PSPhone w/ Android support on the way?

[Timstuff]

Looks like a regular Sony Ericsson phone

I like the fact that it's fairly inconspicuous when it's closed. If you are only using the phone functions at a particular moment, you won't be drawing extra attention to yourself by pulling out a device that has obvious Playstation markings. This is definitely more than a step up from the N-Gage, which was downright embarrassing to make phone calls on in public.

 

[finalrelief]

This has to be a good phone...not just a psp with a calling function... or a normal cell phone that can play some psp games... it needs both if it wants to compete

 

[Timstuff]

The phone interface looks very slick and iPhone-esque, and it looks like it has a lot of functions. The biggest thing I'm curious about is the games. The PSPhone is supposedly the "sister" of the PSP2, and the reports about what the PSP2 can do vary wildly other than that it will be a very powerful piece of tech.

Personally, I think that aping the iPhone / iPod Touch model with the PSPhone / PSP2 is a great move for Sony. They're not going to beat the DS's popularity as a straight games console, but the problem with the DS is that it's only really good for playing games, and the problem with the iPod / iPhone is that the games for it are extremely limited since there's no buttons, d-pad or joysticks. The PSPhone can combine the best of both into one device, and I think that Sony should be able to secure themselves a very solid market between the hardcore portable game players and the iPhone defectors who are just sick of playing games with no buttons.

As with the Playstation Move, Sony's campaign against the iPhone with the PSPhone should be to emphasize that the PSPhone has buttons, and that the iPhone doesn't and therefore sucks as a gaming device.

 

[gohei_]

This might just be my new cell phone. This or the possible future Xperia X7.

 

[Havok83]

I have a contract with my current phone provider till the end of next year. Hopefully this comes out by then bc its something I'd consider

 

[Superhero 101]

Yeah my contract ends in Next September hopefully this phone will come out on AT&T or maybe on all cell phone providers

 

[Donut]

I hope Sony gets this phone out to as many Cell Phone providers as possible. Otherwise this phone deserves to fail flat on its face if its only for one or two of them

 

[Superhero 101]

are there any other videos because i read on one comment on one of the websites that the person actually clicks on the Playstation app and it launches into like the PSP dashboard

 

[Timstuff]

Here ya go



My contract will have soon been expired for about a year, so technically I could get a new phone right now if I wanted. The reason I have not looking into it at all though is because I knew that there may be a PSPhone coming, and I wanted to see about it before I considered going out and buying something to replace my Blackjack II which still works fine. Looks like I made a wise choice.

 

[Superhero 101]

Thanks Tim, I still can't believe people are saying that this is fake looks pretty real to me.

 

[Timstuff]

Even Ben Heck would be hard pressed to make a fake that's this convincing.

 

[Superhero 101]

People over at IGN are bashing the PSP2 in the comments section in their recent article about the PSP2

 

[Havok83]

Here's some clear images

and spec leaks

The report, translated by BGR.com, confirms a number of hardware specifications the phone will use, including: a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics processor, a 4-inch 854 x 480-pixel display, an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 1,500 mAh battery, microSDHC support and 512 MB each of RAM and ROM.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/114/1143079p1.html

 

[KALEL114]

I was really hoping this would be announced at CES, but I guess it will be later (GDC in March maybe?). My contract is up and I am getting a new phone next week. I would have waited for this if it was going to be available for Sprint customers. I love the tech specs. Hope they stay the same when it goes final.

 

[eternalinferno]

looks pretty cool

 

[Superhero 101]

I need to see how the games look on this for me to make a judgement

 

[KALEL114]

Sony Corp. plans to unveil anupdated PlayStation Portable handheld game device on Jan. 27,followed by a game-playing smartphone in February, according totwo people with knowledge of the plans.
Sony, the world’s second-largest maker of portable gameplayers, will also outline a strategy to use its networkedentertainment services to share games, movies and music amonghandheld products, TVs and other devices, said one person, whodeclined to be identified because the plan isn’t public.
With the updated portable player and the Sony Ericssontouch-screen smartphone to be shown at the Mobile World Congressin Barcelona, the Tokyo-based company aims to gain market sharein markets dominated by Nintendo Co. and Apple Inc., accordingto one of the people, whose company makes mobile-phone softwareand was briefed on the plans

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...nveil-new-portable-playstation-next-week.html

Nintendo introduced the 3DS to day and now these two devices will be announced soon. Kind of makes you wonder: what the heck is going to happen at E3 , GDC, TGS this year?

 

[Havok83]

yeah I think a PSP2 announcement is eminent. Think we should create an official thread for it bc most of the rumors have been going in the PSPGo thread or here

 

[Superhero 101]

i won't believe it till i see it there were many articles saying that the PSPhone was supposed to be unveiled at CES this year

 

[KALEL114]

Hands on preview and videos from Engadget.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/sony-ericsson-xperia-play-playstation-phone-preview/

 

[Superhero 101]

Interesting Video.

 

[Danalys]

the real interesting thing is that it's not only the sony ericsson that is the PSphone any android 2.3 or better phone will be a PSphone. altho the xperia play does have the buttons.

 

[Timstuff]

It's pretty suspect now that the PSP2 will have much more impressive games than the Xperia Play, and it will have much better graphics. However, we haven't actually seen any games on the Xperia Play yet so it's a bit early to judge. Also, there's the issue of PRICE. There is no way that the PSP2 is going to be cheap. I mean, the iPad runs for $500 bare minimum, and the PSP2 pretty much kicks the iPad's ass as far as power is concerned. It will probably be in at least the $300 price range, and I'd be pretty surprised if they can get it lower than that.

I suspect the Xperia Play is going to be a cheaper option, but then again, we don't know yet. Also, there's the question of whether or not the 'Play will have games worthy of the investment. It's pretty obvious that the Xperia Play is going to be significantly more powerful than the PSP, but if the only games available for it are ports of PS1 and PSP titles then I'll be disappointed. Then again, since the "Playstation Suite" software will be compatable with all Android 2.3 phones, it's possible that it'll be a big enough market to be worth developers' investing in. Also, the Xperia Play will undoubtedly have some pretty kick ass emulators available for it, whereas the PSP2 will likely have some very tight security measures on it to avoid another piracy problem like the PSP had (I myself have custom firmware on my PSP, but I only use it to install homebrew apps and game ISOs I legitimately own).

I'm very curious about both handhelds, but it all comes down to price and what kind of games you can get for both of them.

 

[KALEL114]

I am sure it will only play PS1 games though. The PS suite will only allow to play PS one games not PSP ones. After last night, this looks to be just a regular Android phone with a control pad. We will just have to wait until next month.

 

[Timstuff]

PS1 games wouldn't be anything to write home about seeing as the PSP has been doing full speed PS1 emulation for years. If the Xperia Play has no noteworthy original content that takes full advantage of its hardware, then it will just be a wasted opportunity. It's at least 3x more powerful than the PSP so they'd better do something cool with it.