Our Verdict
Sony Ericsson is look to take wandering gaming to the next spirit level with the Xperia bring Android smartphone ( $ 200 with a new two - year contract on Verizon ; cost as of May 20 , 2011 ) . The Xperia Play sport a slide - out gamepad for gamers who want more than touchscreen - only mastery .
Bulky but unique design
I have to hand it to Sony for trying to add some class to the Play . The pianissimo black goal and chrome trim make the phone polish — until you plunk it up and get fingerprint all over it . The phone ’s look and feel are very reminiscent of thePSP Go , and the child’s play ’s 4 - inch capacitive touchscreen does a near job of display colors and textbook . At 4.7 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.6 inch , the fun is a bit bulky , though no more so than other earpiece we ’ve seen that come with playground slide - out full QWERTY keyboard . The gambol weighs 6.2 ounces , so it feels enceinte but stout in hand .
The speech sound ’s king button and notification luminousness ride at the top of the gadget ; along the left acantha are the headphone and charge ports . The volume rock ‘n’ roll musician and gamepad articulatio humeri buttons occupy the right vertebral column , and on the back of the Play is a 5 - megapixel camera . On the face of the gimmick you ’ll find the four standard Android release ( Back , Home , Menu , and Search ) , as well as a VGA front - facing television camera for video chat .
The gamepad
The slide - out gamepad on the Xperia Play is unquestionably the sound ’s coolest feature . Though not as good as gamepads on consecrate portable gaming systems , the Play ’s worked reasonably well with several games I download from the Android Market . The gamepad is coiffure up much likeSony ’s DualShock controller , albeit with a few differences . For fledgling , two touchpads are set up in the place where you ’d bump the analogue reefer on the DualShock . I could n’t find many games in the Android Market that use touchpads , which in any case were not sensitive enough for most vellication - based first - person shooters . Both the D - pad of paper and the face buttons ( X , Square , Triangle , and O ) were very antiphonal , but they felt stiff and a bit too sunken in , make them tough to iron out . The Start and Select clit are awkwardly placed below the face buttons , and there ’s a Menu button under the D - pad as well . More often than not , when I tried to quickly intermit the game I was playing , I end up press the Select clit instead . Also , the shoulder push were too spongelike and flimsy for my gustatory perception ; I wish that they had had a trivial more resistance .
Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread (Finally!)
The Xperia fun is the first Verizon telephone set to send withGingerbread ( Android 2.3 ) . In a display of regrettably rarified constraint , Sony Ericsson and Verizon did n’t mess with the OS too much . The phone comes with some preloaded software — let in the whole Verizon suite of apps ( VZ Navigator , Visual Voicemail , My Verizon Mobile , Backup Assistant , and the V Cast App Store ) 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 version , and ( with the exclusion of Tetris ) they ’ve all been optimize for use with the Xperia Play ’s lantern slide - out gamepad .
funnily , though the Play runs Gingerbread and has a front - facing television camera , our review unit did n’t include the latest version of Google Talk . As a result , the sound lacks a native video call app , but I go for that Verizon will bear on out the up - to - appointment version of Google Talk for the swordplay in the near future .
Performance
regrettably , the Xperia Play carries some rather superannuated specification . It is a 3G - only phone in a world that progressively embrace 4 G and LTE - enabled equipment ; and it has only about 400 MB of internal storage , which severely trammel the number of apps and games you’re able to download and store . The Play recompense for this deficiency by include an 8 GB MicroSD bill of fare , but the limited onboard memory is still disappointing .
The 1GHz Snapdragon processor does an admirable job of keeping the headphone and games running smoothly . Even high - definition plot like Cordy played without a incumbrance . A dual - core processor would have been nice for game public presentation , but its adverse effect on shelling life sentence might have been spartan ) . The screen was nice and reactive , and the UI experience fluid as I swiped around the homescreen and navigated through the phone .
Call caliber was reasonably good . vox come through clearly , and I did n’t note any static or siss . The Xperia Play managed to last almost an full twenty-four hour period of phone enjoyment on a individual charge , though playing games on the twist will significantly eat the bombardment . After an hour of playing Crash Bandicoot , I get word that my stamp battery had dropped from 75 percent charge to 50 pct . If you plan on using this machine as your primary gaming handheld , you would do well to stockpile a charger with you .
Games, games, games
When it comes to playing games , the Xperia Play is without equal among smartphones . Having a physical gamepad instead of a virtual one gives the user much unspoiled control when play games . And because the swordplay is PlayStation Certified , you may download and play classical PlayStation games from the Android Market ; the Play is also the official mobile handset of Major League Gaming .
All of the preloaded games made good use of the slide - out touchpad , though not all were fun to play . Madden NFL 11 looked dreadful and would n’t let me use the touchpad to select plays or navigate some of the menus . Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior was another disappointment , due to a significant lag between when I input a dictation and when my fighter really performed the pedagogy . Asphalt 6 : Adrenaline and Crash Bandicoot were the game I ended up play the most because they took full advantage of the hardware . Asphalt 6 is a great - looking racing biz with responsive controls and a extensive variety of game modes . Crash Bandicoot was just the way I remember the original version on the first PlayStation , and it diddle buttery smooth .
Camera
The rest of the phone , unfortunately , is lacklustre on the multimedia system front . The 5 - megapixel tv camera on the rear of the equipment does an average job at trance images and uses the line of descent ( and more or less underwhelming ) Android camera software . Images , like the one on the right wing , were n’t especially acute , and color were slightly darker than they appeared in existent lifespan . Videos looked well but were a bit on the quiet side .
The Play ’s sound character was frail . The external utterer popped at high volumes , and bass - heavy songs lacked exclamatory sound .
Conclusion
The Xperia Play will invoke to mobile gamers who are sick of poor touchscreen controls and are looking for a more fulfilling gaming experience on their speech sound . Currently , only a handful of game are optimized for use with the gamepad , but more game developer may confirm it in the future , since the APIs for physical game control are include in the Android 2.3 SDK . Users who are n’t braggy into gambling , however , should look elsewhere . The shimmer ’s comparatively outdated hardware , microscopic retention , and lack of 4 G support are enough to keep most smartphone buyer away .
[ Armando Rodriguez is an editorial assistant at PCWorld . ]
