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Verizon has just made the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play official, announcing the availability of the handset for May 26th with pre-orders beginning May 19th. The Android 2.3 handset and its slide-out gamepad will go for $199.99 on a two-year contract. The phone runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon II CPU, has a 4-inch display, and dual cameras, if you needed a refresher. The Xperia Play has been experiencing some supply issues in other parts of the world, no telling if they will reach into its US launch. See the presser below for full details.
VERIZON WIRELESS AND SONY ERICSSON TAKE MOBILE GAMING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH THE SONY ERICSSON XPERIA™ PLAY
The World’s First PlayStation® Certified Smartphone Combines PlayStation®-Quality Gaming Experience with the Latest Android Smartphone Technology
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Take conference calls, send emails and win football’s biggest game, all on one device. The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, for Verizon Wireless, redefines mobile gaming by combining all the features customers expect from a fully-featured smartphone with the ultimate gaming experience.
Powered by Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread, the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will come pre-loaded with seven game titles, including Madden NFL 11 (EA Sports), Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior (Digital Legends), Asphalt 6: Adrenaline (Gameloft), The Sims 3 (EA), Star Battalion (Gameloft), Crash Bandicoot (Sony PlayStation) and Tetris. Customers can expand their video game library with more than 50 game titles available at launch for download via V CAST Apps. Customers easily become gamers with the slide out game pad revealing a directional keypad, dual analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons and the four iconic PlayStation® symbol keys: circle, X, square and triangle.
Additional Features:
1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon® II processor with Adreno 205 GPU
Adobe® Flash® Player
4-inch multi-touch display
5-megapixel rear-facing camera
VGA front-facing camera for still shots and video chatting
Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk™, Google Search™, Google Maps™, and access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
Mobile hotspot capability– share 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices
Pricing and Availability:The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will be available for pre-order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 19 and in stores on May 26 for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a smartphone data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access and an unlimited smartphone data plan is $29.99 for monthly access.
Game Developers:The gaming experience can only get better as additional games are being created. Developers have the flexibility to focus on content and not worry about binary file sizes when submitting apps to V CAST Apps. Developers can visit http://developer.verizon.com/play for additional information about game development for the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY.
For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. To learn more about the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, visit www.sonyericsson.com.
I thought we knew this last week??
Oops thanks to Nlsme it looks like it was 2 weeks ago. Thanks Nlsme for telling me how wrong I was, what would I do without you my friend.
Once again, you thought wrong.
Why do you even bother trying to make yourself look smart, check the day on the article genius.
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/05/03/new-release-dates-for-the-droidx2-lg-revolution-and-xperia-play/
All I have to do is look at one word in the title of that link. “possible”, This article is “official”. You can tell by the pres release from TODAY. Going off of a “rumor” is not “knowing”.
I thought this phone already launched? I was studying in a Barnes & Noble yesterday and saw someone with an Android phone with a slide out bottom portion, and I thought it was a traditional slider, but I noticed it had shoulder buttons that were identical to the Xperia Play. I guess I must’ve been seeing things.
I love the idea of a Playstation phone (well, maybe more before the big Sony security breaches), but I can’t understand the product design for this device. Why is the keypad portion all silver. There is no contrast for the buttons. I know its a small thing but it just leaves me with the perception that the design is unfinished. Some subtle accents would make this device design really shine.
Finally! But what ever happened to the mysterious sim card slot spotted in April? https://phandroid.com/2011/04/03/cdma-xperia-play-verizon-hits-the-fcc-with-sim-card-slot/
Good news! I stopped in at our local Verizon and they said the Xperia Play is 4G! I’ll be getting mine next week for sure :-)
Sorry, but it is not a 4G phone.
Yea, you’re right. Just saw it in the verizon brochure too. Sucks that their reps don’t know their stuff. Still confused by the FCC filing but who knows what that was about.
Good to see atleast they aren’t charging an arm and a leg for 3g phones on contract unlike 4g phones.
Well i guess i will be taking my charge back then lol
Enjoy it for a few more days, then enjoy the Play.
That’s the plan :)
I wish this had multiplayer access with games
where I can play against friends and fellow
xperia android users ha
…And this thing it’s already outdated with a single core processor.
I’ll wait for the reviews on the battery life before I consider this. If I’m gonna get a gaming phone, I’m gonna want a decent battery life that won’t disappear if I play a game.
i dont think it will have battery issue its running stock gingerbread with some minor tweeks
Sounds good but single core and probably low battery life. Ill either keep my fascinate or get a charge