Xperia Play brief hands on

So I got a chance to try out the Sony Xperia Play phone last Thursday, the day it came out. I happened to be walking by a Sony Style store and remembered, "Hey, isn't the Xperia Play released in Canada today? (April 28)" so I went in and was looking over the dummy model on display when one of the sales guys asked if I wanted to play with an actual unit. Of course I would!

The phone is chubby, but not as bad as I thought... once I had it in my hands it seemed fairly compact.

There have been a bunch of reviews of the phone, most of the points have been covered. But a few things I noticed:

When the phone is slid out (extended) the hinge seems very secure. I tried to jiggle the top panel a little bit but other than the slide up/down there was NO looseness when it's fully extended.

HOWEVER.....

When the phone is in its compact phone form with the top panel covering the PS controls, the top panel *DOES* feel loose-- when I used the touchscreen and was scrolling and tapping through menus, I could feel the top panel pressing down every time I tapped. And I wasn't tapping hard.

So that is a major annoyance to me.

Another big problem - the analogue pad sliders. I tried out Star Battalion which is a spaceship flying game specifically to test the analogue touch pads. They don't seem all that responsive.... I guess what I find baffling is that Sony Ericsson made a huge deal about the Xperia Play having physical buttons-- then they go and put touchpad controls for the analogue nubs?? It was a SERIOUS MISTAKE to not use physical analogue nubs like the PSP/PSPgo.

The phone is a major fingerprint magnet, there was already a bunch of greasy prints all over it by the time I tried it out (ewww). And the plastic construction isn't the best-- though not the worst either.

The shoulder buttons-- called flippers-- have been talked about in other reviews, about how unresponsive they are. I did have some problems with them, they are very thin & recessed buttons. But I noticed with Star Battalion that I had to hold both flippers down for a second for it to register a barrel-roll command, and if I simply pressed both it wouldn't always register-- which may be what reviewers were complaining about.

The screen seemed nice like the PSP screen fidelity, but I suspect in natural light (also like the PSP) it will wash right out. Brightness is another huge issue.

There are a few games preloaded, then another few that look like they're on the phone but you have to either sign into a Google account or Rogers or something to actually play them. I think you need to download/activate them before they're playable.

The D-pad & face buttons seem solid & feel like PlayStation "quality". There wasn't much content loaded so I didn't get to try out the movie playback too much, I imagine that stuff is fairly standard.

The Android experience is pretty much there, so if you're familiar with the OS, you'll know what to expect.

One thing no big-name site will talk about with the Xperia Play is the possibility of using emulators on it. But I'd say that's the key reason to get this phone. I've groused so much about the annoyance of playing GBA games on a touchscreen so I'd love to be able to play my Game Boy Advance games using these PS buttons. Not to mention PS1 emulator games....

I wouldn't count on lots of optimized games coming specifically for this phone. If you like what's already on it (Bruce Lee game, Asphalt pretty cool) then great. But I still contend that there will be little/no PSP game ports for it.

Right now the phone is $100.00 with a 3 year contract-- that contract is pretty much $50.00-$60.00 a month. So you're looking at around $2000.00 + $100.00 for the phone over 3 years. Or it can be purchased outright for $550.00.

With its issues and the pricetag, I can't see it being worth it just to have a really great GBA emulator. If Sony Ericsson comes out with an updated version with improvements, that'd be worth looking forward to.



later
don

Xperia Play is coming

Oh yeah.... I've been waiting... for this announcement that Sony Ericsson teased, like 7 days ago? And it's here, though most of the details have been leaked already, we had to wait for official word on the important ones-- the specs and the release dates. Coming in March(?) for the U.S. with Verizon. No info yet on release date or carrier for Canada. UPDATE: MobileSyrup is reporting that Rogers will offer Xperia Play "Spring 2011".

Engadget has a brief hands-on here.

Joystiq has the full specs posted here. Basically it's got a 1GHz Scorpion ARMv7 processor, running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the phone has 400 MB of onboard storage.... which doesn't seem like very much. I think the operating system takes up a big chunk of that, I know that the phone will use bunches of it during the day, *AND* installing apps/Android games fill that space up.... so it doesn't go very far. I know that some people will say, "Android 2.2.+up lets you load apps to the SD card....".... yeah, *BUT* a lot of apps don't support that feature. Newer ones are more likely to do so, but most of them still don't seem to. So while it's great that theoretically Android 2.2 & up lets us do that... in REALITY it isn't all that useful in day-to-day Android phone use. Yet. Oh yeah, it also comes with an 8GB microSD card in the box.

Xperia Play weighs 175g, which seems a bit heavy... isn't the full-size PSP around 200g? Another thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of people who post on the articles about Sony Ericsson phones that they had really bad experiences with them. I've seen more than a few "I am so glad I switched to an HTC..." type of posts... I'm not sure about the newest HTC phones, but I'm currently using an HTC Legend and I reeeeeeeally love it, personally... but just looking over the Xperia UI and these disgruntled owners really gives me pause about Sony Ericsson phones. Not sure if it'd be worth the expense to get one...

But the Xperia Play does look fun simply because of the buttons. I don't know what would stop people from using it for GBA emulators and PS1 emulators rather than buying the games through Playstation Suite. And I seriously doubt there will be much PSP crossover games coming to the platform.





later
don

Xperia Play officially announced?

IGN is reporting that the Xperia Play-- a.k.a the PlayStation Phone-- was revealed to the (American) public at large via an ad during Super Bowl XLV yesterday.

So is it finally "outed"? I've heard the cost to have an ad play during the Super Bowl is $100,000.00 per second. That's $3 million for a 30 second ad. Wow, $3 million already spent in promoting the device.....

What disturbs me is apparently the ad they showed was that DISTURBINGLY CREEPY one that "leaked" onto the internet last week... the one with the thumbs....


I'm loathe to actually post it here, I was originally gonna just link to it [right here], but what the hell, if you haven't seen it yet, here it is:




It just creeps me right out. Even worse than those awful PS3 baby ads....

So what we're seeing with NGP & Xperia Play is the branching off of the PSP brand:

NGP:

• bigger screen/overall unit
• proper analogue sticks like a PS3 console
• games that promise to challenge the graphics/production quality of PS3/home console
  

and


Xperia Play:

• small, portable
• downloadable PS1 games through PlayStation Suite
• hey it's a phone too! Now you GOTTA carry it around with you, amirite?

In a way, the Xperia Play is a spiritual successor to the PSPgo. I still love my PSPgo (in fact I'm going to go play it as soon as I'm done writing this post) Merging it with a phone, and Android may be a good idea... it will definitely be a portable device, especially running Android. Not sure how useful the dual analogue touchpads will be, but I suppose they're mostly there for PS1 support.

Sony is really hedging its bets with these 2 handheld directions. We have to understand that the handheld gaming market is way different now than when Sony entered it with the PSP in 2004/2005. Phone gaming is HUGE. Sure, people complain about the quality, but it's UNDENIABLE that the majority of gaming is done on peoples phones. Are these casual gamers who don't care about the latest Kingdom Hearts entry or other big game franchises? Maybe... ultimately, who cares?

Nintendo & Sony have to scramble to adjust their handheld strategies to compete with the overlapping phone market. By cozying up to Google's Android, Sony might be on the right track with that.

Still not sure how I feel about the Xperia Play though. I am warming up to it, but if I were to ever get one I think the majority of my gaming on it would be GBA emulated games, and using a free PS1 emulator. Playing GBA games on a virtual touchscreen D-pad is annoying.


later
don

Sony PlayStationSuite & XperiaPlay

It's kinda funny how most of the points of my previous rant post were shot down a day after I posted them... oh well, I've never claimed to know the mind of Sony-- quite the contrary, actually... and I'd be glad to be wrong about my pessimistic outlook of the new PlayStation Suite service (previously believed to be "PocketStation"), but honestly, I think I still stand by many of my points.

The Sony Japan press conference had quotes that PlayStation Suite, the service for Android smartphones, will have both PS1 and PSP games on it. But even now, sites like Engadget are admitting that there might be mistakes in translation. Yes, we are gonna see PS1 games on there... after all aren't there already (unofficial) PS1 emulators for Android.... but as to PSP games? I'd be surprised if there were. But if it happens, it'll be first-party games for the most part.

Sony PlayStation Suite is a good idea... but the implementation is where I think it could all go sideways. As a method of competing with Apple's iTunes music store, I remember Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" idea of trying to unify DRM for a variety of mp3 player devices. They had to be "certified" like how Sony is saying smartphones need to be for PlayStation Suite; PS branding, etc... but PlaysForSure was a pretty dismal failure, a lot of the so-called "certified" devices didn't play Microsofts protected online-store bought WMA files properly, despite having the PlaysForSure branding stamped on their boxes & instruction manuals. Sony PlayStation Suite has standards of Android 2.3 & hardware requirements, so who knows how many actual phones will support it properly.

I've got a Gameboy Advance emulator on my HTC Legend and there are very few games I find really playable on it, the onscreen D-pad & buttons just aren't good enough. I can't imagine playing PS1 games on a touchscreen would be all that fun.



But maybe this is where the XperiaPlay swoops in. With its dedicated PS controller buttons, it would seem a perfect fit for the Sony PlayStation Suite store. While I like the idea of physical buttons to control games like PS1 or GBA games, I just think the non-PS buttons on the XperiaPlay look SUPER UGLY. I hate them... they're so narrow & look uncomfortable, even the shoulder buttons. And that's a volume rocker in the middle???? Ugh. Can you imagine?



I dunno, these Sony phones look so ugly..... but also, I'd much rather have a phone with a physical keyboard that either has a dedicated D-pad (on the left side of it) or programmable keys rather than a slide-out phone that *ONLY* has PS controller buttons. That's one of the things I dislike about my HTC Legend, the Android 2.1 onscreen keyboard is quite sucky.

But back to the PlayStation Suite.... it's a good idea in concept, but like most Sony Computer Entertainment products, I'm sure it will only deliver on part of what it promises. And XperiaPlay looks like it should be the linchpin device for this service (on the smartphone end, the NGP should handle the dedicated gaming handheld end) but Sony's comments have been very weird about it; they're all like, "well [the XperiaPlay] is Sony Ericsson's division-- we don't want to talk about it or have anything to do with it".... so we'll have to see if Sony Ericsson gets any support from Sony Computer Entertainment on this.

The bottom line is that, unlike a "new PSP" or such device, a new PHONE is a hugely expensive proposition. New Sony Ericsson phones run like $650.00 or something.... do we really want to pay that much just to have PS controller buttons on our phone? Not to mention most people are locked into cell phone contracts that include the phone. With prices of new smartphones running $600.00-$800.00, people are griping about the potential price of the NGP?

Engadget's got a great gallery of XperiaPlay here.



later
don

PSPphone (XperiaPlay) preview on Engadget

Engadget got their hands on Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play-- a.k.a. the Playstation Phone-- check out their preview with video here.


It's ridiculous how much this device has been leaked all while Sony continues to deny, deny, deny.... at this point they almost have nothing left to reveal. Ok, that's hyperbole; there's still plenty to reveal, I'm sure.

What gets me is all the people who are excited for this thing. I don't understand what they think a Playstation branded phone will get them?

Let's look at the history: Sony Computer Entertainment releases a download-only PSP, the PSPgo. They promise that a big part of the UMD library will migrate to the Playstation Store. It doesn't.

Flash forward to the present: Playstation phone is revealed. We have no idea what games will be available, but it's running Android so we all assume that there will be a special Android Playstation section. Actually, if you watch the vid at the Engadget article it looks like Pocketstation will be the store interface that supplies the games for this device.

My question is this: why would anyone in their right mind think that many PSP games will be available on Xperia Play when they aren't even available on the friggin' PSPgo????? Seriously, what is wrong with these people that they can't even see that????

The PSPgo fragmented the PSP library-- it only allows PSPgo owners to play a small portion of that library. A new PSP Phone will fragment that even further: an even *smaller* portion of games may be playable on it. I SERIOUSLY DOUBT that any regular PSP games would be available (officially-- maybe someone will hack it with emulators)... maybe PSP Minis will be compatible but I kinda doubt that too.

So PSP phone owners will have to hope that devs come up with new games to fill up the "Pocketstation Store"... games that can only be playable on a PSP phone... now, WHY would a developer want to do that when they could work on games that could be playable on most Android devices? Why would they want to limit their market? The same reason they develop games only playable on PSPgo-- THEY DON'T.

Granted, now that I'm using a touchscreen phone device... while the capacitive touchscreen is really nice... virtual onscreen D-pad & buttons are a poor substitute for actual physical ones. Having a D-pad & face buttons on the Xperia Play would probably make a lot of currently available Android games more fun, like Zenonia. I can see why people might be excited about that. But the slider "dual analogue sticks"... while that's an intriguing idea, what are those gonna be used for? Unless some current Android games can be programmed to use those, as cool as they might be, we have to hope that the Pocketstation will supply games that will use them, and good games at that? That's a LOT to hope for.



later
don