The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has a slide-out game pad for more immersive gameplay, but it has a few failings and probably won't make you give up your PSP just yet.
Nicole Lee
I started my career with CNET all the way back in 2005, when the (original) Motorola Razrs were all the rage. Since then, I've written about everything from consumer electronics to internet culture for outlets like CNET, Engadget and Yahoo. Outside of work, I'm a big fan of baseball, board games, tabletop RPGs and improv comedy.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play looks a lot like a regular Android smartphone at first glance. It has a great 4-inch display, and is clad in a glossy piano-black finish.
The slide-out game pad on the Xperia Play reveals a D-pad and face buttons that look like the controls on Sony's Dualshock PlayStation controller. Instead of two analog joysticks, however, the Xperia Play has two touch-sensitive circles.
The Xperia Play comes with seven preloaded games, six of which are playable with the physical game controls. An app provides access to featured Xperia Play games that are available from the V Cast App store. You can play games from the Android Market that are designed for the Xperia Play, too.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the latest Android OS. The interface is quite vanilla; there aren't any manufacturer or carrier skins interfering with the experience.
