SonyEricsson PlayStation Phone (Xperia Play)

[RadioRaiders]

I don't think I've seen any official "gaming phone" until now. Looks like a good idea.

Sony's PlayStation Phone gets in-depth preview in China, PlayStation Pocket app in tow -- Engadget

Well, that was quick. It was just two days ago when the elusive PlayStation Phone popped up on a Hong Kong forum, and now it's back again in full exposure thanks to Chinese website IT168. It's now confirmed that said Xperia-branded device is powered by a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, along with what's likely to be a 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 as featured on the HTC Desire HD. Interestingly, Neocore is reporting an impressive 59.1fps benchmark, which is a huge improvement from our exclusive look back in early December. Quadrant also reports a high score of 1,733, but hey, there's no saying that this is the final build, so the graphics performance may get even better. Other tidbits found in the latest leak include the generous battery capacity of 1,500mAh, the 854 x 480 resolution on a 4-inch LCD, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash sans 720p video recording (although it's probably just that the leaksters didn't look in all the submenu in the camera app), 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, a microSD slot, SIM slot, micro-USB, and a second mic on the back for active noise cancellation à la Nexus One. Interestingly, the still-empty game launcher app is now called "PlayStation Pocket." We're still unclear just what the app will run; will it be PSOne games (the company has written an emulator before), PSP games, or an entirely new lineup? (In contrast, the PSP Go has a 333MHz processor, 64MB RAM, and a 3.8-inch 480 x 272 display -- albeit on different, not-quite-comparable architecture.)

[RadioRaiders]

Looks like Verizon picked up this phone, can't remember the last time (if ever?) Verizon had a SonyEricsson phone.

Verizon Wireless Starts Selling SE's Xperia PLAY Smartphone - HotHardware

Verizon Wireless Starts Selling SE's Xperia PLAY Smartphone Saturday, May 28, 2011 - by Ray Willington It took long enough, but Sony Ericsson's long-awaited Xperia PLAY smartphone is finally available from a U.S. carrier. That carrier would be Verizon Wireless, the exclusive home to this handset in the United States. It seems like an eternity ago when we first heard about this phone, and now, the actual launch of it just seems to be a forgotten fact. SE didn't do the greatest job keeping this one a secret, and in turn, tons of other, higher-powered phones have stolen the limelight in recent months. It's just brutal reality that phone makers live in: by the time you ship a phone, it's outdated. Still, the PLAY offers a control experience unlike anything else out there on the market, and hardcore gamers will still be willing to check it out. It's powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and offers those PlayStation-sourced controls that have evaded phones up until this phone. The price? $199.99 with a 2-year agreement, or $449.99 without any string attached. So, you PLAYing, or what?

[RadioRaiders]

I got this phone yesterday, and would say it's a pretty nice phone. I got it unlocked, but from an EU carrier (ie: not from Verizon). It's a pretty nice phone over-all. Feels kind of like a Mercedes, a little chunky, but well built. Looks like a good phone for games, came with 4 games pre-loaded, and more can be downloaded for $3 here. You can pay via SMS, so that's nice, no credit card needed.

Pros:
-Nice screen
-Solid hardware
-High quality games, at cheap prices ($3 per game!)
-Android 2.3.2

Cons:
-Plastic on backside is slippery and doesn't give good grip
-Form-factor is a little chunky (altho not too bad)
-Lack of games (only 60 available right now)

[RadioRaiders]

The on-contract price with Verizon has been cut to $100:
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Gets A Rather Early Price Cut From Verizon | TechCrunch

My wife has had this phone for maybe a month now, and all is well. True there's not many games, but the ones there are are pretty good, and the prices are very cheap ($5 a game, or less), so you can download several for the price of a regular PSP portable game.

The only down-side is it's a kind of bulky phone, and the sleek back-side makes it kind of slippery, especially in summer when hands tend to sweat . But otherwise a nice phone. I'd reccommend it.