Today’s review is the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play for Verizon Wireless. The Play is the first PlayStation Certified phone made by Sony Ericsson. The Play is a combination on gaming device and Android phone. While not every Smartphone owner is a gamer this is a Smartphone that every gamer may enjoy. Let’s take a look at the spec’s and she if the Xperia Play is right for you.
The Xperia Play is the first Sony Ericsson phone available for the Verizon Wireless 3G Network. The phone is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon II Processor. This allows for a very responsive Android device and a great gaming experience. The phone is very responsive with no lag. There is a slight delay between pressing an icon and the app starting. I believe this is written into the OS that Sony Ericsson has implemented in the phone.
The screen on the Xperia Play is a 4 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a 480 x 854 pixels. The screen is capable of 16 million colors. While not one of the most Hi definition screens out there this works well for this phone. Videos’ are clear and easy to watch. Video games have no lag and flow nicely on the screen. For PlayStation fans this screen is a small size upgrade from the PSP Go. While 0.2 inches isn’t that much it makes gaming on this mobile device easy on the eyes. The touch screen is also highly responsive.
The Xperia Play is a slider phone but the slider doesn’t have a key board. The slider is the controller for gaming. There are start, select, and menu buttons along with a directional pad and action buttons. There is also touch sensitive controllers in the middle of the slider that you can use also. On the outside of the device there are L and R buttons for gaming.
The phone runs on Android 2.3.2 and gives you more of a stock Android experience than say HTC Sense or Motoblur.
The phone comes with 400mb of app storage and a microSD card slot that can accommodate up to a 32GB memory card.
The Xperia Play has a 5MP rear facing camera with flash and a VGA front facing one. The phone comes preinstalled with Skype for video chatting. This might not be the top of the line camera but it still takes decent pictures for a phone.
I enjoyed this device. The phone works as advertised. Only real downside to this phone is the lack of internal memory I am used to with newer phones. The Xperia Play is more geared towards the hardcore gamer/ youth who wants to combine their gaming and phone devices. Gaming was fun on the phone but with my large hands it quickly felt like a small device. My children who also helped me evaluate this device said it was “awesome”, “sweet” and “super cool because the put a game system into a phone”.
Verizon Wireless has the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play available right now for $99.99 with a new 2 year contract. Head on over to VZW and check it out.
Any questions about the device jump on twitter and ask away @Gizmoboaks
Related articles
- FIFA 12 for Android to be launched exclusively on Xperia Play (onsoftware.en.softonic.com)
- Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray arrives in Blighty sooner than expected (somobile.co.uk)
