The original PSP was only offered in black. Then, they came out with certain special editions and other iterations that outfitted the portable gamer in a variety of colors and designs. The Xperia Play is barely out of the gate, but Sony Ericsson is already breaking out the paint bucket.

We thought that, at least in the short term, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play would only be offered in the standard black. We thought wrong. If you happen to be in the UK and you like O2, you might be pleased to hear that the device formerly known as the PSPhone is also being sold there in white. And it’s exclusive (or Xclusive, if you prefer) to O2.

Aside from the paint job, there really isn’t anything different with the white version, but it does look sleeker in white. The almost ironic thing? The Xperia Play beat the iPhone 4 to the punch in the battle of white paint. Go figure. No word on whether the white Xperia Play will be offered outside the UK, but I imagine someone else will get it eventually.

[via BGR]

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We were all thumbs over the possibility of a PlayStation Phone for a very long time. We had the teaser stuff during the Super Bowl, but now Sony Ericsson has officially come forward with an official announcement for the Xperia Play.

The good news is that this is the world’s first PlayStation-certified smartphone. It’s also good that they finally ditched the all-caps XPERIA in favor of the more normal-looking Xperia. As expected, the Xperia Play runs on Android 2.3 and takes advantage of the recently announced PlayStation Suite initiative. That’s like PSN, but not really.

There weren’t any real surprises with yesterday’s announcement. We see the slide-out controls, 1GHz processor, Adreno GPU, and a wide range of content partners that include EA, Gamehouse, Glu, Namco Bandai, PopCap, and Unity Technologies.

Rogers Wireless has the Canadian exclusive on the Xperia Play, while the phone is destined for Verizon Wireless south of the 49th parallel. Both carriers are expected to launch the gaming phone in March. Let’s just hope for Sony Ericsson’s sake that this doesn’t become their version of the N-Gage.

[Sony]

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We already know all of the most important specs for the upcoming Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, but we’re missing one very important tidbit: which carrier is getting it? Well, it looks like one retailer already knows.

The handset previously known as the PlayStation Phone, which is now all thumbs, is apparently making its way over to join Big Red. This comes by way of some sources at Wirefly.

Aside from the Motorola Atrix 4G, it looks like Verizon is really looking like the Android place to be these days. It started with hot devices like the DROID Incredible and now we’re on the cusp of a Verizon-happy XOOM, DROID Bionic, and so on. The XPERIA Play sounds like a natural fit, no? Or would you rather get an NGP instead?

[Mobile Burn]

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Update: Sony has announced the official PSP2, called the NGP.

It’s getting closer. After months of hearsay and years of rumors, the Sony PlayStation Phone is nearing its official launch under the name XPERIA Play.

You already know about the PlayStation-style slide out controls (does anyone else think this is kind of like the old Sony Mylo, except with game controls?) and the four-inch multitouch 854×480 display, but what else is going on under the hood? We’re hearing that it gets a 1GHz processor of unknown origin and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

There’s likely a custom UI in place, as well as some sort of integration with PlayStation Network. Other specs include the Adrenos 205 GPU, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, and just one shoulder button per side. I hope the optically-oriented thumbpads work as good as their thumbstick counterparts.

Early hands-on sessions have noted “balance issues,” due to the top-heavy display, but the real test will be to see how it runs native games; everything in tests have been through emulators thus far. After all, if the gaming experience sucks, the PSPhone (XPERIA Play) really stands no chance against the iPhone as the “funnest” gaming phone ever.

[Giz via Engadget]

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Likely to be sold as the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, the so-called PSPhone being showcased in the demo video below looks to be in line with all the leaked shots and rumors that have filtered their way through the Internet. You get the gaming controls and a couple of touch-sensitive pads to replace the conventional thumbsticks of a Dualshock controller.

There are at least two things of note in this video. First, the XPERIA Play looks to be quite thick. It’s obviously not one of the thinnest phones on the market and it has the same characteristic “curve” in the back as, say, the Vivaz Pro. The beefier profile might actually be good for gaming, especially if there really are trigger buttons in place.

Second, you’ll notice at around the 0:50 mark of the video that the sliding mechanism seems to be a little on the stiffer side of things. From what I can see, it’s not spring-loaded and it’s possible that the two halves are being situated too close together. If you recall, this happened with the W580 years ago and it sometimes resulted in cracked keys. I hope that’s not the case here.

In any case, what do you think? Is this PSPhone going to dethrone iPhone as the gaming phone of choice?

[Mobile Crunch via eprice]

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We’re seeing an increasingly large number of leaked photos, but a video demo is so much better. A video has now been posted on the Internet, showing the PlayStation Phone XPERIA Play running Biohazard 2 (known as Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 on our shores) and Rage Racer (which is a part of the Ridge Racer series from Namco). These are classic PS1 titles.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’m thinking this gameplay preview is anything but official. Instead of using something that looks like official Sony software, the demo makes use of an app called ROM Buddy. The emulator then proceeds to find and launch BIN titles for the mobile gaming enjoyment. I’d imagine that when this becomes official that the PlayStation Network would be extended to support it.

Considering the powerful graphics and gameplay capabilities of regular Android (and iOS) phones these days, will a true “PlayStation Phone” really stick out from the crowd anymore? I guess having real game controls will help.

[Next-Gen]

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I’ve got some good news and some bad news for all the PlayStation gamers in the audience. The good news is that Sony has formally come forward and announced the official PlayStation smartphone app. The bad news is that it’s not at all what we’re hoping it is.

Earlier this month, we caught the PlayStation buttons mentioned in the Gingerbread SDK, giving us good reason to believe that a real PlayStation Phone (or PSPhone, if you prefer) was just around the corner. With the announcement of the official PlayStation app, that sounded even better.

Unfortunately, this app is not going to let you play Little Big Planet and Gran Turismo on your Google Nexus S. Instead, the app works in much the same way that the Xbox Live app works in Windows Phone 7. Instead of checking up on your Xbox friends’ achievements, you can look up your PlayStation buddies’ trophies. Sony is also giving you the app to sell you on the newest games, news, and hardware for the PS3, PSP and even the PS2.

The initial version of the PlayStation app, which is being made available on iOS 4 and Android 1.6+, is only being offered in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. They say they’re working on versions for other regions and those should follow shortly.

And here I was hoping for a real PlayStation phone ahead of schedule.

[PlayStation Blog]

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The oft-rumored Sony PlayStation Phone just got another tick in the “probably going to happen” column. Now that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is all official with the Nexus S, developers have also started to get their hands on the Gingerbread SDK. Rolling through that, they’ve discovered what appear to be Sony-style gaming controls.

When looking at the portion about input key options, you’ll find fields for A, B, C, L1, L2, Mode, R1, R2, Select, Start, ThumbL, ThumbR, X, Y, and Z. The L1/L2 and R1/R2 pairs are certainly in line with the controllers that you’d find on the PlayStation 3, and the ThumbL and ThumbR seem to indicate dual thumb analog sticks, again like the PS3. There’s no mention of square, triangle and circle, of course, but the A/B/C and X/Y/Z combinations could easily substitute for that.

This is very much notable for a couple of reasons. First, it offers even more confirmation that the Sony PlayStation Phone is real and it’s definitely on the way. Second, it means that the PSPhone will have “better” controls than its regular PSP counterpart, finally getting dual analog sticks and four shoulder buttons… or at least the possibility of four shoulder buttons in some hardware incarnation.

Will the PlayStation Phone help to elevate the Android platform into the same kind of mobile gaming viability of iOS? With real controls like these, it just might. I just hope the hardware is better than the XPERIA X10 to say the least.

[SlashGear via Android Community]

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Sony Ericsson phones have seen brighter days. The PSP format has too. What if they combined their powers to make a mega-device? The rumors surrounding a possible PlayStation Phone have been circling for some time, but this media invitation very clearly seems to indicate its existence… and the announcement is coming in about two weeks.

Yes, it’s all up in French, but you can clearly see the December 9th date on there, as well as the iconic PlayStation button logos… next to a phone icon stylized in the same way. The connection is undeniable and it’s being called the “most anticipated presentation of the past 10 years.”

Many of the leaked specs and pictures we’ve seen already seem to be falling into place too, including Android 2.2 (maybe even 2.3 Gingerbread), 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, slide-out controls, custom Sony Marketplace, and a large display of between 3.7 and 4.1 inches with a retina display-like resolution.

Some more good news? The games will be closer in scope to what you find on the iPhone and Android, so pricing should stay at under ten bucks, rather than the usual $40 or so that we’ve seen with conventional PSP games. In this way, it’s unlikely to be backwards compatible either. No UMD slot and even the downloadable games for the PSPgo probably won’t be a-go. This will be a new platform altogether, so they might develop some unique name to separate it from its predecessors.

The expectation is that the Sony PlayStation Phone (or PSPhone, if you prefer) will sell for $500 sans contract, though some carriers will probably offer a subsidy with an agreement too. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the anonymous tipster says the PSPhone won’t be available for the holidays and that it’s “nowhere close” to market-ready. Shucks. I was hoping for a mobile GT5 this Christmas. [Crunch Gear]

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Rumors of a possible PSP Phone have been lingering around the Internet for years, but it seems that we are finally getting a glimpse at the real deal. Apparently, this is no random knockoff from China. This isn’t a fanboy rendering. This really is the PSPhone.

At least, this is what we’re led to believe. Engadget assures us that this is the real deal and it really is the PlayStation Phone we’ve all been looking for. The form factor is very much like the PSPgo with its slide-out controls, but you’ll notice an extra large multitouch trackpad in the center. Aside from that, you get the four directional controls, four face buttons, and two shoulder buttons. It’s possible that the trackpad, with its two dots, could be the replacement for a pair of analog thumbsticks.

As far as tech specs, we’re being told it has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, 512MB RAM, 1GB of RAM, and a 3.7 to 4.1-inch screen. Interestingly, Sony has ditched the Memory Stick format in favor of a more standard microSD slot. Power comes by way of Android 3.0 (Gingerbread), though Sony will likely have an overlay of some kind. We already saw TimeScape on the Xperia devices, so maybe a GameScape or something for the new PSP platform?

Oh, and in case you’re thinking “just” an Android smartphone won’t cut the mustard for a true gaming platform, here’s some food for thought. The current PSP? Its processor is only a 333MHz number and it rocks 64MB of RAM. On paper, this supposed PlayStation Phone blows it out of the water.

SOURCE: Engadget

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