically updated to your Facebook feed. We take a closer look at the Facebook integration in our XPERIA mini hands-on.

Fortunately, for folks less favorable of Facebook, the newly integrated features can be easily turned off. Sony Ericsson Head of Web Service Partnerships, Calum MacDougall, stresses that the idea is not to turn the XPERIA into a “Facebook phone” but rather to enrich the experience of using the phone with Facebook.

[via Recombu]

We reviewed the Xperia Play in March and it was nice, but we figure it will live or die by the quality of its software. The smartphone runs Android 2.3, has a 4-inch multi-touch screen, and a 5MP rear camera. The front camera of the device is a VGA resolution unit for video chats. The processor inside the phone is a 1GHz Snapdragon with an Adreno 205 GPU. That single core processor is one of the specs that concern some people.

The smartphone will come with all the features that Android is known for and will have seven games pre-loaded and ready to play including Madden NFL 11 (EA Sports), Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior (Digital Legends), Asphalt 6: Adrenaline (Gameloft), The Sims 3 (EA), Star Battalion (Gameloft), Crash Bandicoot (Sony Playstation) and Tetris. The coolest part of this phone for me has always been the dual analog sticks and the directional keypad that slides out for gaming.

Of course any good Morning Wrap-Up on a Monday also includes some weekend business, so let’s get to that as well: a couple of columns added on April Fool’s Day, Friday, were no jokes, and spilled over heavily into the weekend. The first of these was written by Chris Davies and titled Google’s Android anti-fragmentation push is vital, while a similar column was written by yours truly on Android Community and called Android Remains Open, Android Remains Powerful. Keep those in mind while you have a sweet look at our utterly pumped-up brand new Android Community 2011 Reface!

Then on an Android front once again, take a peek at how Sony Ericsson plans on training developers to create for the Xperia PLAY – aka the “Playstation phone.” This same phone is released now in several countries that AREN’T the USA, but the phone has just hit the FCC which means that time is soon.

Then comes the big rumor factory for Ice Cream. Android’s next version is on the horizon, and the peanut gallery has decided that Google’s latest doodle means a little bit more than the 119th anniversary of the Sundae. Along with that comes word of Ice Cream pulling Google TV, Phone, and Tablet Strands Into One – looks to be an interesting future for this “mobile” OS!

And speaking of interesting for Android, check out Ben’s account of BlueStacks, Android’s Parallels for Windows.

Then comes the Apples. First, have a look at an 8-megapixel camera for iPhone 5 rumor, then get wild with Don Reisinger in a rather popular column that affirms How Apple Can Become the Next Gaming Giant. See a possible pic of iPod Nano’s 7th generation which appears to be toting a camera. Grab the new PwnageTool jailbreak for iPhone 4, Apple TV, and more. See an EPIC PRANK played on a woman using an iPhone and its lovely simple notification system. See a brand new iPad 2 commercial that touts tech that gets out of the way. See a remote controlled car controlled by iPad or Kinect. And get extremely wise with Chris Davies morning column by the name of Forget apps, Apple’s core iPad 2 experience needs to grow up. Powerful words!

Have a trip down Science Lane with Samia as she sends out her second SlashGear Science Week In Review, see Shane’s SlashGear Week in Review, and Rue’s increasingly popular SlashGear Weekly Roundup Video.

Oh, and don’t forget the oncoming “iPad Killer,” the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, of which we’ve got a hands-on walkthrough as well as official announcement and their very blunt mocking ad via Best Buy.

Ask yourself about Smartphone Screens: How Big is Too Big?

Have a taste of our very first SlashGear 101 with What is 3D TV?

Verizon’s 4G LTE devices require a SIM card for network identification, though if Sony Ericsson has upgraded the XPERIA Play for the carrier’s LTE network then we’d be surprised that they haven’t made more of that fact in advertising the handset. Perhaps more likely is World Phone functionality, which would allow Verizon XPERIA Play owners to take their CDMA device abroad and use it on GSM 3G networks.

Otherwise, things look roughly in line with the GSM-only version of the XPERIA Play which we reviewed last week. Hopefully Sony Ericsson do some tweaking to the display before it arrives in the US, though, since poor screen brightness was one of our key complaints.

[via Android Community]

10. April Fools Tech Roundup

9. Google vs. CNN on Facial Recognition App
Google Working on Facial Recognition App [UPDATE: False!]
Google’s Facial Recognition App Found Falsified by CNN [Update: CNN statement]
Face-Recognition app lights firestorm between Google and CNN [Updated]

8. Google +1 Button
Google +1 embeds recommendations into search [Video]
Google +1: So Simple These Babies Get It

7. HTC April 12 Event: Pyramid or Honeycomb tablets?

6. HTC Arrive
HTC Arrive Review

5. HTC Desire S
HTC Desire S Review

4. iPad 2: The Skeptic’s Review

3. Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Review
Sony Ericsson confirms XPERIA Play shipping delay; will miss April 1 release on some carriers
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play on sale now: Are you buying?

2. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Official Launch, Price and Date
ASUS Eee Pad First Impressions and Video
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Walk-Through Video
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer At Best Buy Soon For $400

1. Google Pushing For Anti-Fragmentation Of Android Platform
Google Android Anti-Fragmentation Push is Vital
Google puts Android on lock-down: Non-fragmentation contracts, standardized ARM chips, more

We reviewed the XPERIA Play yesterday, finding it to be a device with promise but still lacking the comprehensive software portfolio gamers will demand. Sony Ericsson has confirmed a list of over 60 titles – you can find it in the press release below – only six of which are PS One ports.

However, Sony has also recently confirmed that its Music Unlimited service will be headed to the XPERIA Play later in 2011, heaping further streaming media goodness onto the smartphone. So, are you tempted? Let us know in the poll below.

[poll id="8"]

Press Release:

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY launching to market with over 60 games

· The world’s first PlayStation® Certified smartphone now launching to first markets
· More than 60 games available within the first week, including top franchises Assassins Creed, Need for Speed and The Sims
· Original PlayStation® titles available for download exclusively on Xperia™ PLAY
· Partnerships with over 20 publishers as well as middleware companies Unity and Havok to ensure a steady flow of new innovative games

London, April 1, 2011 – Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, the world’s first PlayStation® certified smartphone, is now on sale in shops in the UK, Germany,Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan with further availability in an additional 6 markets over the next 2 weeks. The Xperia™ PLAY launches with more than 60 games from the industry’s biggest content providers including Sony Computer Entertainment, Gameloft, Electronic Arts and Glu Mobile. The range of games available to download at launch is a combination of original PlayStation® titles, well known 3D titles that take the full advantage of the graphical capabilities and controls of Xperia™ PLAY as well as popular casual games all optimized for the unique game pad.

Sony Ericsson has formed partnerships with over 20 developers from big publishers to independents, from middleware providers Havok and Unity to engaging Android developers, to ensure a steady flow of new titles for Xperia™ PLAY. Some of the highlights include:
· Assassins Creed Altair’s Chronicles HD – One of the most popular gaming franchises, with action, puzzles and stealth gameplay set in the Middle East of the Crusades

· Need for Speed – Grab the wheel of the fastest, hottest, and most powerful cars in the world. One of the most successful video game franchises of all times.

· Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – The latest instalment in this key franchise. Special Forces operative and renegade Sam Fisher returns to fight a corrupt secret agency.

· Dungeon Defenders Second Wave – Stunning graphics, intense gameplay and exclusive on Xperia PLAY.

· Gun Bros – Choose your weapon and join the ‘Freakishly Rugged’ action heroes Percy and Francis Gun as they take on a terrifying menagerie of alien beings.

· Galaxy on Fire 2 – Escape into space with hours of deep gameplay and mind blowing graphics in this space exploration game.

· Guns ‘n’ Glory – You lead a gang of bandits in this popular and award-winning casual tower defence game with a hilarious western theme.

· Worms – Send your worm platoons into battle in this award-winning turn-based strategy game.

· Zenonia 2 – The lost memories – Classic and popular RPG. Numerous quests following an epic storyline.

· Backstab – An epic 3rd person pirate adventure that incorporates intense sword fights and other dynamic combat modes. Launching on April 14thexclusively on Xperia™ PLAY.

· N.O.V.A.2 – Awesome graphics and intense multiplayer gameplay. This First-Person Shooter makes its Android debut exclusively on Xperia™ PLAY.

In addition Sony Ericsson is happy to confirm that Asphalt 6 – the latest instalment of one of the leading and top-selling racing games will be available for free exclusively on Xperia™ PLAY.
The games are downloadable via the “Xperia™ PLAY launcher”, an application that is activated by sliding open the gamepad. The “Xperia™ PLAY launcher” recommends games and enables consumers to search for top titles optimised for Xperia™ PLAY on Android market.

There is also a range of PlayStation® original games available at launch (in select markets initially). These are comprised of a pre-install of the PS One classic Crash Bandicoot®* and a further 5 PlayStation® original games available to download via the PlayStation® Pocket application in Xperia™ PLAY.

· Cool Boarders 2 – Time to pick up that snowboard again and rip through the snow with 16 intense racetracks.

· Destruction Derby – Original car carnage. Buckle yourself into a new car and destroy it but send your opponents to the junkyard first.

· Jumping Jack Flash – A first person platformer like no other. Leap around 6 colourful worlds in the cockpit of a robotic rabbit, hunting for the evil galactic property developer Baron Aloha.

· MediEvil™ – Resurrected 100 years later you have returned to defeat the sorcerer Zarok. Perhaps the world’s least worthy hero, you set out to save the land once again–for the first time.

· Syphon Filter™ – Become Gabe Logan: Guerrilla war expert. A man on a personal crusade to bring down an international terrorist ring and eliminate a deadly virus.

More games from Sony Computer Entertainment will be added to Xperia™ PLAY on a regular basis.

Dominic Neil-Dwyer, Head of Market Development at Sony Ericsson commented: “It’s great to get Xperia PLAY into consumers’ hands at last. This is just the start and the future is exciting based on all the interest and support we have from the game industry. A steady stream of fresh innovative content will be coming to Xperia PLAY over the coming months.”

Xperia™ PLAY will be available in the following markets starting from today and in the next two weeks: United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, India and Portugal.

As announced at Mobile World Congress Xperia™ PLAY will be in stores in the US market with Verizon Wireless this spring.

Appendix: Games available within the first week of launch:
Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior from Digital Legends (pre-installed)
FIFA 2010 from EA Mobile (pre-installed**)
Sims 3 from EA Mobile (pre-installed**)
Star Battalion from Gameloft (pre-installed**)
Tetris from EA mobile (pre-installed**)
Asphalt 6 from Gameloft (free to download)
Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave from Trendy Entertainment
Galaxy on Fire 2 from Fishlabs
Assassins Creed from Gameloft
Need for Speed SHIFT from EA Mobile
Worms from EA Mobile
Nova 2 from Gameloft
Modern Combat Black Pegasus from Gameloft
Guns n Glory from Handygames
Reckless Racing from Polarbit
Real Football 2011from Gameloft
Gun Bros from Glu Mobile
Racer Luma from Arcade/Unity
Cordy from SilverTree Media
Aporkalypse from Handygames
Brothers in Arms Global Front from Gameloft
Guerrilla Bob from Angry Mob Games/Unity
Let’s Golf 2 from Gameloft
Zenonia 2 from Gamevil
Cyberlords from Handygames
Guitar Hero™ Warriors of Rock Mobile from Glu Mobile
Age of Zombies from Halfbrick Studios
Spectral Souls from HyperDevBox Japan
Splinter Cell Conviction from Gameloft
Air Attack from Art in Games/Unity
Armageddon Squadron from Polarbit
Uno from Gameloft
InfeCCt from Handygames
Spiderman total Mayhem from Gameloft
Millionaire City from Digital Chocolate
Avatar from Gameloft
Raging Thunder 2from Polarbit
Homerun Battle 3D from Com2us Games
Aftermath XHD from Jakyl
I Must Run from GameLion
Baseball Superstars 2011from Gamevil
Ground Effect Pro from Jakyl
ZeNonia from Gamevil
Super KO Boxing 2 from Glu Mobile
Farm Story from Team Lava
Wave Blazer from Polarbit
Soccer Superstars from Gamevil
Battle Bears from Skyvu
Tower Blocks New York from Digital Chocolate
Super Dynamite Fishing from Handygames
Iron Sight from Polarbit
Toonwarz from Polarbit
Restaurant Story from Team Lava
Escape from AMA
Raving Babies from AMA
Bakery Story from Team Lava
Denki Blocks! Deluxe from Jakyl
Rollercoaster Rush from Digital Chocolate

PlayStation original games:
Crash Bandicoot® from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Cool Boarders 2 from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Destruction Derby from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Jumping Jack Flash from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
MediEvil™ from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Syphon Filter™ from Sony Computer Entertainment

* In France Syphon Filter™ will be pre-installed on Xperia PLAY.
** Pre-install may vary by territory

Sony is set to expand the places you can access that Music Unlimited service and bring it to more devices. One of the key devices that will get the music plan is the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play smartphone. The service may also come to other Android devices. Sony will also be enabling Music Unlimited on other Sony branded devices.

The coming NGP portable game console will get access to the streaming service and the PSP will get access soon. Sony also notes that it is looking to expand the service beyond music to video in the future. The PSP will be the first device to get Music Unlimited with Sony saying it is coming in “a matter of weeks.”

[via Android Community]

Hardware

The family similarity between the PSP Go and the XPERIA Play is obvious. Both have a slide-out gaming keypad and a chubby little body: 119 x 62 x 16 mm for the Sony Ericsson, 128 x 69 x 16.5 mm for the Sony. Even so, Sony Ericsson manages to fit in a larger display, a 4-inch panel running at 854 x 480 resolution. Colors and viewing angles are fine, but brightness falls well short, being mediocre indoors and oftentimes unusable outside. That’s with the backlight set to maximum, too; there’s no auto-brightness option, though we can see that the XPERIA Play is indeed adjusting in relation to ambient light (cover the top section of the phone and the screen dims automatically).

Above the display is a front-facing VGA resolution camera and proximity sensor, while underneath are four frustratingly spongy buttons for back, home, menu and search. The power/lock button is on the top edge, while the 3.5mm headphones socket and microUSB port are on the left side, set into a slice of chrome-finish plastic. On the right side are the left and right gaming shoulder keys – more on which in a moment – and, centrally, a volume rocker; we consistently had trouble pressing the latter, thanks to their slightly recessed position and the tendency of the slide mechanism to open slightly with any pressure. On the back is a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash.

Of course, it’s the gaming controls that have prompted the most interest. Slide up the spring-loaded display – something that’s easy to do one-handed – and you find a D-pad, PlayStation-style face buttons (triangle, square, circle and cross), and two touch-sensitive analog controls that attempt to mimic the physical analog pads on a DualShock. On the bottom left is a second menu button (useful, since it means you needn’t reach up to tap the fascia key) while on the bottom right are select and start buttons.

The physical keys are good, nicely sprung and responsive, just as you’d hope. Sony Ericsson’s analog pads take a little more getting used to, however. The center dimple makes finding them without looking straightforward, but without a physical limit to how far we could move our thumb – as you’d get with a real stick – we sometimes found ourselves overshooting and slipping off the control altogether. As for the shoulder buttons, they’re bizarrely wobbly and flappy, though broad enough so that our fingers found them easily.

Build quality and hand-feel is a mixed bag. The slide is sold, and generally the XPERIA Play feels reassuringly weighty, but Sony Ericsson’s choice of plastics smacks of cost-cutting. The matte silver of the gamepad is sturdy and tactile, but the glossy black battery cover and screen surround feel cheap. While the tubby little chassis makes for a noticeable bulge in the pocket, it makes holding the XPERIA Play in landscape orientation for gaming more comfortable.

Under the hood it’s a pretty standard Android phone, with a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor, Adreno 205 graphics, 512MB of RAM, 400MB of internal storage and a bundled 8GB microSD card. Pop off the battery cover and there’s a 1,500 mAh pack along with the memory card slot and SIM slot; the latter two can be accessed without removing the battery, and the microSD is automatically unmounted when you remove the cover. Although you can pull the SIM without powering down the phone first, we did find we had to power-cycle anyway if we wanted the XPERIA Play to reconnect to the mobile network once we’d slotted it back in.

Connectivity includes quadband GSM/EDGE and then various configurations of UMTS/WCMDA depending on location; there’ll also be a CDMA version for Verizon. WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and of course microUSB 2.0 round out the main specs, along with some surprisingly effective stereo speakers.

Software and Performance

Sony Ericsson’s big push for 2011 is keeping its Android installations up to date, and hopefully avoiding the same software debacle as affected the XPERIA X10. The XPERIA Play runs Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread, on top of which is Sony Ericsson’s custom UI; however, the company tells us that they’ve been careful this time around not to cement the two elements together. That, so the promise goes, should allow them to update the underlying OS more readily, or indeed tweak the custom software without demanding a whole new Android ROM be pushed out.

Obviously there’s no way to know exactly how well that will translate into the real-world, at least until the first Android platform update is available. Sony Ericsson obviously has a vested interest in making it as streamlined as possible, considering the fall-out over its first generation devices, but we imagine there’ll still be some delay between Google releasing new versions of Android and them arriving on the XPERIA Play.

What you do get is Timescape, Sony Ericsson’s social networking app, which pulls together Facebook and Twitter updates into a single stream. As before, there are flickable cards on a homescreen widget – each with profile pictures – and the XPERIA Play will link up your contacts with recent Twitter updates. Sony Ericsson has also added some widgets of their own, including a PlayStation game carousel, data traffic monitor and various media controls, all with a rather elegant UI skin that replaces Gingerbread’s black and lime green with blues and plenty of transparent effects. Happily it doesn’t slow the system down noticeably, either, though Timescape can suffer a little lag as it updates.

We ran Quadrant, the Android benchmarking tool, and the XPERIA Play scored 1403. That puts it in-between the Desire S, which managed just 1147, and the Incredible S, which hit 1559, both of which use the same MSM8255 chipset but have 50-percent more RAM. Meanwhile, in SunSpider browser benchmarking, the Sony Ericsson scored 5582.9ms (lower is better). In general use the browser was satisfactory, though we did see some stuttering when zooming on heavier pages.

Games

Open the controller slide and the handset automatically shifts into gaming mode, with a two-tab XPERIA Play UI showing a side-scrolling list of titles you already have on the smartphone and what else is available to download. Tapping any of the latter takes you into the regular Android Market; alternatively a smaller Market logo automatically searches for anything labeled “XPERIA PLAY optimized.” As of testing there are 40 titles to be had, with prices ranging from free to around £5/$7.99. Sony Ericsson preloads Bruce Lee, FIFA 10, Star Battalion HD and The Sims 3.

Of course, Sony has a catalog of PS One titles to mine, and so there’s also the “PlayStation pocket” app. This shows your recently played titles, the pre-loaded Crash Bandicoot and, if you hit the tiny search button, gives you five more options: Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, Jumping Flash, MediEvil and Syphon Filter. Tapping any of those takes you into the Android Market again, though oddly Sony’s own PS One titles don’t show up in the XPERIA Play app and there’s no apparent way to combine the two sets of games.

It’s all more than a bit confusing, and we can only assume that Sony was loathe to allow its titles to get mixed up – and potentially eclipsed – by third-party games. The end result, though, is more menu jumping than we’d prefer to see, which gets in the way of simply gaming. Sony Ericsson’s idea to have a game-theme UI auto-load when you slide open the controls is sensible, but it needs to be more consistent and self-explanatory.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play hands-on:

Games themselves are a mixed bag. Those from the Android Market are scaled to fit the WVGA display, but PS One games are 4:3 aspect and so end up with black bars on either side. Alternatively you can zoom or stretch the game to fit, but neither looks especially impressive. Only certain titles make use of the analog pads, and you’ll likely spend some time digging through the settings to make sure the controls are mapped out as you’d expect them to be; it will probably take a while before developers begin coding specifically for the XPERIA Play’s gamepad. Get a call while you’re playing, meanwhile, and it’s title-dependent as to whether you can resume afterwards from where you left off, or if the game shuts down completely and you have to hope there was a recent save-point.

Camera

Sony Ericsson has stuck with the regular Gingerbread camera interface, which is short on settings but at least relatively straightforward. It’s easy to flick between the front VGA camera and the rear 5-megapixel camera, as well as toggle into camcorder mode. Considering the emphasis on imaging quality Sony Ericsson has placed on its 2011 range of handsets, though, the absence of 720p HD video recording is baffling. Instead, you get WVGA resolution clips at 30fps, which are blurry and uninspiring.

XPERIA Play video sample:

Stills are crisp and clear however, and we prefer the XPERIA Play’s shots to what the Desire S produced. Colors are nicely balanced, and while there’s no dedicated macro mode, close-ups are kept nicely in focus. The LED flash is, like most of its ilk, woefully underpowered in truly dark situations, but does a reasonable job in moderate low-light environments. Pinch-zooming of photos is smooth and responsive.

Phone and Battery

No great surprises when it comes to phone performance from the XPERIA Play, with par for the course in-call quality. The speakerphone is a little louder than most, thanks to the boosted speakers. There’s obviously Bluetooth headset (and stereo A2DP) support.

Sony Ericsson suggest users will see up to 6 hours 25 minutes of 3G talktime (8 hours 25 minutes of GSM) or up to 413 hours of 3G standby (425 hours GSM). Alternative they predict up to 5 hours 30 minutes of solid gaming. In practice, with a mixture of browsing, push Gmail turned on, a few photos and some gameplay, we coaxed a day’s use out of the XPERIA Play before it required a recharge, again pretty standard for a current Android device. Nonetheless, heavier gaming will see runtimes take a tumble, and of course that means you’re not only without your games platform but your phone (and camera, and PMP) as well.

Wrap-Up

As we said before, the rumors about Sony Ericsson making a PlayStation phone with plenty of Sony gaming input aren’t new. Neither are the mutterings that Sony execs refused to allow the cellular partnership to use the PlayStation brand, over fears that a sub-par product might dilute its appeal among the gaming community. So, where does that leave the XPERIA Play, a device which gets to wear half the branding from each company?

Frankly, you can see why Sony might be cautious, and the XPERIA Play doesn’t quite deliver the knockout punch that will instantly dispel their concerns. The gamepad works, and the premise of playing PS One titles while mobile is brilliant, but there’s still a disconnect between Sony Ericsson’s hardware and the games on offer. Part of that is the simple number of titles to choose from – six from the PS One and a bigger handful of Android games – but there’s also the more concerning fact that even what’s available already isn’t the polished experience we’d hoped for.

That will likely improve in time, though there are hardware concerns – such as the dim display and some of the cheap plastics – that won’t. Sony has ambitious plans to get Android gamers involved in beefing up the number of titles that will run on its own NGP handheld, and that should deliver a significant boost to the software ecosystem; problem is, the NGP isn’t expected until sometime in Q3 2011, meaning it might be six months or more before that boost actually happens.

Can a single-core Android handset maintain its allure until that point, even with the USP of a physical gaming keypad, given the current pace of the smartphone market? Sony Ericsson’s target market occupies the space between casual gamers content with normal touchscreen control and hardcore gamers for whom only a dedicated console will do. The scope of that market will depend on how quickly it can draw in games developers: the XPERIA Play is a solid device that will live or die by its software.

Sony Ericsson has confirmed the issue – the full statement is below – but suggests that the issue will not impact all retailers. Meanwhile, Vodafone has given us a statement – also below – that suggests the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc is also delayed. However, the carrier also claims the delay has nothing to do with the firmware issues that caused O2 to delay the XPERIA Play earlier this week.

The exact stores where the XPERIA Play can be found from Friday has not been detailed, but we’d recommend calling around if you’re desperate for a handset on launch day. We’re told the “freight issue” will mean the delay is a matter of “days rather than weeks.”

Sony Ericsson Statement:

We can confirm that the Xperia™ PLAY handsets are still planned to launch in the UK for 1st April, as originally communicated. However, as of today, we have experienced a freight issue that may impact the number of Xperia™ PLAYs arriving at some retail outlets. This said, consumers can purchase Xperia™ PLAY as of April 1st at a number of stores across the UK.

Vodafone UK Statement:

Sony Ericsson has advised us that it will not be able to supply the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Arc devices to meet their original launch date of 1 April. Unfortunately, this means there will be a small delay before pre-order customers receive their orders and the device is made available for sale in our shops.

We’re working closely with Sony Ericsson to ensure our customers’ phones are delivered as soon as possible and we will contact people directly with specific timescales when we know more.

We appreciate this is disappointing and are doing our very best to resolve this as quickly as possible.

Each of the five videos focuses on one attribute of the Xperia like its screen or ability to perform business tasks, but they eventually fall back to its gaming capabilities. With titles like “Pwnage”, “Kittenliscious”, and “Kristin is killing it”, the advertisements really let Schaal go a little crazy in promoting the phone. Schaal is an American actress, writer, and comedian best known for contributing to The Daily Show and for her role as Mel in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords.

The Xperia Play is aptly named the “Playstation phone” with its PlayStation style slide-out buttons dedicated for gaming and ability to download PlayStation One games. One video even takes a jab at the iPhone 4 when a second Kristen shows up for a duel using the Apple device. Trash talking ensues as the Xperia-using Kristin brags about quick control response and ability to see the entire screen when playing. The videos aren’t really suitable for children, but are perfect for the target audience of the Xperia who will get the phone for its gaming potential.

Enjoy all five videos below.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

The victim in a dark police station describes his night out meeting a young woman to waking up the next morning with her missing, all his belongings still there, but realizing his thumbs were missing. The police laugh in disbelief at his story and the commercial cuts to the next shot where we see the Android robot on the street decked out with two new thumbs.

The imagery of stolen human thumbs stitched on to the Android robot may be rather disturbing, but it’s an interesting way to announce the new gaming ability of upcoming NVIDIA-equipped Android devices such as the Xperia PLAY, which will have access to up to 50 original PlayStation games along with built-in game controls. NVIDIA confirmed that Sony’s PlayStation Suite will be available to all Tegra Android devices later this year, which will mark the first time that PlayStation quality games are available beyond Sony devices.

That success has prompted Apple competitors, like Sony Ericsson, to double down on gaming for mobile phones.

Announced at the Mobile World Congress, Sony Ericsson’s upcoming XPERIA Play runs Android and includes a 1GHz processor. But perhaps its most obvious difference compared to the rest of the competition is that it features slide-out gaming controls. Sony also says that users will be able to download games to the device.

Now, some might be excited to see what the XPERIA Play has to offer. After all, Sony has been a gaming giant for years, and the company has proven in the past that it knows what it must do in order to be a success in that space.

But I’m not excited about the XPERIA Play. I understand that Sony bringing games to the Android platform is an important step for the company, but at this point, when we consider the full feature-set the XPERIA Play offers, I just don’t see all that much value.

For one, I’m disappointed to see that the XPERIA Play will come with only about 50 games at launch. That figure will of course be higher over time, but considering there are thousands of games available on the iPhone, and hundreds of outstanding options on the Nintendo DS, I just don’t see a reason to turn to the XPERIA Play as my gaming choice.

Moreover, the device doesn’t seem to be a worthwhile smartphone choice. Sure, it’s running Android, but until Sony Ericsson can prove that it can deliver a device that can compete on the same level as some of the top Android devices on the market, I don’t see why I should opt for the XPERIA Play simply because it offers gaming functionality.

And all this fails to mention that Sony is prepping for the release of the Next Generation Portable at the end of the year. That device promises PlayStation 3-like graphics and a full gaming experience (complete with dual analog sticks — another major XPERIA Play omission) that I’m after.

The way I see it, I can satisfy my desire for casual games with my iPhone. And later this year, I can get my hands on the NGP if I want more-capable titles while I’m on-the-go.

In other words, the XPRRIA Play is a decidedly middle-of-the-road product for me. It’s not the most ideal smartphone or the most ideal casual-gaming offering. And it won’t be able to compete with so-called “hardcore” gaming devices.

So, count me out on the XPERIA Play. I’m just not seeing much of a reason to buy it.

Video demo after the cut

The directional pad and standard PlayStation buttons all work as you’d expect, though the trackpads take some getting used to. The absence of any sort of physical feedback – as you’d normally get with the springed tension of a physical stick – makes it difficult to judge how far each has been triggered. There was also some judder at times, rather than slick movement across the pads, though that could be down to prototype error.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play hands-on:

There’s still some work to be done on the software; we saw a number of app crashes along the way, and at times there was a fair amount of lag in switching apps or, particularly, going between portrait and landscape orientation. Hardware is solid and surprisingly sturdy, particularly in the slider mechanism, given these are still prototypes, and the dock is a useful addition.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play FIFA ’10:

What will be the deciding factor is the game selection and how it differs from what’s available on other Android devices. Sony Ericsson has promised that the XPERIA Play will not only get exclusive titles through their own partnership deals, but that titles more generally available on Android phones will be able to offer additional content on the Play. The success of that will obviously depend on how keen developers are to sign up to Sony’s licensing scheme (which will also impact titles offered on the Sony NGP), and that will in turn be contingent on how the smartphone is priced.

There, then, is our biggest concern. We’ve been talking to people in the carrier industry, and they’ve been telling us that the sort of monthly agreements that could be required in order to balance the cost of the hardware itself may put the XPERIA Play into a premium category above the current top-end of Android smartphones. If that’s the case, then Sony Ericsson may have issues getting users onboard. Still, we’ll find out for sure in March 2011, when the first markets start seeing the phone, and then again in Spring when it arrives in CDMA form on Verizon in the US.

Power is courtesy of Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 CPU, paired with 512MB of RAM, 512MB of ROM, Adreno 205 graphics and a microSD card slot. There’s also Bluetooth, WiFi, and a battery good for up to 5hrs 35mins of battery life.

Fifty games titles will be released at launch, from a total of 20 publishers, and Sony Ericsson is promising that titles already available on other Android phones may have extra content on the XPERIA Play. It’ll launch first in March 2011, and we’ve heard Vodafone UK has already committed to carry the smartphone. No word on pricing at this stage.

There’s also the official version of the leaked advert from last week, which Sony Ericsson also showed as part of its Superbowl advertising. We’re still not convinced that grafting on human thumbs in back-alley surgery is necessarily the best way to promote a smartphone, but it should at least get people talking.

The SlashGear team is headed off to MWC, so we’ll be bringing back all the details about the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play from there. We’ve also confirmed that Vodafone UK will definitely be offering the gaming handset, though pricing and specific availability are so far unknown.

Video after the cut

“Android is ready to play” claims the tagline, and we’re about ready to throw up. Still, it also confirms the “XPERIA Play” name we’ve been assuming would be the launch name (rather than “PlayStation Phone”) so we have to be thankful somewhere.

No word whether this will ever actually be screened or is more of an online hype-generator. We should find out more when SlashGear goes to Mobile World Congress in a couple of weeks time.

[via Android Community]