If the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play isn’t one of the most highly anticipated Android phones of all times, we don’t know what is. What began its life amid rumors of a PlayStation Phone, the handset is finally set to launch on various carriers starting at the end of this month and going into April…or is it? One UK carrier, O2, has issued a statement saying they will delay the launch of the phone after their own testing proved the gamer-oriented handset wasn’t quite ready for prime time.

"We’ve been testing the phone non-stop for weeks and have found some bugs in the software that, if they’re not fixed, means customers won’t have a great experience. We’ve been working with Sony Ericsson to get these bugs ironed out, but haven’t been able to get them fixed in time for us to be able to launch the phone on April 1st as we originally planned."

The company is keeping no secrets about the delay, so might the bugs they have claimed to uncovered create a bad enough PR fiasco that the handset could be delayed on even more carriers? What’s more, O2 was set to score an exclusive white variant of the Play, so those holding out for that particular unit will be denied until an undetermined date.

[via EuroDroid]