Okay Geek Farm
Sony Xperia Play, Pro and Neo - Everything you need to know
Jason Tsay
Xperia Play
Specifications
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Timescape UI and PlayStation Suite
- 4” 854 x 480 multitouch LCD display
- 1 Ghz Qualcomm Scorpion ARMv7 processor
- Adreno 205 GPU (60fps performance)
- 5.1 megapixel AF camera with LED flash
- PlayStation controls
- Up to 5 hours, 35 minutes of battery life for gaming
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
- black or white color
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play has been a long time coming, the rumour mill on such a device has existed since the PSP’s original launch back in late 2004 (early 2005 for non-Japanese markets). Whilst I’m certain Sony’s been dabbling in such a device for quite sometime, I’m slightly relieved that they’ve waited up until now to announce it. To draw comparisons from the movie Avatar isn’t all that absurd. As most know, the number one grossing film of all time was ten years in the making, simply because the correct technology didn’t exist. The same could be said for the Xperia Play. Six years ago, such a device would either be running Symbian or a proprietary OS with severely underpowered specifications, leaving most a fan in sheer disappointment… and Sony, out of a sizable chunk of change.
Luckily though, none of that happened. Instead, we get to marvel in the beauty of a PSP running Android with a nice big display, snappy processor, and a GPU that is more than up for the challenge of running blow by blow shooters, platformers, and puzzle games. I will say however, if I have one disappointment, it’s in the battery life. Sure, graphic and processor intensive games will eat through any battery like a hungry caterpillar through an apple, but five and half hours of gameplay? Sorry, that’s not nearly enough for me. You may feel differently, but for someone that travels frequently, five hours isn’t enough to keep me entertained from ‘point A to point B’. Perhaps I’m being slightly picky here?
Launch content partners - Sony Computer Entertainment, Digital Chocolate, Digital Legends, Electronic Arts, Fishlabs, Gamehouse, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Handy Games, Namco Bandai Networks, Polarbit, PopCap, Trendy Entertainment, and Unity Tecnologies
Xperia Pro
Specifications
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Timescape UI
- 3.7” 854 x 480 display with Bravia engine
- 1 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255
- 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 2 megapixel front-facing camera
- Size: 120 x 57 x 13.5 mm
- silver, red, or black color
In a world where nothing is private anymore, it comes as shock to see an Android device left unleaked. Nevertheless, I’m kind of glad we hadn’t seen the Xperia Pro before — it makes the unveiling that much more magical. With a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Pro takes a much loved form factor and couples it with great hardware. The big plus here, however, is Android 2.3. Oh, what a shocker: Sony Ericsson’s actually releasing a device on the latest build of Android.
The goodies don’t stop there either, much like the Xperia Play and Arc, Sony’s added some finesse through their Bravia engine. For those that don’t know, Sony likes to incorporate an engine used in their Bravia TVs to help accelerate graphics. The overall result leaves one with an amazing, crisp display.
As mentioned above, the Xperia Pro comes with a landscape QWERTY slider — a nice little differentiation from the slew of bland slabs already available on the market. Besides the keyboard and Bravia engine, the Pro comes with some pretty standard mid-high smartphone internals. Namely the industry standard 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, and 3.7-inch display — a full list of specifications can be found above.
Xperia Neo
Specifications
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Timescape UI
- 3.7” 854 x 480 display with Bravia engine
- 1 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255
- 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 2 megapixel front-facing camera
- Size: 116 x 57 x 13 mm
- silver, red, or blue color
Because one Xperia device is never enough: The Neo is quintessentially its bigger brother the Pro, sans a physical keyboard. Besides the keyboard it has near exact specs — although it does have several rather snazzy colour schemes to chose from; I’m fond of the blue myself. As you may have gathered, there really isn’t much to say about the Neo, it’s your typical Android smartphone.
Disappointing? No, not really — it’ll make a great alternative for those not wishing to purchase an Arc. Although, a little innovation would have been nice. And I know saying that is easier said than done, but come on Sony, the Neo to me feels like nothing more than an OEM trying to reach their annual quota.
Report by Daniel Carey, Research by Jason Tsay
