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Sony Experia Reviewed

 

Mobile Gadget Place

Sony Recently released there brand new toy, the Xperia Play. Where going to take a peak under the bonnet of this new beast and see if this is a new must have mobile gadget slash gaming console or another great idea like sir Clive Sinclair's C5, which hit the rocks and bankrupted a technology icon in the 80's.

Android Power

Xperia Play aims to combine the power of an Android smart phone with the gaming prowess of Sony's PSP line of handheld consoles. With a slide-out game pad, 5.1-megapixel camera, 4-inch touchscreen and Android 2.3 Gingerbread (finally!) The Xperia Play is the first Verizon phone to ship with Gingerbread (Google Android 2.3). In a display of regrettably rare restraint, Sony Ericsson didn't mess with the OS too much. Running the show, the Play is a kingly device on paper.

Gamming Pad

Finger Power

There are direction buttons on the left of the game pad, while the four iconic PlayStation buttons -- square, triangle, circle and cross -- sit on the right-hand side. Two touch-sensitive pads reside in the centre, and there's a couple of shoulder buttons on the back of the phone as well, which your fingers can rest on during gaming sessions. Start and select keys complete the line-up. The four iconic PlayStation buttons -- square, triangle, circle and cross -- sit on the right-hand side. Two touch-sensitive pads reside in the centre, and there's a couple of shoulder buttons on the back of the phone as well, which your fingers can rest on during gaming sessions. Start and select keys complete the line-up.

The controls will be familiar to anyone who's used a PlayStation before.

Jack Of All Trades,

Gamming Station Versus Phone power

But, in practice, This little-beast is jack of all trades, and master of none. It's not as slick as rival smart phones, nor as engaging and usable as a portable console. Hampered by confusing software, it's hard to recommend the Play over its more competent rivals. The slide-out gamepad on the Xperia Play is definitely the phone's coolest feature. Although not as good as gamepads on dedicated portable gaming systems, the Play's worked reasonably well with several games I downloaded from the Android Market.

Pre Loaded Games

Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, and Asphalt 6: Adrenaline.

The phone comes pre-instlled with some preloaded software and a handful of games to show off the Play's game-playing prowess - but nothing I would classify as bloatware. The seven preloaded games are Madden NFL 11, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Tetris, The Sims 3, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, and Asphalt 6: Adrenaline. These are all the full versions, and (with the exception of Tetris) they've all been optimised for use with the Xperia Play's slide-out gamepad.

Classic PlayStation games can be found in yet another app, 'PlayStation Pocket', but, when you browse for new titles from there, you'll be redirected to the Android Market. Bafflingly, games you've purchased via PlayStation Pocket won't show up in the 'Xperia Play' app that launches when you slide out the controls. To find those games, you'll have to fish about in the phone's main menu -- a process made tiresome by the fact that the Play's main Android interface doesn't switch into landscape mode when the gaming controls are open. Dipping out of a game and into the menus means you'll have to tilt your head to see what's going on.

Processor

Android Power

although The 1GHz Snapdragon processor does an admirable job of keeping the phone and games running smoothly. Even high-definition games like Cordy played without a hitch. A dual-core processor would have been nice for game performance, but its adverse effect on battery life might have been severe). The screen was nice and responsive, and the UI felt fluid as I swiped around the homescreen and navigated through the phone.

The 4-inch display isn't as bright as the screens on rival mobiles, like the Samsung Galaxy S or Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, so it won't fare well outdoors. But its resolution of 480x854 pixels is good, and means games, photos and videos all look sharp.

Unfortunately, the Xperia Play carries some rather outdated specifications. It is a 3G-only phone in a world that increasingly embraces 4G and LTE-enabled devices; and it has only about 400MB of internal storage, which severely limits the number of apps and games you can download and store. The Play compensates for this deficiency by including an 8GB MicroSD card, but the limited onboard memory is still disappointing.

Separating the gameing - and browsing and downloading process between several different apps with different log-ins makes for a sluggish, tiresome and confusing experience that will see you bounced from Web page to Web page, back to the phone's menu and into different app stores. Comparing the PlayStation 3 or PSP's gorgeo

Making A Call

SaveThe Game Or Kill The Call

Not every game is optimised to use the Play's slide-out controls. Indeed, few games are, and we found a number of cases where either the controls didn't work at all, or only some of the controls worked. In the latter instance, you might find, for example, that the circle button works as a 'back' key and the arrow keys move up and down menus, but you're otherwise forced to use the touchscreen.

These inconsistencies aren't confined to random Android apps either. In the pre-installed FIFA 10, we were amazed to see an early on-screen pop-up advising us to press the 'A' button to shoot. But there is no 'A' button on the game pad. Sure enough, though, one of two on-screen keys is labelled 'A'. It's clear that the game is a lazy port, thrown clumsily at the Play's hardware in the hope that something would stick -- and this is Sony Ericsson putting its best foot forward with a pre-installed title. It's not encouraging.

Call quality was reasonably good. Voices came through clearly, and I didn't notice any static or hissing. The Xperia Play managed to last almost an entire day of phone use on a single charge, though playing games on the device will significantly deplete the battery. After an hour of playing Crash Bandicoot, I saw that my battery had dropped from 75 percent charge to 50 percent. If you plan on using this device as your primary gaming handheld, you would do well to carry a charger with you.

But Answering a call while you're playing a game will have various effects. At best, you'll be forced out of the game, but able to pick it up where you left off after your call is finished. At worst, you'll be ejected from the game and have to resume from the point at which you last saved it. It's like your mum pulling the plug out of your console so she can use the vacuum cleaner.

Camera

The Rest of The Phone

The rest of the phone, unfortunately, is lacklustre on the multimedia front. The 5Mp camera on the rear of the device does an average job at capturing images and uses the stock (and somewhat underwhelming) Android camera software. Images weren't especially sharp, and colours were slightly darker than they appeared in real life. Videos looked better but were a bit on the quiet side.

The Play's battery life is pretty average. We found it lasted no more than a day with constant usage. Admittedly, that day was filled with downloading apps and playing games, but we'd be surprised if the Play managed more than a couple of days of standard use before it was gasping for its charging cable.

On the smart-phone side of things, then, the Play is a respectable device. But any number of other Android phones offer similar or better specs, and equally engaging user interfaces.
Conclusion: The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play's hardware is good. But its fragmented, unintuitive software quickly sucks the fun out of gaming, leaving the Play little more than a porky Android phone with nothing to offer over its slimmer, lighter brethren.

Sony Ericsson's failed to embrace what made iOS and Android gaming so popular in the first place -- the availability of a broad selection of affordable games that are conveniently arranged and easily accessible. Instead, we're offered a sparse selection of undesirable and expensive titles, and expected to cough up on the premise that gaming with physical controls is better than gaming on a touchscreen. It may be better, Sony Ericsson, but it's not that much better. We'll stick with Tiny Wings, thanks.

If you like the look of the Play's interface, and want a high-spec smart phone, check out the Xperia Arc instead. If you want a portable console, the Nintendo 3DS is the cream of the crop.

Author

Seth Elliot

Mobile Gadget Place

Android Power
Xperia Play aims to combine the power of an Android smart phone with the gaming prowess of Sony's PSP line of handheld consoles. With a slide-out game pad, 5.1-megapixel camera, 4-inch touchscreen and Android 2.3 Gingerbread (finally!) The Xperia Play is the first Verizon phone to ship with Gingerbread (Google Android 2.3). In a display of regrettably rare restraint, Sony Ericsson didn't mess with the OS too much. Running the show, the Play is a kingly device on paper.

About the Author

Is an electronics engineer, who started working for electronics arts in the UK in the early 80s, working on programing for the Atari ST & Atari Falcon, and also the defunct Amiga Computer. I now work as an Android software programmer. And also as a webmaster for all things mobile. He also does training classes on-line, for newbies in the same field. his reviews on his site cover all things geeky, from phones to mobile apps and hardware. click here to check out his site.Mobile Gadget Place

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