Flashback: Sony Ericsson Xperia Play loses the game

27 October 2019
Sony makes gaming consoles. Sony makes phones. But a gaming phone? It tried it just once and never again.

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  • D
  • Dhani The Great
  • Kxk
  • 01 Feb 2023

With the rise of dedicated Gaming Phones such as ROG Phone, Black Shark, and Redmagic, i think it would be a perfect time for Sony to revive the Xperia Play so that it could compete with those phones. So far, Sony Flagships are mainy focus on photography and videography as such, but with the revived Xperia Play, they could use some expertise from PS to develop a brand new gaming phone into the market.

    • J
    • James
    • atq
    • 01 Feb 2021

    Kingslayer, 28 Oct 2019It would make sense for Sony to release a successor to the ... moreThe adreno 205 wasn't weak it just didn't run as good on higher resolution phones. I had it in the Sony Ericsson Live Walkman which was like a bigger Xperia Mini but with stereo speakers and a HVGA screen think it was 480x320 resolution and it was enough to play mc4 on . The thing that it couldn't handle was a bug ridden Android 4.0.4 update . The adreno 200 was miles behind this firstly in the Snapdragon S1 and then used in later budget devices..it couldn't do 3d gaming at all.. Snapdragon was in its infancy then ..now look at them ..and why did Nvidia drop out of mobile?

      • O
      • OuttaControl
      • xqE
      • 01 Nov 2019

      Reason it failed was one of many Sony failures as company, insane price at start (around 600€ in 2011, probably most expensive phone), with hardware in range of midranger in 2010. I was looking forward to this phone, but SII was cheaper and better device...

        Anonymous, 29 Oct 2019this model was my first Android phone... Mine too

          It was failure because console part was completely ignored. Hardware was badly outdated, back in the days Sony Ericsson was famous for being behind in processing power. In comoarison galaxy S2 which came out at similar time was twice faster in cpu and gpu performance, which look bad in xperia play claim as console powerhouse, secondly exclusives was terrible. Only one game was decent - fighting 1 on 1 game Bruce Lee, other was just android ports and terrible ones, like Fifa 10, was so bad in graphics and gameplay that it was far behind any psp fifa game. And lastly as a phone itself it was terrible. Lack of internal storage made this phone useless in one year after its release, you litterally could not install apps, which required to store some data internally outside of sd card, which was basically all apps. I still have xperia play as souvenir in my drawer with official 2.3.4 gingerbread release and all release games :)

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • fxT
            • 29 Oct 2019

            this model was my first Android phone...

              Anonymous, 29 Oct 2019Sony Ericson and Xperia both are beautiful and Xperia even ... moresony makes nice phones too and i love them.but unfortunately sony left Middle East markets.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • vV5
                • 29 Oct 2019

                Farid.x47, 28 Oct 2019(Sony + Ericsson) was making magical phones which will neve... moreSony Ericson and Xperia both are beautiful and Xperia even more gorgeous.

                  (Sony + Ericsson) was making magical phones which will never repeat again. I had Xperia Arc many years ago that was a nice and gorgeous phone. Sony Ericsson had better design style than sony.

                    imparanoic, 28 Oct 2019while oled do have shorter life than lcd esp early ones, it... moreActually older lo density, larger pixel OLEDS didn't had any problems with longevity and could last as long as LED's (5+ years). For instance I have N808 from 2012 with 4" VGA display RGB matrix (188 PPI) still working like charm. OLED's above 220~250 PPI are problematic. Meaning most TV's are still covered.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • vgN
                      • 28 Oct 2019

                      eventhough Sony Corp. owns some shares in Sony Ericsson,
                      it's still two different companies.
                      and Sony Corp. did not want any kind product that would compete with their on PSP.
                      that's the real reason why Sony Corp. didn't want to support Xperia Play.

                        It would make sense for Sony to release a successor to the SEX Play and even to the Vita to a lesser extent only because Sony's mobile business has been on the decline since 2014.

                        "While the original Snapdragon chipset with its single Scorpion CPU core and Adreno 205 GPU wasn’t the fastest even by 2011 standards, it was fast enough for PSX and PSP Go emulation. We tried out the PSX4Droid emulator when reviewing the Xperia Play and it worked. For PSP Go emulation there was PPSSPP."

                        Adeno 205 was weak as hell. The Adreno 200 on my Nexus One was even weaker. I would say the 205 offered better emulation than on a PSP but not the garbage that was the 200. I could only play mobile card games smoothly on my Nexus One. That's how bad the Adreno 200-series were.

                        I think Sony should really explore creating another gaming phone when ASUS, Xiaomi, and Razer have tried to do so. At least Sony still has their back catalog of PlayStation games. They have nothing to differentiate themselves in mobile except using the strength of their PlayStation brand.

                        Sony can die in mobile like HTC or create a niche market for themselves with PlayStation-branded phones.

                          • t
                          • theskig
                          • nje
                          • 28 Oct 2019

                          I still have it, in white.

                            • M
                            • Mediateksux
                            • yp1
                            • 28 Oct 2019

                            Kangal, 28 Oct 2019Ah, good question and here I'll answer it. First of all,... moreVery good explanation sir

                              • M
                              • Mediateksux
                              • yp1
                              • 28 Oct 2019

                              Whackcar, 27 Oct 2019The problem is that most mobile gamers are normies, and the... morePubg is actually pretty fun if you have atleast one friend to play with. Try it sometime. No need to be a 'normie'.

                                Kangal, 28 Oct 2019Ah, good question and here I'll answer it. First of all,... morewhile oled do have shorter life than lcd esp early ones, it depends how the device uses the oled screen if constantly on, it will shorten the life, but some devices such as 2009 walkman, nwz-x1000 has no issues on oled life screen longetivity as the screen is not always on

                                  it's well known that that this is a product of dual venture, sony ericsson mobile, thus, they could not use/was authorised to use Playstation name, unlike Cybershot and Walkman, the reason why, as it was released in 2011, Sony of Japan didn't want this product dilute the demand for their forthcoming ps vita which was released a year later.

                                  the problem about this, it was released and developed during a period of time (circa 2011) when technology advances within andriod was quite early and lack the necessary power to offer any real gaming experience.

                                    Kangal, 28 Oct 2019True, however IGZO displays were fairly experimental/new wh... moreThe future are definitely micro LED's either made from Gallium Oxide (IGZO & ready today) or made of Graphen (still very hard to grow especially for bigger structures). Silicon is today still dominant but that will have to change in the future. Today so called "micro LED's" (I would rather call them mini) that started to appear on TV's for a local diming are just a tiny start of it. Best approach would be a fully grown supstrate but it will be very expensive to develop. LED is either synthetic or organic so its LED or OLED, nothing in between.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • rJ}
                                      • 28 Oct 2019

                                      was one of the best phones ever

                                        Truth Sayer, 27 Oct 2019Same as you. We want this phone again from Sony.It was an incredible device. Would love to see a successor.

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