The Xperia Play aka the PlayStation Phone has undoubtedly been the most leaked handset of the last year, indeed perhaps of any year. I was recently discussing the situation and an interesting question arose: do these leaks make you more or less interested in the handset?
Whilst we all love to see leaks and know what is coming up, does the sheer scope of the Xperia Play leak mean that when it is released there will actually be less interest in the handset? Looked at from a certain angle one could say that given all that has already leaked about it there isn’t much Sony Ericsson can do to make the announcement exciting. How long can interest be maintained in a handset that we already know so much about?
On the other hand there are those who say that these leaks have really whetted their appetite for the handset. There is also the point to consider that the frequent leaks have given the handset tremendous exposure in the press, perhaps far more than it might otherwise have received. Indeed given the build up it seems pretty certain that most eyes at MWC will be firmly trained on the Sony Ericsson booth to see the handset in the flesh.
What’s your take? Are the leaks a good thing or are they killing interest before the launch?
Croker is poker with a twist, and it is an addictive game that could keep you up well past your bedtime.
No, wait. Croker is a variation on the old one-armed bandit, or fruit machine, as the British call those Las Vegas-style slot machines. And for some people – you know who you are – it…
GLOBAL – Dan and Phil bring us news of the competition winner in our Angry Birds giveaway, the improvements to Ovi Maps in v3.06, IBM’s latest suite of applications for the new Symbian devices, some great news on how Nokia are helping out in Africa and Dan does a good job at a smokey-action-hero…
We’ve shared with you some interesting trivia about Nokia in our ‘10 things you didn’t know about Nokia’ and ‘10 things you didn’t know about Nokia – Part 2’ posts.
Now we’re following up our stat from yesterday, that Ovi is the biggest app store in China, with 10 more things you didn’t…
GLOBAL – It’s Friday, and that means it’s time to flick through the pages of the never-ending picture book we call the Internet, to bring you some stories happening on other peoples sites. Find out how Nokia and Oxfam are helping people, how mobile phones are helping the people of Haiti…
Das Smartphone Nokia C7 schneidet in diversen Tests gut ab und auch von den Käufern wird es überwiegend gelobt. Das Design des Touchscreen-Handys ist schick, es besitzt ein Display aus Glas und ein schlankes Metallgehäuse. Der AMOLED-Screen des Gerätes sorgt für eine hervorragende Bildqualität mit satten Farben, guten Kontrasten und tiefem Schwarz. Am meisten gefällt [...]
Poczta głosowa lite – to nowa usługa, którą oddajemy Wam bezpłatnie. Zapewne korzystaliście lub korzystacie ze standardowej poczty głosowej, w której musieliście dzwonić na numer poczty i wybierać odpowiednie opcje z menu by odsłuchać zostawioną dla Was wiadomość. W wersji Lite proponujemy Ci lekką, łatwą i co najważniejsze całkowicie darmową możliwość odbierania wiadomości. Dzięki niej [...]
It was earlier today that I was saying there was nothing left to leak about the Xperia Play aka the PlayStation phone, but it didn’t take very long to disprove me … yes there has been another leak.
What you see below is the advert for the device and it’s kind of cool I have to say. At the very least it’s a bit WTF/creepy, but it should certainly grab people’s attention.
On a side note Sony Ericsson might as well just announce the handset right now, I mean exactly what will they say about it at MWC?
Click here to view the embedded video.
[via droidnytt.no]
TechRadar have managed to get a hold of an Xperia Neo and have posted up a pretty thorough overview of the handset. The handset had the codenamed Hallon aka the Vivaz 2 since it shares many design similarities with the original Vivaz (thankfully not the OS though!).
Head on over and check it out.
I managed to grab some time with the Xperia arc yesterday, the forthcoming Android flagship that is expected to launch late March/early April.
The Look & Feel
My first impression was that the handset looks very appealing, aesthetically, when you see it in the flesh. It looks like a slate, the bezeling, the contours, just everything really, combines to make it look sleek and beautiful. Some have said that when you hold it in the hand it feels too thin, but I disagree, it felt just right.
It felt pretty well put together and the sense I got from holding it was that I had a nice bit of kit in my hand. There was a certain impression of quality to it and it reminded me of the first time I picked up an iPhone, there was a little spark of excitement. That’s not a feeling I’ve had too often with Sony Ericsson products over the last couple of years so it was most definitely a good sign.
One rather annoying aspect of the design is that the headphone jack is at the top left hand side instead of being on the top of the handset. This is a pet peeve of mine because I find it very annoying when you have the handset in your pocket with headphones plugged in. It’s a minor gripe to be sure, but sometimes it’s the small things that can annoy you most.
Performance
I didn’t spend too much time checking out apps, widgets etc, I took more of a cursory glance really. For one thing I’m familiar with Android so I wasn’t going to bother sifting through menus etc when I already knew what was there. A few things are worth mentioning though:
The unit I played around with was pretty damned nippy (who needs a dual-core eh?), and this was a prototype so I would expect the same, or perhaps even better, performance from the finished product.
Animations were pretty much flawless, none of the stuttery jittery crap that I saw on my X10 back in the day. Again note that it was a prototype unit so I’ve got high hopes that this will continue over into the final version.
I was interested in the media widget given that I was one of those people who hated the rather obtrusive Mediascape on the X10. With the Xperia arc I was pleasantly surprised, the media widget is far less intrusive and relies more on the stock Android services the handset comes with, which is definitely a leap forward in my book. There’s some polish sure, but unlike the old Mediascape it doesn’t try to be in your face or take over the handset so thumbs up there.
The browser looked pretty speedy too, from what little I interacted with it. Granted that I was using WiFi, but it rendered pages quickly and efficiently, which is pretty much all you want from a mobile browser.
Camera
The camera is definitely one of the handset’s most impressive features. You will no doubt have heard that it’s fast, but it’s hard to appreciate just how fast until you actually use it. I’m not joking when I say that when you tap on the screen to take a picture the picture is taken that instant and the camera is immediately ready to snap another. No lag or little hour glass icons here thank you very much!
The camera comes with an LED flash, no Xenon I’m afraid, but to be frank who cares? Don’t get me wrong Xenon is great to have, but let’s be honest folks, your Xperia arc pictures are more likely to be of your mates downing a pint at the pub than wildlife photography that will be hanging in a gallery. LED will do the job fine here.
F**king Awesome!
All in all it’s a pretty sweet handset and for the first time in years I genuinely felt I was using a handset that hearkened back to Sony Ericsson’s glory days with the T610 or the K750 et al. They seem to have learned their lessons from the X10 and put them into practice, now they just need to make sure they get this out on time.
P.S. I was going to suggest to them that they might like to use the following as the strap line for the handset: ‘Xperia arc: Fucking Awesome!’, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something just as good!
