Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Review
A little smart phone, a little handheld console, a single device. And the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, PlayStation terminal Android 2.3 certificate.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is a terminal in the gap for several months. Although no longer young, its features make it still unbeaten in today’s mobile devices. A Sony Ericsson credited with having tried to offer something new, creating a terminal that performs the functions of a smartphone and a handheld console.
A distinctive feature of the smartphone is undoubtedly dedicated to gaming controller, similar to the one built into a PlayStation joypad. The integration of a real physical controller takes the user experience in gaming to levels unknown to all the touch-screen smartphone.
Before going into the review, we leave to our usual hands-on, which already puts out in the end the true “killer app” of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: the ability to manage games Android optimized for its controller, the old PlayStation and those available through the various emulators available in the Android Market
The front end recalls the design of Xperia smartphones of recent production. In the lower part are four physical buttons (back, home, menu and search). The rear emphasizes the 5MP camera and the shiny plastic finish.
The finishes are well cared for. The usual Sony Ericsson logo embossed and embedded in the body is a little quirk to which the Swedish-manufacturer nippo waiver. The contents of the package does not deviate from the mean and includes a headset, data cable and charger, in addition to the manuals. We then find the card 8GB micro SD card already inserted into your smartphone
By sliding the slide mechanism we do not find the classic QWERTY keyboard, but a dedicated controller for gaming, virtually identical to the PlayStation, except for the two analog pads.
Technical
You can view the technical details of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play here.
Construction
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is well built but using only plastic materials. Some crunch in the back cover is not lacking, but overall the terminal transmits a sense of solidity. The slide mechanism has appeared robust and reliable even after several weeks of use.
The back cover of glossy plastic, unfortunately, capture fingerprints after a few minutes of use, while the glass protecting the display is not a Gorilla Glass (it is advisable to use a protective film).
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play in gaming set-up: the best position to exploit it to its full potential
The smartphone space has above average and the weight is not negligible (more than 170 grams). Use one-handed is not prohibitive despite the thickness and width are not particularly low. The design dell’Xperia Play is optimized for use with both hands and with the slide open. In gaming set-up, in fact, the device offers the best in you and makes you forget weight and size.
Display
Contrary to the recent production of Sony Ericsson, the display does not use dell’Xperia Play Bravia technology that improves the quality of images and video. The end result is good in spite of the absence. The display is 4 “with a resolution of 800×480 pixels and uses proven LCD technology.
The screen does not shine in the absolute maximum brightness and viewing angle, neither for the brilliance of color, but does its duty during the execution of the games.
The readability is aided by the reduced outer space between the LCD panel and glass exterior.
In external display legibility is never compromised at all
The touch interface multi touch recognized up to four touches at once and always seemed ready to go along with our input.
Reactivity
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Qualcomm Snapdragon platform uses the proven second-generation single-core processor with 1 GHz and Adreno 205 graphics accelerator. The benchmark results are perfectly aligned with those of other smartphones that use similar hardware. The Quadrant is equal to score 1671 points, while the test chart is Nenamark record 58.4 FPS.
In everyday use the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has proved one of the best Android smartphone we’ve tested, thanks to the optimization software developed without flaws. In our opinion, the gap in performance with dual-core processor terminals, currently, is negligible. The hardware also has been a bottleneck for the execution of all the games we tested
The smartphone comes with 512 MB of RAM, a quantity sufficient to handle multiple tasks simultaneously without significant performance degradation.
The sensors integrated in the smartphone worked without problems. We did not like the inability to turn off the light sensor.
User Interface
The UI of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is in line with that seen in the recent line of Xperia smartphones. We believe it is an interface “light” that brings the right improvements to the standard of Android without weighing over due on system resources.
The reactivity of the interface is excellent, as are the excellent customization options, thanks to the various themes and widgets pre-installed by the manufacturer.
The home is similar to that seen on smartphones Xperia recently produced. Do not miss custom widgets like the one that allows quick access to the PlayStation section. On the right the lock screen
Very nice animation of widgets that you enable “pinching” the screen. The widgets will begin to “float” on the screen and you can select the home in which they are content with a simple tap on them. A movement of the accelerometer blend them further.
The screen at right shows the main menu. In our example there are some extra icons being a model TIM branded. The branding in each case is reduced to a few elements (some apps)
Do not miss Timescape, the SE custom app that brings together all the accounts of social networks and mail, messages, etc.. Compared to the previous line Xperia, Timescape runs so much smoother
Sliding the slide will automatically advance to the section dedicated to games optimized for Xperia Play. These are securities that are already present in the Android Market developed to support controllers Xperia Play. Another section is that of PlayStation games which includes the old glories of the past (pre-installed are Bandicot Crash)
Input devices
The touch screen is the only input device for carrying out all the different gaming activities.The responsiveness of touch, as anticipated, it is good and the layout of the virtual keyboard are sufficient to meet all the requirements:
The real added value of Xperia Play emerges as soon as you slide the slide mechanism under which we find:
1 Pad
4 physical buttons (cross, circle, square, triangle) clearly inspired by the PlayStation controller
2 analog pad
1 and 2 button menu button “select” and “start”
They must then be added using the “L” and “R” placed on the right edge of the smartphone.
The quality of the controller is a high level and does not regret what the PlayStation or PSP. The “click” key-pad is only marginally a little ‘less’ soft’, but the overall performance is excellent.
Connectivity
The park is near the top connectivity. No shortage of Bluetooth and WiFi, the ability to leverage the Internet tethering via USB and turn your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot.
Unfortunately lacks an HDMI connection. On a device like the Xperia Play in our absence is rather serious because it precludes the possibility of exploiting the excellent game controller and the vast range of software on an external monitor.
The park includes connections not only the HDMI connector. An absence rather serious for a terminal as the Xperia Play
Telephone functions and messaging
The reception quality does not lend open to criticism, but the sound quality to hit us even more clearly. Especially the hands-free audio quality is above average. It’s all done in a pair of speakers placed along the left edge of the smartphones that offer excellent listening quality even when playing music and games.
The applications of SMS and e-mail received cosmetic retouching of Android compared to native applications. Traits characterized include: color themes, organizing emails into conversations and e-mail client that offers a preview of the single mail, allowing you to view both the list of all email.
Browser
The performance of the browser are good. The latest dual-core smartphone offering a little ‘longer-starting on the ground of speed performance as well, but the Xperia Play, even with the large 4 “display and high resolution turns out to be also suitable for internet browsing.
Like all recent high-end Android smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia Play properly handle Flash content.
Camera
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is equipped with a 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash that does not use the popular supplement in the Exmor R sensor, in Neo and Ray.Although the camera can not bear the brand Exmor R, the performance it can offer are of above-average level.
With regard to the management software of the camera, point out the fact that, unlike other models in the Xperia, Sony Ericsson has failed to customize the interface remains the standard of Android and does not offer the same rich feature set of the models just cited.
When the light is not missing, the performance is good, the colors are natural, the meter seems to favor conservative approach with a tendency toward underexposure, the level of detail is appropriate for a 5MP sensor.
Indoor performance does not suffer a significant performance hit. The merit of the algorithm is to reduce the noise and the same level of noise at source is not considered a high resolution sensor (remember that digital noise increases with the resolution of the sensor). The flash appeared always well controlled.
The Xperia Play does not disappoint even in macro shooting, thanks to a distance of focus enough to get the discrete objects framed enlargements.
In the shots at night shows the typical feature of cameras from Sony Ericsson, which is the tendency to apply an algorithm to reduce noise quite decided. As will be evident in the photos, the tradeoff between denoising and preservation of detail is acceptable.
The performance video is penalized with the maximum resolution is lower than that for the time used by the canons 720p smartphones with the same hardware of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The situation should improve with the next software update that can enable the video recording in 720p (at the time of writing this upgrade has not yet been released for our devices).
GPS
The test performance of GPS has not worked side by criticism. The fix is done in seconds and the amount of satellites attached was high even within an urban center. During our usual test track we ever recorded signal loss and recalculation of the route were made quickly.
The tools include Google Maps navigation software, Google Navigator and GPS navigation software Wisepilot that you can download free from the Android Market, if it were not pre-installed.
Autonomy
The battery pack integrated into Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has a nominal value of 1500 mAh. This value together with the second generation Qualcomm processor and convincingly Optimization software allows you to cross the finish line at the end of the day if you use a smartphone like the Xperia Play.
The picture changes if you make extensive use of the terminal as a gaming console. In this case the hand of autonomy can be moved from a few hours a day.
Conclusions
We defined the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play a single terminal and at the end of our tests we would like to reaffirm our assessment. Starting from a solid and proven hardware and software (just think that is the same that equips all current Android smartphone from Sony Ericsson, including the Arc and the Neo), the manufacturer is able to offer gaming enthusiasts the ideal tool to cultivate their passion.
The sectors in which Sony Ericsson Xperia Play some respects even exceeds the PSP are different: in the first place is a convergent device includes both a smartphone (high end) than a game console. Second has a park vast and titles more accessible to purely economic level (comparing the price of a PSP and a game of the android Market is easily done). Finally, the park is particularly articulate and qualifications meet the needs of lovers of old PlayStation games, new games for Android and the nostalgic ones who can go back to using, for example, Mame. In all cases the physical controller dedicated to the game makes the user experience much more engaging than that experienced with any full-touch smartphone.
The handset belongs to the highly specialized devices in a specific sector of activity and as such may not be able to meet all needs. The price to pay to use the first (and so far only) smartphone about PlayStation certified weights and dimensions above average and improved ergonomics (for example, happens accidentally touching the buttons L and R that even if you do not activate any function with the slide closed make the right edge of a little ‘too’ jagged, and the balance of the volume is very small, like the power button, the thickness is generous, etc.).. As mentioned in the review we reiterate that the absence of ‘HDMI output is very serious. We can only imagine the potential that further play would Xperia relying on video output. He would enter into competition with home consoles (but maybe that was exactly what Sony wanted to avoid).
It is easy to identify users who recommend the smartphone. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the smartphone of the gamer. A gamer is tied to current titles and old glories of the past. If gaming is not one of the priorities recommended to pass by without too many regrets. The same catalog of Sony Ericsson offers the same speed performance models that point to other aspects (compactness, improved camera performance, etc.).
The fix is done in seconds and the amount of satellites attached was high even within an urban center. During our usual test track we ever recorded signal loss and recalculation of the route were made quickly.
The tools include Google Maps navigation software, Google Navigator and GPS navigation software Wisepilot that you can download free from the Android Market, if it were not pre-installed.
Autonomy
The battery pack integrated into Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has a nominal value of 1500 mAh. This value together with the second generation Qualcomm processor and convincingly Optimization software allows you to cross the finish line at the end of the day if you use a smartphone like the Xperia Play.
The picture changes if you make extensive use of the terminal as a gaming console. In this case the hand of autonomy can be moved from a few hours a day.
Conclusions
We defined the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play a single terminal and at the end of our tests we would like to reaffirm our assessment. Starting from a solid and proven hardware and software (just think that is the same that equips all current Android smartphone from Sony Ericsson, including the Arc and the Neo), the manufacturer is able to offer gaming enthusiasts the ideal tool to cultivate their passion.
The sectors in which Sony Ericsson Xperia Play some respects even exceeds the PSP are different: in the first place is a convergent device includes both a smartphone (high end) than a game console. Second has a park vast and titles more accessible to purely economic level (comparing the price of a PSP and a game of the android Market is easily done). Finally, the park is particularly articulate and qualifications meet the needs of lovers of old PlayStation games, new games for Android and the nostalgic ones who can go back to using, for example, Mame. In all cases the physical controller dedicated to the game makes the user experience much more engaging than that experienced with any full-touch smartphone.
The handset belongs to the highly specialized devices in a specific sector of activity and as such may not be able to meet all needs. The price to pay to use the first (and so far only) smartphone about PlayStation certified weights and dimensions above average and improved ergonomics (for example, happens accidentally touching the buttons L and R that even if you do not activate any function with the slide closed make the right edge of a little ‘too’ jagged, and the balance of the volume is very small, like the power button, the thickness is generous, etc.).. As mentioned in the review we reiterate that the absence of ‘HDMI output is very serious. We can only imagine the potential that further play would Xperia relying on video output. He would enter into competition with home consoles (but maybe that was exactly what Sony wanted to avoid).
It is easy to identify users who recommend the smartphone. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the smartphone of the gamer. A gamer is tied to current titles and old glories of the past. If gaming is not one of the priorities recommended to pass by without too many regrets. The same catalog of Sony Ericsson offers the same speed performance models that point to other aspects (compactness, improved camera performance, etc.).