Xperia Play Review – What If Sony Ericsson Dives into Gaming?
Text by Richie Setiawan
When the name Sony Ericsson comes into people’s ears, the first thing that may well cross people’s mind is a smartphone manufacturer. This is not wrong at all, especially when we flash back to the manufacturer’s previously latest products such as the Xperia X10 and Xperia Arc. However, it seems that today, Sony Ericsson not only develops smartphone devices but also something that is capable of satisfying the need of gamers out there. Yes, you heard it right, the company is trying to dive into the world of gaming by introducing its latest device, the Xperia Play.
It seems that Sony Ericsson is serious about playing games with this device. As a matter of fact, the company has managed to get a PlayStation certification for the Xperia Play – you may notice, though, that the company is a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson. With that being said, gamers will be able to play games designed for PlayStation console. In addition to that, gamers will even find the X, square, triangle and circle button to give them more comfort while playing the games on an Xperia Play just as they would Sony PlayStation.
These buttons can be found on the gamepad that slides out of the phone. Of course, gamers can also find other buttons on the gamepad and these buttons include the directional pads, two analog pads, a select key and a start key. Apart from buttons assigned for gaming, an Android menu key is located on the bottom left of the gamepad.
However, PlayStation gamers will find the gamepad incomplete in case there are no keys that function like the L1 and R1 keys on the PlayStation consoles. Fortunately, Sony Ericsson has anticipated this by providing 2 buttons on the shoulder of the smartphone device. Unfortunately, though, these last 2 buttons are somehow too sensitive making them not so suitable for playing games which require the gamers to press any of the buttons simultaneously.
Even worse, the buttons have no illumination and, apart from the volume and power keys, require the users to press thoroughly until they hear a clicking sound. This makes gaming with the device when there are not enough lights become uncomfortable.
Apart from the gaming keys, there are also Android function keys. For unknown reasons, Sony Ericsson has decided to swap the location of the Menu and the Home buttons up front. This otherwise innovative formation makes the device look rather old fashioned.
One thing that sliding smartphone users often worry about as well is the sliding mechanism of the device. Well, it seems that Sony Ericsson has made sure that Xperia Play users will not have to worry about the same thing. This can be seen from how sturdy the sliding mechanism is. In fact, no matter how rough you try to slide the gamepad in and out, all you will notice is the flawless and durable design. Besides, the device uses a spring-loaded sliding mechanism which means that all you have to do is simply slide the smartphone either halfway up or down and rest assured, the slider will go by itself.
Now, in order to enhance users’ gaming experience, Sony Ericsson has implemented a 4” multi-touch screen capable of viewing a maximum resolution of up to 854x480 pixels. To add to that, you can expect video gaming at 60 FPS (Frames Per Second) on the screen thanks to the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and the Adreno GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The only drawback is that gaming under direct sunlight is nearly impossible. The brightness and contrast settings just don’t allow it. Even when compared to Xperia Arc, also produced by Sony Ericsson, the Xperia Play underperforms in terms of brightness and contrast.
Another aspect that may tempt you to buy the Play is probably the 5MP camera sitting on the back of the device. This camera is reasonably perfect for capturing still images, not to mention the ability to adjust images’ focusing mode, white balance and exposure levels.
Hearing that the device is equipped with a 5MP camera, you may think that you will have no problem of recording a high definition video with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. Unfortunately, even though this kind of video recording has become the de facto standard for most of the modern high end smartphones we can avail these days, the Xperia Play is only capable of recording a video with a resolution of 800x480 pixels at its best.
Well, you have heard that the device is indeed built for gaming. Yet, does it cross your mind about how long you can play games with it? As we find out, the Xperia Play is only capable of accompanying us for 22 hours provided we only use lightweight applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Gmail, let alone playing games. It’s rather confusing considering that the device comes with a 1500mAh cell battery that should be robust enough for a longer battery life.
Well, hopefully, the battery life doesn’t keep you from playing the various games that you can choose from the Android Market – here, you can find games designed for compatibility with the Xperia Play and its control schemes – and the PlayStation Pocket – where you can choose games that were formerly developed for the PS One.
The device comes preinstalled with a classic PS One game title which is the Crash Bandicoot. Fortunately, you can also find other preinstalled game titles which are the Star Battalion HD, FIFA 10, The Sims 3 and Bruce Lee. All you have to do to get access into these games is simply to slide the gamepad out.
Unfortunately, since the PS One game titles were developed for a screen with 4:3 aspect ratio, it becomes necessary to zoom in or stretch the games on the Xperia Play. You can decide what to do in the settings. However, you may end up with aliased images. Yet, hopefully, Sony will make the PSP titles playable on this device and we won’t have to worry about the aspect ratio any longer.
Apart from the Xperia Play gaming applications, this particular smartphone device comes with the latest operating system version developed by the company located at Mountain View. This is somehow ironic considering that this device will be the first non-Google handheld device that will feature Google’s Android Gingerbread – the popular name for Android version 2.3.2 – OS.
This latest OS from Google comes with extra APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) bent for gaming, better visuals in most aspects and new selection anchors that are very handy for working with texts. In addition to that, you can now search your contacts simply using initials and, if your contacts happen to have a Twitter account, you will also find a snippet showing you their latest update and this is just really handy, to say the least.
Of course, you have other choices besides this gaming smartphone from Sony Ericsson. You have iPhone from Apple or 3DS from Nintendo – all of which have made portable 3D gaming the current trend in the industry. The Xperia Play, on the other hand, is built to compete against these portable handheld devices. One more thing, it supports multiplayer so you can play games along with your friends.
Tuesday, 26th April 2011
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