2011/05/30

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play - Android is ready to play

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the latest Android smartphone to arrive on the market and it is a real divergence from the typical smartphone of today because it comes with PlayStation certification and a slide-out control pad which lets you get much deeper into the action than its touchscreen-only rivals. In this article, we will weigh up the pros and cons to see whether the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is worth the investment.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Basic Specifications

  • Dimensions: 119 x 62 x 16mm
  • Display: 4.0 inch LED Back-lit LCD capacitive touchscreen
  • Weight: 175 grams
  • Processor: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
  • Memory: 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage with support of up to 32GB microSD
  • Operating System:  Android 2.3
  • Battery: Up to 6hrs talk time
The hardware may not be the most important aspect of modern smartphones but the Xperia Play does a good job in this area. You get a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, which is enough to make multitasking a pretty seamless experience. You also get a four inch touchscreen display with a high resolution of 854x480 to give you pin-sharp images and top quality playback for media.
The sliding form factor of the Xperia Play makes it a little chunkier than some of its unibody rivals but this is a sacrifice most serious gamers will be willing to make. This is because beneath the top half you can find a full array of gaming controls, complete with touch sensitive pads which replicate the actions of analogue sticks and the usual compliment of PlayStation buttons made famous by Sony`s home console. Shoulder buttons on the right spine give you even more ways to interact with games and the whole thing is designed to give you added precision.
Most smartphone games are limited by mandatory touchscreen interactions which can obscure the onscreen action as you use your fingers to move, shoot and select options. The Xperia Play does away with this and it allows for a greater degree of complexity in the games, allowing it to compete directly with standalone portable consoles rather than solely with other mobiles.
As part of Sony Ericsson`s drive to set the Xperia Play apart from its rivals, the PlayStation certification means that it has access to exclusive titles as well as thousands of games on the Android Market. You can play ports of classic PlayStation games using the full controls as well as modern 3D fare to keep your thumbs busy when you are on the move.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is not all about gaming, because as a smartphone it is a hybrid device integrating multiple features. Android 2.3 is preinstalled, giving you excellent web browsing capabilities and Sony Ericsson`s bespoke interface for lots of finger-friendly interactivity. Web browsing is snappy, thanks to both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, while GPS is onboard to aid with navigation. In short it is very competitive when it comes to essential smartphone capabilities.
Photography has not been forgotten even amongst the gaming and surfing, with the Xperia Play sporting a five megapixel camera on the rear and a 0.3 megapixel snapper on the front. This allows for detailed stills and video clips to be recorded when you are out and about while the forward-facing unit lets you make video sender calls to those with compatible handsets.

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