The 2011 forgotten Playstation Smartphone that never had a successor

[Coops95]

 

Share us your experiences if you have owned the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY.

 

The Xperia PLAY is my first Android smartphone, it is designed to act as a smartphone with built in controls to play games.This unique convenient design saves you from carrying around a fat bluetooth controller and connecting it all the time. I don't play games on phones anymore due to this reason, it's overwhelming and goofy for a phone.

 

Unfortunately, the Xperia PLAY was already outdated during its launch in 2011. It had a Single Core 1GHz Processor, 512MB and 400MB Storage, yes you heard it 400MB. The SD card is the solution for this mess.

 

But it didn't stop it being a great phone, you can play some Android games well and emulators such as PS1, N64, GBA, DS, SNES and some PSP games. You can't play some heavy or modern games like GTA that well.

 

It isn't that great for everyday use in 2018 but still gets the job done for what I need. I only use smartphones for YouTube, Googling and Facebook and never use apps for those, just browser. I also do this on high end phones too, for simplicity and battery saving.

 

Sadly, there has never been a successor or any android based phone like the Xperia PLAY. Updated hardware would be great.

 

Have a good day Gentlemen.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Coops95

[BLOOD]

Apple will make this type of device and it will be so successful. I think Sony which is a Consumer Electronics company like Apple is only focused on PlayStation and Camera these days.

[Chaise]

Apple will make this type of device and it will be so successful.

Yup, if apple made something like this it would sell like crazy. Especially since mobile gaming is just getting bigger and bigger with games like Fortnite and Runescape going mobile sometime this year.

[luisniko]

I don't have one but I've had one in my hand. Design wise, it's great, it's compact, it's a great idea overall. But again, it's Sony and as usual in field other than their main PlayStation home console; it's just a device waiting to die due to lack of support and impractical. And as we can see, it's dead meat and they stopped the PSN service not so long after.

 

I think they can make a new one dedicated for mobile gamers. But I think they need to watch their price too as well as the amount of bloatware, bigger internal memory, and obviously better battery. Focus on those things, let it be the smart phone with compact joystick attached, and forget about making PlayStation mobile platform.

[BLOOD]

 

Apple will make this type of device and it will be so successful.

Yup, if apple made something like this it would sell like crazy. Especially since mobile gaming is just getting bigger and bigger with games like Fortnite and Runescape going mobile sometime this year.

Fortnite is on the iPhone X and it just made history. Now a GamePod [capitalising on the iPod brand] with the next generation of Apple's A-series chip will even surpass Nintendo Switch in just few months.

[Coops95]

I don't have one but I've had one in my hand. Design wise, it's great, it's compact, it's a great idea overall. But again, it's Sony and as usual in field other than their main PlayStation home console; it's just a device waiting to die due to lack of support and impractical. And as we can see, it's dead meat and they stopped the PSN service not so long after.

 

I think they can make a new one dedicated for mobile gamers. But I think they need to watch their price too as well as the amount of bloatware, bigger internal memory, and obviously better battery. Focus on those things, let it be the smart phone with compact joystick attached, and forget about making PlayStation mobile platform.

Yeah Playstation Mobile platform is not necessary. Great idea that has been executed wrong was released way too early, I don't think we will get a phone like this until we hit into the 2020's, hopefully by then phone designs and features can be a bit more diverse rather than it is at the moment. They look the same releasing yearly with virtually little impact of how you use your phone for important everyday use.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Coops95

[Coops95]

Apple will make this type of device and it will be so successful. I think Sony which is a Consumer Electronics company like Apple is only focused on PlayStation and Camera these days.

The closest thing we got after the Xperia PLAY was the Bladepad, it's a slide up bluetooth controller addon for the iPhone 4 and 5 I think. You can see their advertisement videos of them using it and had scheduled launch dates. it has got people excited but it never came out.

 

Whats more baffling even today, is that no one made a bluetooth controller with that size form factor.

[ṼirulenⱦEqừinox]

Funny enough, I was broswing on ebay the other day for some PS4 games and came across this phone and they're selling for brand new for around $90 while a 3rd party Amazon seller is asking $500 for a 7 year old phone

[Static]

Holy sh*t, I had this when it came out. Feels like it's been way longer than 7yrs since it dropped tho. Think it was my second phone after the LG Chocolate. It was a decent enough phone, only negative I can personally remember was the gamepad getting scuffed and the buttons started to stick a bit due the the excessive sliding.

 

And now I feel old.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Static

[Leftist Bastard]

That design is so Blackberry era it makes me want to puke. Interesting idea but Sony had no idea what to do with it, really.

[Lock n' Stock]

That would be a great device to play the GTA mobile ports on.