Now that Xperia Play is official, let’s take a look at the actual device. In Sony’s announcement today, we learned some basics about the smartphone. It will feature a 5.1 megapixel camera, a 4” multi-touch screen, social networking features, a digital D pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icon buttons: circle, cross, square, and triangle.
The phone will include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor with a 1Ghz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor for 60fps play-back 3D mobile gaming and Web browsing. You can also expect minimal power consumption to provide hours of battery life and gaming time (5+ hours). Play will run on Gingerbread (version 2.3). It will have full access to PlayStation games through PlayStation Suite, currently under development from SCE and slated for a launch later this year.
Announced content partners at launch include:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Digital Chocolate
Digital Legends
Electronic Arts
Fishlabs
Gamehouse
Gameloft
Glu Mobile
Handy Games
Namco Bandai Networks
Polarbit
PopCap
Trendy Entertainment
Unity Tecnologies
And now for the fine print. Have a look below for specifics on Play from the official press release
Xperia PLAY
5.1 megapixel camera
Auto focus
Flash / Photo light
Geo tagging
Image stabiliser
Send to web
Touch focus
Video light
Video recording
Video blogging
Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Google™ Music Player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™ service*
Sony Ericsson Music player
Stereo speakers
TrackID™ music recognition application
Internet
Android Market™*
Bookmarks
Google™ search*
Google™ Voice Search*
Pan & zoom
Web browser (Webkit)
Communication
Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
Google™ Talk*
Noise Shield
Polyphonic ringtones
Speakerphone
Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
Vibrating alert
Messaging
Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
Conversations
Email
Google Mail™*
Instant messaging
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)
Design
Auto rotate
Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen
Wallpaper animation
Entertainment
3D games
Dedicated gaming keys
Flash Lite™
Gesture gaming
Motion gaming
Video streaming
YouTube™
Organiser
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document editors
Document readers
E-Manual
Flight mode
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Infinite button
Phone book
Set-up Wizard
Widget manager
Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
aGPS
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified
Google Latitude™
Google Location Service
Google Maps™ with Street View
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB Connector
Modem
Synchronisation via Facebook™**
Synchronisation via Google Sync™
Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
USB 2.0 high speed support
Wi-Fi™
Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality
* The service is not available in all markets.
** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.
Google™ services*
* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client
Gmail™
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Google Latitude™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Media Uploader
Google Music Player™
Google Phone-top Search
Google Search widget
Google Sync™
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search
Set-up Wizard
YouTube™
Screen
16,777,216 colour TFT
Capacitive multi-touch
4 inches
480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)
In-Box:
Xperia™ PLAY
Battery
Stereo portable handsfree
8GB microSD™ memory card
Charger
Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
User documentation
Facts
Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
Weight: 175 grams
Phone memory: 400 MB
Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7
Talk time and networks Networks
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*
Networks
UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
CDMA2000®, cdmaOne, EVDO
Colour
Black
White
Sony Ericsson’s confirmed that punters won’t be able to play content they’ve already purchased via the PS Store on the forthcoming Xperia Play.
Instead, the firm’s UK managing director, Nathan Vautier, revealed that you’ll have to re-buy old content – including PSone Classics – from the dedicated Xperia Play store, which launches later this year.
"[Xperia Play owners] will have to re-purchase the games, so it's not totally integrated," he commented. "I think the exciting thing is that there are games which people are very, very aware of."
Xperia Play – aka the PlayStation Phone – got its formal reveal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this past weekend.