[Full Xperia Play Review] Officially announced by Sony Ericsson at MWC 2011, the Xperia Play is the first ever PlayStation certified smartphone. Inside the Xperia play is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB of ROM. It features a four-inch color transflective TFT display with a 480x854 FWVGA resolution and a five-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. The Xperia Play is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sony Ericsson's Timescape UI. Making the Xperia Play unique is its landscape style slideout gaming controls. Read on for the latest Xperia Play news, reviews and videos:
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by Stephen Schenck | April 30, 2012 7:02 PMIce Cream Sandwich is coming to Sony's Xperia Play, or at least one day it will. In the meantime, Sony's made a beta version of the phone's ICS ROM available, but Play owners continue to await the release of the finished version of the update. Before that happens, the Android has at least one more maintenance update headed its way, but luckily it's one with a few changes that actually sound useful. The Play gets an Android update with this release, but only to Gingerbread 2.3.4. We're more interested, though, with some of the other software tweaks that Sony's prepared for this release. You'...
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by Anton D. Nagy | April 3, 2012 2:57 AMThere was quite a debate regarding Sony's Ice Cream Sandwich update for its Xperia 2011 line-up, especially that the manufacturer initially told its customers that the 2011 phones pack 512MB of RAM and a slower processor, specs below those "recommended" to run Ice Cream Sandwich. In a recent blog post, Sony goes on about the differences between Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, trying to get its customers informed. "We are actually proud to say that our Gingerbread software is very stable and has great performance, so it's not a bad idea to stay on this release. Ice Cream Sandwich is more...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 30, 2012 3:53 AMSony is interested in user feedback after posting an initial beta Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the Sony (Ericsson, back then) Xperia Play. They're especially interested in how well all those games are working with the new Android platform. If you have an unlocked Xperia Play phone and want to give the manufacturer (and the community) a helping hand, you might want to try out the firmware (if you're into that). For more details and installation instructions, follow the source link below where you will also find information on how to send feedback regarding games and their operation on Ice Crea...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 12, 2012 9:49 AMIt is not clear whether AT&T is using the rather old Xperia Play to sell its new Tablet P -- which just recently landed on its line-up -- or is trying to get rid of the old PlayStation phone by using the new tablet. However, the package including both the phone and the tablet goes for $299.99 and saves you $100.99 should you consider it, plus signing a new contract. Should you care for the tablet only, you can grab it starting from $399.99 and you'll get a 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, five-megapixel main camera with VGA front-facer, and Android 3.2 Honeycomb (with Ice Cream Sandwich update comin...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 15, 2012 12:40 AMThis time last year, Sony (then Sony Ericsson) officially brought PlayStation to Android with the introduction of the gaming-focused Xperia Play. As the so-called "PlayStation phone", the Play has access to enhanced games optimized for the platform. More recently, Sony's discussed broader plans for gaming on Android, with the announcement of its PlayStation Suite. Alongside Sony-made handsets like the Play, the company will assign handsets produced by other manufacturers the PlayStation Certified designation, affirming device compatibility and performance while granting access to Sony's exclus...
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by Joe Levi | January 9, 2012 11:01 AMSony was one of the early manufacturers to commit to bringing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to their recent smartphones. They even released some early alpha versions of the OS for a few of their phones back in December 2011. Since then things have been fairly quite, leading some to wonder if progress was being made -- or if work on the ROMs had been abandoned. It seems the latter may be the answer to that question. A recognized XDA Developer has reportedly gotten his hands on a leaked Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the Xperia Play and has released it for those brave enough to give it a try....
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by Anton D. Nagy | December 24, 2011 1:53 AMAccording to the PTCRB site, a brand new firmware is listed as of December 20 with software version number 4.0.2.A.0.62. No, this is not the Ice Cream Sandwich update as the manufacturer was kind enough to let the world know we should expect it between March and May of next year. If you have a Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, arc S, neo, neo V and PLAY, you might want to keep an eye out for the new firmware. According to the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog, you shouldn't expect any new features but a couple of bugfixes. The firmware itself is "mainly targeted to MENA (Middle East North Africa)". ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | December 21, 2011 9:25 AMEver since Sony Ericsson officially stated that all of its 2011 Xperia smartphones will be updated to the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich, there were speculations regarding the actual roll-out date. If earlier the company told us the steps necessary to bring the new platform to the phones, now we have official roll-out dates. End of March - beginning of May 2012 is the timeframe to watch for if you have a phone which is in the 2011 Xperia line-up. The first ones to get ICS in March/April will be the Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray. Then, in April/May, the refresh will be pushed ...
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by Stephen Schenck | December 13, 2011 10:26 AMAfter the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play first brought its console-style gaming controls to the US on Verizon, AT&T picked up the GSM version of the smartphone and released it as the Xperia Play 4G. If HSPA+ doesn't have you excited, an even higher-speed model could be arriving soon, at least according to the rumors about an LTE-equipped Xperia Play for Verizon. Our first mention of the phone comes courtesy of what's apparently a retailer email leak, mentioning training for the Xperia Play 4G. While the leak itself doesn't mention Verizon nor LTE, Android Central, which received the screenshot, ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | December 8, 2011 3:38 AMSony Ericsson made its customers very happy once the company announced that it will bring all of its handsets in the 2011 Xperia-line to the Android Ice Cream Sandwich party. There were rumors of a January release and then those implying March but the thing is the update process is not that easy we'd like it to be. In order to get the latest version of Android on the handsets out in user hands, Sony Ericsson has to go through a couple of steps necessary. They were kind enough to outline the process which you might find long but the posting says that the "summary of all the activities and ph...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 29, 2011 8:59 AMJust yesterday we've heard from Sony Ericsson Italy that the Xperia 2011 line-up will get its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich treat in March 2012 and now we have another version of the story. There are more possibilities here: Sony could roll out the updates at different times in different regions; we might be caught in a marketing war or some people give out information just for the sake of it. Regardless, here's the deal: a Sony Ericsson employee said that, contrary to the Italian branch information, the official Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the 2011 Xperia line-up should be e...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 28, 2011 8:08 AMSony Ericsson was recently kind enough to announce that its entire Xperia line from this year will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich. What we didn't know was when exactly the manufacturer was planning on doing that. From Sony Ericsson Italy we find out that not only the company is the only manufacturer to update its entire 2011 line-up but that the refresh should be out in the first quarter of the next year. Maurizio de Palma, the Marketing Manager of Sony Ericsson Italy, said that March should be the month to circle in your calendar. Of course, this is a rough estimate as there could be roa...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 15, 2011 6:31 AMThere were talks about the Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for Sony Ericsson devices but then the manufacturer backtracked the same day the initial rumors popped up. According to recent information, it has been now confirmed that the entire Sony Ericsson Xperia line-up for 2011 will indeed get its Ice Cream Sandwich treat. "We are working on merging our current Xperia experience with the new features in Android 4.0", says the manufacturer. The models targeted are the Xperia arc and arc S, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo and neo V, Xperia mini and mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active, X...
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by Stephen Schenck | October 31, 2011 3:38 PMSony Ericsson may be putting the Xperia X10 out to pasture when it comes to providing software updates, but luckily there are plenty of other Xperia models that continue to live on. The company has been talking about its plans for bringing Android 2.3.4 to the lineup for months, and we first started to hear about models beginning to receive the software back in September. Sony Ericsson has now announced that it's moving past a limited, regional distribution, and is beginning a global push to bring that latest software to the Xperia Arc, Play, Neo, Mini, Mini Pro, Pro, Ray, Active, Neo V, Arc S...
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by Anton D. Nagy | September 29, 2011 3:24 AMCyanogenMod founder Steve Kondik, now working for Samsung, has shared one of Diogo Ferreira's posts on Google+ related to CyanogenMod and Sony Ericsson. Great news for Xperia phone owners: they'll get some CyanogenMod love for their devices. No less than ten Sony Ericsson Android phone will be supported by the next release of CyanogenMod. These are the Xperia Arc, Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Play, Xperia Ray, Xperia X10, Xperia X8, Xperia X10 Mini, and Xperia X10 Mini Pro. According to the same post, this will be possible thanks to a joint effort with the FreeXperia tea...
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