The device will come in black or white, and work on a surprisingly large list of cell networks, according to the release. The 4-inch screen is a 16,777,216 colour TFT with capacitive multi-touch and 480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA). THe device will ship with a battery, stereo portable handsfree headset, 8GB microSD memory card, charger, micro USB cable for charging synching and file transfer and the user manual.
Battery life, right next to price, is one of the more important things we love to know about a new bit of gadgetry when it hits.
Here’s what Sony Ericsson is saying about the Xperia Play:
*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*
Here’s a run down of the rest of the specs:
Camera
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
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™
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
Thoughts? Is this an iPhone killer? A Windows Phone 7 Killer? The Killer Android?
Palstran
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 9:45 AMWhat is the usual lag for Australia with phones? My contract is almost up. I think this week even. When might we expect to see one of these?
Palstran
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 2:22 PMSecond Quarter
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/02/xperia-play-landing-in-australia-q2-2011/
Tomas
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 2:36 PMWith any luck, we should see this on November 1, 2015.
Rappo
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 9:52 AMIf I can get FFVII on it I’ll get one… If I can use the games from the PSN that would be even better…
Braaains
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 10:09 AMAre we actually going to have the same range of games available for Australian users as they do for US users? Or is it going to be as farcical as the current PSOne Classics section of the PS Store where we get less than half of what the US gets?
Michael Barnes
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 10:26 AMAgree. We’ve only JUST got Crash Bandicoot 2 while US has had the whole series for ages. We also lack their Silent Hill 1 and Resident Evil 1,2,3 which is really annoying. They just keep adding kids titles!
oggob
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 10:50 AMCrash Bandicoot 2 actually had been on the PS Store in the past well before it’s re-release. I really think it was late 07/early 08 when it first was put online.
It actually was removed from the store as there was a chance of a game killing bug, where you couldn’t progress past a certain level. Obviously, they’ve finally been able to get rid of it and it was re-released.
Stevorooni
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 10:11 AMI haven’t made the jump to a smartphone yet so this looks pretty tempting.
I suppose it will all depend on the cost and what contacts are available though.
Korwin
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 11:01 AMOnly an ARM 7 chip? That’s pretty crappy by todays smart phone standards, The iPhone 4, current model Android and WP7 phones all use ARM 8 CPU’s. Hell all the new phones launching this year are running ARM 9 architecture. This thing is dead on arrival.
Awnshegh
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 11:06 AMEspecially if they plan on running games on it. Nope it looks like a dud piece of tech to me.
Braaains
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 11:12 AMWell, running 15 year old PS1 games on it. You don’t really need a beast of a machine to do that.
Korwin
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 11:41 AMMay not need huge grunt for PS1 games, but it’s going to fall flat on it’s face as a smart phone. Using apps from the Android marketplace is going to suffer big time.
bazuden
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 7:39 PMI think the ARM7 processors you’re referring to are different to the Scorpion processor mentioned here. ARM v7 refers to the instruction set of the processor, where ARM7 is a family of processors.
According to Wikipedia, this model, MSM8255, has been available since Q2 2010. This chip also powers the HTC Desire HD.
In any case, I think I’ll still wait for some hands-on reviews, to make sure this thing has the balls to be a decent game machine.
Sam
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 11:32 AMDO WANT
truncheon
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 12:41 PMremote play?
nicholas
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 8:26 PMremote play is a make or break deal for me
James Mac
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 1:30 PMSo… what network is going to have it?