The Xperia Play is a
slider-style
smartphone
A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
with elements of a
handheld game console
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...
produced by
Sony Ericsson
Sony Mobile Communications Inc., originally Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, was a Multinational corporation, multinational consumer electronics and telecommunications company, best known for its Mobile phones, mobile phone products. The ...
. With the marketshare for dedicated handheld
game consoles diminishing into the 2010s due to the rapid expansion of
smartphone
A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
s with cheap downloadable games,
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
attempted to tackle the issue with two separate devices; a dedicated video game console with elements of a smartphone, called the
PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...
, and a smartphone with elements of a handheld console, the Xperia Play. Originally rumored to be a "PlayStation Phone", the device shed the "PlayStation" branding in favor of the ''
Xperia
is a series of and the sole brand name of smartphones marketed by Sony. It also includes various related mobile hardware such as tablet computer, tablets as well as software. Xperia was originally developed by Sony Ericsson before becoming So ...
'' brand, running on the
Android operating system.
On February 13, 2011, at
Mobile World Congress
MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show dedicated to the mobile communications industry.
The event is held in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran ...
(MWC) 2011, it was announced that the device would be shipping globally in March 2011, with a launch lineup of around 50 software titles.
Hardware
The device is a horizontally sliding phone with its original form resembling the
Xperia X10 while the slider below resembles the slider of the
PSP Go. The slider features a
D-pad
The D-pad (short for directional pad) is a compact input method developed for video games, designed to translate thumb movement into directional control through a flat, cross-shaped surface that rests on four internal switches. Each switch corres ...
in an indented area on the left side, a set of standard PlayStation buttons (

,

,

and

) in an indented area on the right, a long rectangular
touchpad
A touchpad or trackpad is a type of pointing device. Its largest component is a tactile sensor: an electronic device with a flat surface, that detects the motion and position of a user's fingers, and translates them to 2D motion, to control a Cu ...
in the middle, Start and Select buttons in an indented area on the bottom right corner, a Menu button on the bottom left corner, and two shoulder buttons (L and R) on the back of the device.
The form has a long rectangular touchscreen, and four buttons below, for Back, Home, Menu, and Search.
The device features a 1
GHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in ter ...
Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...
Snapdragon processor, a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, a TFT
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...
display with a resolution of 854 × 480 (FWVGA) capable of 16,777,216 colors, a 5.1-megapixel camera, 512 MB
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to:
* A male sheep
* Random-access memory, computer memory
* Ram Trucks, US, since 2009
** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans
** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks
Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...
, 400 MB internal storage and a micro-USB connector. It supports
microSD
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...
cards, in contrast to the PSP consoles, which use
Memory Stick
The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory, flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage ...
variants, and the PlayStation Vita, which uses a custom, proprietary flash storage medium.
Software
The device runs on the
Android 2.3 operating system,
with early prototypes running
Android 2.2 "Froyo".
The device is compatible with Android software downloaded from the
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
store, with some games featuring optimization for use with the device's additional gaming controls, including the video game streaming service
OnLive
OnLive was a provider of cloud computing, cloud X86 virtualization, virtualization technologies based in Mountain View, California. OnLive's flagship product was its cloud gaming service, which allowed subscribers to rent or demo video games, com ...
.
PlayStation Suite
The device was said to feature games graphically within the range of similar portable devices
and can launch these games via an application known as
PlayStation Suite, or just simply "Xperia PLAY." It changes the interface of the device from that of a phone to the
XrossMediaBar
The XrossMediaBar (pronounced "cross-media bar" and officially abbreviated as XMB) is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The interface features icons that are spread horizontally across the screen. Navigation m ...
, slightly resembling that of the
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
.
A dedicated section in
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
specifically for games for the system allowing users to download games on the go is also added.
Titles shown off internally on the device include PSP games, such as ''
God of War
A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions.
Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...
'' and ''
LittleBigPlanet
''LittleBigPlanet'' (''LBP''; stylised as ''LittleBIGPlanet'') is a Puzzle video game, puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in th ...
'', as well as older
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
games; there were also plans for future games incorporating augmented reality similar to
Invizimals.
The prices of the games were expected to be under US$10, considerably lower than the PlayStation Portable's price range of less than US$40 per game.
PlayStation Mobile
PlayStation Mobile was a platform for creating games that were cross-platform with the PSVita, and "PlayStation Certified" android devices, such as the Xperia Play. The service shut down in 2015, preventing re-downloads of previously-purchased games. The Playstation Mobile application features a sign-in screen that attempts to login to the PlayStation Network using the standard
auth.np.ac.playstation.net
, as on the Vita and PS3.
History
Development
Rumors
Reports of a PlayStation smartphone have existed as early as 2006 when
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
filed a patent for a PlayStation Phone. Rumors of such a device resurfaced again in 2007 when a
Sony Ericsson
Sony Mobile Communications Inc., originally Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, was a Multinational corporation, multinational consumer electronics and telecommunications company, best known for its Mobile phones, mobile phone products. The ...
executive announced that they were developing a device for gaming, and plans to use the
XrossMediaBar
The XrossMediaBar (pronounced "cross-media bar" and officially abbreviated as XMB) is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The interface features icons that are spread horizontally across the screen. Navigation m ...
in its devices. In June 2007, head of
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves, denied the existence of such a device saying that he had no knowledge of such a device being developed. During the 2007
Games Convention
The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concep ...
, Peter Ahnegard, an executive at Sony Ericsson, further fueled rumors of a PlayStation Phone, when asked about the device he said that "It's obviously something that we're looking at but right now I can't really comment".
In the early 2008, the official
Sony Magazine
Sony Magazine is a quarterly magazine published by Haymarket Network on behalf of Sony Corporation UK, with articles on film, music, games, television, sound, vision, gadgets, and adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertak ...
reported that "a new PSP-style phone is apparently in development". In early 2009, it was reported that plans for a PlayStation Phone has been cancelled as Sony were unwilling to license the PlayStation brand to Sony Ericsson unless Sony would produce the handset independently. This subsequently prompted a fallout between Sony and Sony Ericsson. In May 2009, rumors of such a device arose once again when then head of Sony Ericsson, Hideki Komiyama, told the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' in an interview that as part of his recovery plan for Sony Ericsson, he would like to combine the PlayStation brand with their phones similar to how they had created the
Walkman
is a brand of Personal stereo, portable audio players manufactured by Sony since 1979. It was originally introduced as a portable Compact Cassette, cassette player and later expanded to include a range of portable audio products. Since 2011, ...
and
Cyber-shot
Cyber-shot is Sony's line of point-and-shoot digital cameras introduced in 1996. Cyber-shot model names use a DSC prefix, which is an initialism for "Digital Still Camera". Many Cyber-shot models feature Carl Zeiss trademarked lenses, while o ...
lines of mobile phones. In June 2009,
The Nikkei
''The Nikkei'', also known as , is the flagship publication of Nikkei, Inc. (based in Tokyo) and the world's largest financial newspaper, with a daily circulation exceeding 1.73 million copies. The Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tokyo ...
reported that Sony Ericsson were developing a "cellphone-game gear hybrid" as a competitor to
Apple's iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
, combining the functionality of a mobile phone and a handheld gaming device.
Images surface
In early 2010, the
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
reported that Sony was getting ready to release a smartphone able to download and play video games. The first solid details about the phone came via
Engadget
Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...
in August 2010, reporting many leaked details about the device including that it runs
Android, it is a sliding phone with a button configuration similar to the
PSP Go, with some technical specifications.
Pictures of the device were leaked to the internet when Engadget released pictures of a prototype running Android 2.2, a
PSP Go like form factor with a touch pad and microSD card support.
Several sites however, have questioned the legitimacy of the images of the device in question, though Engadget has rebuked these theories and shown their proven track record of leaked devices which include the
iPad
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
, 2010
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is a line of Mac (computer), Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc., Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machining, machined aluminum case and currently either a 13-inch or 15-inch ...
and the
Nexus One
The Nexus One (codenamed HTC Passion) is an Android smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as Google's first Nexus smartphone. The Nexus became available on January 5, 2010, and features the ability to transcribe voice to text, an add ...
.
More images of the device were released by Engadget on October 29, 2010, showing the device running
Android 2.2 Froyo and showing its model as "Zeus", it adds that there are several of these devices in internal testing stages with at least one device running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
A video showing the device in the wild in
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
was leaked on December 1, 2010. It showed the device running Android 2.3, and reported that the device's final name would be the Sony Ericsson Z1 though this has not been confirmed by multiple sources.
Two days later, more videos were leaked. They were far clearer, showing the device clearly, with a "PlayStation" icon on the phone which displays a
XrossMediaBar
The XrossMediaBar (pronounced "cross-media bar" and officially abbreviated as XMB) is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The interface features icons that are spread horizontally across the screen. Navigation m ...
-themed interface when selected. On January 5, 2011,
Engadget
Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...
published more photos of what seems to be the final design for the device as it bears both the PlayStation and Xperia brands which weren't on the prototypes.
The day after, several other clearer photos and videos of the device was leaked revealing what seems to be its final design, specs, and its benchmark score of 59.1 frames per second.
On January 10, 2011, a video showing the device playing original
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
games was released. Though it is unclear whether the games were being played through official software or an
emulator
In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
of the original PlayStation console. On January 12, 2011, a Chinese website released pictures of what looked like the device disassembled with the parts spread out and the casing removed.
Official announcement

On February 6, 2011, Sony Ericsson created an event for the Xperia Play on their
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page.
In late January or early February, a shortened version of an advert made for airing during the Super Bowl was leaked on several websites. On February 6, 2011, the device was officially announced with the broadcast of the version of this ad.
On February 13, 2011, more details were released by Sony Ericsson.
Release
The phone was initially announced as having a March 2011 release timeframe.
However, the final release date slipped into April 1, 2011, when the device was released in the UK,
Ireland and Spain.
On April 28, 2011, it was launched in Canada, exclusively to
Rogers. The US launch was officially scheduled for Spring 2011, and while a time frame of mid-April was initially given,
the device's launch was pushed back to May 26.
In Indonesia, the device was launched on XL Axiata network on July 29, 2011. On September 18, 2011, the Xperia Play
4G was released for AT&T, it features
HSPA+
HSPA may refer to:
* High Speed Packet Access, a mobile broadband technology
* Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Education
* High School Proficiency Assessment
* Humphrey School of Public Affairs, an American public policy school
* Hunte ...
for faster speeds and it comes in a Stealth Blue color.
In the US, the ''Xperia Play'' was initially available only on the
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
network,
until the release of the ''Xperia Play 4G'' on
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
.
In Mexico it was available through
Telcel
RADIOMÓVIL DIPSA, S.A. DE C.V., doing business as Telcel, is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil, founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City. Telcel holds concessions to operate a wireless network in all nine g ...
. In the
UK, carriers
O2,
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...
,
Orange,
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
and
Three
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
have confirmed that they were to stock the handset.
In Canada, the device was carried exclusively by
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian mobile network operator headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billion in ...
.
Android updates
On September 8, 2011, Sony Ericsson confirmed that the Xperia Play, and all Xperia phones released in 2011, would receive an update to
Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich". However, on May 25, 2012, it was stated that following beta testing and discussions with developers, the Xperia Play would not receive an update to Android 4.0, citing stability concerns. The update was leaked however, and the kernel being unsigned meant that your bootloader would have needed to be unlocked, voiding your warranty on the device at the time. The Xperia Play had gotten an update to Android 4.0 ''technically'', as it was actually the
Sony Xperia Neo L (MT25i) that came with Ice Cream Sandwich stock, though the MT25i device is just an Xperia Play - just lacking the gamepad slideout. MT25i firmwares can be installed on R800 model devices, with the cost being the gamepads functionality entirely, unless you use a custom kernel made specifically for the Play to utilize ICS firmware. The most recent Android OS capable of being run on the Play is Android 7.1.2 through LineageOS. The touchpad is unable to be utilized after Android 4.2, in terms of custom ROMs, but the gamepad works across the board.
Emulation and homebrew
Since the Xperia Play runs on Android, the device may install apps for playing
homebrew games. It is commonly used to run
emulator
In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
s for older game systems such as
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...
,
MAME
MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to emulate the hardware of arcade games, video game consoles, old computers and other systems in software on modern personal computers and ...
,
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
NES,
SNES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...
,
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
,
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
,
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
,
Nintendo DS
The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
,
Sony PlayStation Portable (with only a handful of games running in a playable state), and many others.
A lot of emulators and / or game systems will not work well or just will not at all.
PC98,
Dreamcast
The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...
, and
GameCube
The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
, obviously, are some examples. N64 emulation is broken entirely in Retroarch.
See also
*
List of Android smartphones
*
N-Gage
*
Sony Tablets
Xperia Play Wiki
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Android (operating system) devices
Sony Ericsson smartphones
Mobile phones introduced in 2011
Slider phones