Here we go again - PSP Phone

WeasteDevil

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Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone -- Engadget

Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone
By Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 11th 2010 5:50PM

psp-mockupengadget.jpg


There's no question that gaming on the Android platform has heretofore been relatively underwhelming, but that looks like it's all about to change. It seems that Sony Ericsson -- a company that has yet to even introduce an Android 2.0 device -- is at work on a project to redefine gaming on Google's mobile platform. We now know (via a trusted source) that the company is actively and heavily developing a brand new gaming platform, ecosystem, and device (possibly alongside Google) which are already in the late stages of planning. And we've got the goods on it.

Here's what we can tell you about the hardware: if you're a gaming fan, this is exactly the kind of phone you've been waiting for. The device is described as cross between the Samsung Captivate and the PSP Go -- in other words, it's a landscape slider with game controls in place of the typical QWERTY keyboard. The D-pad is here, but instead of the small joystick, the device will have what was described as a "long touch pad" for analog controls, along with standard PSP buttons and shoulder buttons. The phone has a large display, described as being between 3.7 and 4.1 inches with WVGA or better resolution, a 5 megapixel camera that we're told might not be final, and it'll likely have a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU on board. The phone is mostly black with some silver highlights, and the gamepad area is white / silver in color. Apparently it's currently branded as a Xperia device, but it looks like it will carry PlayStation branding as well. Those who've seen the phone say it looks "pretty damn sexy." The mockup above probably doesn't do the actual hardware justice, but it should give you an idea of what you'll be dealing with.

On the software side, it looks like the device will be running Gingerbread (Android 3.0) with a phone-specific skin, and there will be a new area of the Android Market specifically for the games. That content will be initially accessible only by the halo device, but from the sounds of things, these titles might be made available to other Android phones if their specs and button layouts meet requirements. Games will be graphically in the range of PSX or PSP games, meaning true 3D gaming is headed to Android. Titles currently being shown off seem to be focused around some older PSX as well as new PSP offerings, with God of War, Modern Warfare, and Little Big Planet possibly on tap, and future plans for titles which incorporate augmented reality features.

In terms of release, it's possible that the phone and ecosystem could be introduced as early of October of this year, but we have yet to confirm.

Right now we're working on getting even more detail about the phone and partnership, but we can tell you now that this is not a random rumor -- we have reason to believe that what we've heard and seen is real and coming to market. It makes perfect sense in a way -- Google gets a much-needed push into the gaming and entertainment space for Android, while Sony (via its partnership with Ericsson) finally delivers the PlayStation phone users have been wanting. We see it as a major win for both companies and the consumer... and we always need another distraction. Stay tuned to this space for updates as we get them, and in the meantime, start socking away the pennies.
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It's not going to happen, the analogue control mechanism looks spasticated to say the least, that mockup is awful. It's not even got the same CPU as a PSP.
 
I hope the new psp phone will be a completely new PSP. I think the time is ripe now for portable convergence of gaming, mobiles, music, web browsing etc, and I'm very interested to see how Sony responds to this challenge.
 
Redlambs said:
'Graphically in the range of the psx or psp'

That narrows it down then.
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I'm not even sure how this will work. I can see the addition of the real controller buttons for phone gaming to be something interesting, as touch screens really don't cut it for most genres, but how will this work? Use the touch screen or the traditional control mechanism for all Android games, and then have a PSP App locked into the device (not downloadable) that emulates the PSP and thus PS1 also? My guess is that SCE will have nothing to do with this, other than maybe providing the emulation code for the App. Having an official PSP emulator in the wild though could open all sorts of cans of worms.
 
I quite like the looks of that!

Worse thing I ever did was sell my PSP, awesome little(ish) machines.
 
Pronewbie said:
I hope the new psp phone will be a completely new PSP. I think the time is ripe now for portable convergence of gaming, mobiles, music, web browsing etc, and I'm very interested to see how Sony responds to this challenge.
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I think that this is not going to be the new PSP. PSP2 will be something different entirely and have nothing to do with Sony Ericsson. If they want to start selling PS2 games over PSN for use on a PSP2, it's going to need two analogue sticks for a start, and be a lot more powerful than any phone.

My guess is that this phone, if it really does exist, will simply add the traditional game control buttons with an Android App that emulates the PSP and the PS1, such that it can play Android games and then also PSP/PS1 games also.
 
This tie up agreement that Google and Sony seem to be having could lead down all sorts of avenues.

Google TV on Sony devices.
Chrome OS (thus Android as well) on PS3 making up for the loss of Linux.
Maybe even the transfer of the running of PSN to Google, who are much better placed than Sony in terms of infrastructure to do it.
Google Ads everywhere.
 
WeasteDevil said:
This tie up agreement that Google and Sony seem to be having could lead down all sorts of avenues.

Google TV on Sony devices.
Chrome OS (thus Android as well) on PS3 making up for the loss of Linux.
Maybe even the transfer of the running of PSN to Google, who are much better placed than Sony in terms of infrastructure to do it.
Google Ads everywhere.
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend (Apple and Microsoft).
 
WeasteDevil said:
Nobody said it was, but as the PSP does it, so would this have to have it. You don't have a PSP emulator though do you? The only thing that does is the PS3, and that's locked apart from minis. The PC ones don't work properly. Oh, apart from the Sony one for PC of course.
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PSXDroid was released a few weeks ago. not ment to be that great though, works great for FF7, not so great for almost anything else.

I'm very interested in this phone, but it really depends on what it is.

If it is an Android phone with PSP capabilities then I am very interested. If it is basically just a PSP that can make calls and send texts then I am not so interested.

I want the phone to have most the freedoms other Android phones have - in terms of customization with widgets and apps etc. If Sony lock the phone down it will be far less appealing, to me anyway.

If they get it right I will be first in line for this. The possibilities are excellent - could be an excellent multimedia device as the screen quality should be very good so it should be great for watching videos on - big enough screen should make browsing great as well. If they tie it in well to the PSN store it could be a massive, massive success for them.

As I say though, it really depends on how much of an Android phone it is - and how much of the Android 3.0 functionality it would allow the user to have.
 
At last, i've been saying for years that Sony should do this.
 
The last time they tried to combine phone and console we got this:

ngage_43163.jpg


Release the PSP 2 and leave it at that. As of now I'm sure Nintendo are finding this all too hilarious.
 
RedKaos said:
Release the PSP 2 and leave it at that. As of now I'm sure Nintendo are finding this all too hilarious.
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You have no clue if SCE has anything to do with this or not. There is no PS branding on the thing, the only indicator that it has anything to do with PS are the symbols on the buttons. It could be something as simple as an Android phone with slide out gaming controls.

adexkola said:
Looks fugly
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It looks to me like a standard touch screen smartphone, at least it will when closed.
 
WeasteDevil said:
There is no PS branding on the thing, the only indicator that it has anything to do with PS are the symbols on the buttons. It could be something as simple as an Android phone with slide out gaming controls.
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Yes but why would anyone risk a lawsuit by nicking the symbolic triangle, O, X, square button layout of the Playstation? That is unless you ARE SCE.
 
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