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[DISCUSS] Xperia Play Hands-on, my mini-review

today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again

yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.

its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/

so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??

yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.

I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms

Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
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I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say

holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.

Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
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Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.

Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
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Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.

Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.

Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!

Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
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I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.

[Q] Is the Xperia Play worth Getting?

I am very hesitant in getting that phone, I've heard alot of good things and alot of bad things
I've seen specs and I've seen reviews, but I want to know people's personal opinion as they have the phone for full everyday use and not just reviewing it.
Is it worth it?

My advice do not go for it,you have better options for the same price.even if you are into gaming do not go for it...you can wait for NGP later and get dual core mobile now like galaxy s2/sensation/optimus 2x

I say go for it 4 sure. If you're like me who loves Zelda OOT, buy it! There is nothing like sitting on the subway while kids are playing their angry birds on their iphone while you sit there with your play and play Zelda or tekken 2 It's totally worth it!
everyday phone? Oh yeah! It works great!
Don't listen to that guy talking about dual core. You don't need it on a phone!! seriously, WHY would you need dual core? Everything i've tried on my play works like a charm!

jassired said:
My advice do not go for it,you have better options for the same price.even if you are into gaming do not go for it...you can wait for NGP later and get dual core mobile now like galaxy s2/sensation/optimus 2x
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Yeah, get a dual core mobile now so you can play the exact same games you can play on the Xperia Play, only with worse controls and worse battery life.
Then get an NGP later so you can carry around two devices for ultimate portability!

hairdewx said:
Yeah, get a dual core mobile now so you can play the exact same games you can play on the Xperia Play, only with worse controls and worse battery life.
Then get an NGP later so you can carry around two devices for ultimate portability!
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Click to collapse
that was exactly what i meant haaha +1

^^^ I'm being sarcastic in my last post, in case the OP didn't catch that.
I'm very happy with my Play as a gaming phone and everyday phone. My wife has a Droid 3, and there isn't much difference at all, if any, in app performance and daily phone use. I have much better battery life as well. She has a better camera Maybe eventually apps will start taking advantage of multiple cores, but it's going to be a while.
You can't play this game on a touch screen very well...

Yourmama said:
I am very hesitant in getting that phone, I've heard alot of good things and alot of bad things
I've seen specs and I've seen reviews, but I want to know people's personal opinion as they have the phone for full everyday use and not just reviewing it.
Is it worth it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is very simple. How much do you value playing both Android-native and emulated games against the rest of features in a phone? If you really want to play games in a phone, this is your device.
If you don't value playing games over dual core CPUs, slick designs, gorgeous screens and feature-rich cameras, you're not the target for this device. It has a very specific niche, which Sony Ericsson has spent millions in digging out. It's a love-it-or-hate-it product, with little middle ground.
Oh, and it has an astonishingly precise GPS.

There are bad points about this phone but show me a perfect phone.
The best 2 things about this phone are obviously the control pad for 1 and the battery life, which has amazed me so far.
The only thing that I find annoying is the lack of decent games taking advantage of what is a great phone.
But I have to say I have started using emulators and they are quality, n64oid and fpse especially.
So to sum up its a great mix up between a gaming device and a smart phone. It is let down on the development side.
It all just depends on what you want if you like gaming I dont think you will be let down in purchasing this phone
Thats my two pennies anyway
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

I have an xperia play and a few of my mates have dual core phones (SGS2, Optimus x2 e.t.c). I would not swap the Xplay for any of them.
As hairdewx has shown if you plan on playing anything with FPSE or emulators it is pointless on anything other than an xplay. The emulators alones let you play thousands of games with proper controls (makes it a 1000x better)
The speakers are the best on any phone. And the battery life is amazing to say this is a gaming device. Just using it as a normal phone it is as good as the rest.
I would recommend you get this phone. I think it will be hard for me to upgrade to a newer phone @ the end of my contract, unless it has proper gaming controls . (Xplay 2 hopefully)

Thanks guys I don't know I just might get it the only setback was the lack of an HD screen and the core issue but seems that the people who have the phone are enjoying it, I will see

Just wanted to give a perspective from someone who just bought the phone yesterday.
Waiting in the Verizon store I got the chance to mess with a few other phones. I actually played a couple games on some as well and just took an overall look. So to start lets forget the coolness of the control pad, and also that IMO playing games with motion/touch controls aside from something designed for it like Angry Birds absolutely sucks. Its why I seriously have not been into mobile gaming until now and I'm a big gamer. Just can't stand those controls.
Most of these new 4G dual core phones are huge. Seriously I was playing with one of the new 4G phones and the damn thing was like a doormat it was so big. Meanwhile the Xperia Play dimensionally is almost identical to my OG Droid, but space wise is designed better so that the 4" screen pushes to almost the edges of the device which uses space very well. Fits in my pocket WAY better than those 4G devices with a screen thats only 0.3" smaller.
Next up is speed. The OS is just as responsive on the Play as any of the 4G devices, I'm honestly not sure how much a dual core processor can help on a cellphone especially for normal every day tasks, with an OS that while multitasking, is not like a PC where you can physically have 2+ windows on screen at once. The way Android prioritizes memory, if you are using multiple apps at once, I just don't see there being a possibility of an everyday advantage. Needless to say, touch them side by side, there is NO difference in speed. Which brings me to games. I played a couple on the newer devices, they looked and played the same as on the Play, no faster, no better graphics, no nothing.
Finally would be features, ok so the camera is ok but not as good, 4G where available, is REALLY fast so thats nice as well and if you're in an area its common, and you have a need for that kind of speed, well then its something you should consider. And HDMI out, not on the Play. I personally have no use for it but if you do then theres another loss. So this comes to opinion - IMO the camera is good enough, it does the job, its a cell phone not a Canon. 4G? I live in the NY metro area basically where 4G service should be mostly available but its spotty, meanwhile WiFi is everywhere, and everywhere I'd sit and use it I have WiFi (my home, my folks house, my firehouse etc), when I travel I book hotels that have free WiFi, also my ISP provides open WiFi in many areas. Also I have no shame I use peoples open WiFi signals if I have to, so honestly I don't miss the speed there. 3G really isn't THAT bad either, however its a compromise, and I'm sure outside of this area it could be a problem for some. Then HDMI out, I bet I'd try it out for a novelty but I'd probably never use it. I have a PS3, I watch movies on my big screen from that or my PC with HDMI out.
And 2 things I've said above become an advantage for the Play, no 4G and no Dual core = better battery life.
So all in all I don't for a second regret the purchase, you get 95% of the performance of a 4G phone, with the advantage of better battery life, and the completely awesome built in control pad. If you want to game, its a no brainer.

When I saw the title of the thread I opened it to give my opinion about this phone. But when I read the previous answers, all that I wanted to say had already been said, so I gave up writing a big text because I don't have anything new to say!
Then I'll only say that it's an awesome phone, buy it without any fear, you won't regret it.

_terror_ said:
If you're like me who loves Zelda OOT, buy it! There is nothing like sitting on the subway while kids are playing their angry birds on their iphone while you sit there with your play and play Zelda or tekken 2 It's totally worth it!
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WTF! did you get a stable enough N64 emu (not to mention enough ram to run the rom) I have a GBA SNES NES GameGear and Genesis, but i cant find a good (preferably free at least till applanets back up) 64emu anywhere....and how are you running tekken two though all the psx emus crash cause of sony releasing this phone....oh and as long as you plan to plug the thing in everynight for like 8 hours (although 2.3.3 update fixes that a small amount if you dont game or browse or call or well pretty much emulate any sort of energy from it) than dont buy this phone really takes a commitment, i hate that i bought it then found out motorolla is releasing the droid 3(name changes between SP's) with HDMI out 1Ghz process 8mp cam rear and ii believie dont quote 3.2 front (might have been 2.3 or somewhere goin on memory of specs) THAT IS THE PHONE YOU WANT IF YOU ARE STILL LOOKING but release does depend on SP Bell got it first! havent folllowed up on it much just pisses me off that i bought a damn sony product over a 3ds.......oh and sorry if i repeated anyfacts

It is my favorite device. I just put in 2 hours of Beyond the Beyond without any awful on screen controls or bluetooth shenanigans.
Sound quality is spectacular too, as is the battery life.
The only thing that could use some improvement is the camera.
If you enjoy games more than just casually and really enjoy emulation, there is no other real option IMHO.
Sent from my R800at using Tapatalk

KronikonE said:
WTF! did you get a stable enough N64 emu (not to mention enough ram to run the rom) I have a GBA SNES NES GameGear and Genesis, but i cant find a good (preferably free at least till applanets back up) 64emu anywhere....and how are you running tekken two though all the psx emus crash cause of sony releasing this phone....oh and as long as you plan to plug the thing in everynight for like 8 hours (although 2.3.3 update fixes that a small amount if you dont game or browse or call or well pretty much emulate any sort of energy from it) than dont buy this phone really takes a commitment, i hate that i bought it then found out motorolla is releasing the droid 3(name changes between SP's) with HDMI out 1Ghz process 8mp cam rear and ii believie dont quote 3.2 front (might have been 2.3 or somewhere goin on memory of specs) THAT IS THE PHONE YOU WANT IF YOU ARE STILL LOOKING but release does depend on SP Bell got it first! havent folllowed up on it much just pisses me off that i bought a damn sony product over a 3ds.......oh and sorry if i repeated anyfacts
Click to expand...
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N64oid v2 runs alot of roms pretty perfect now, and fpse eats tekken alive, infact i havent found one ps1 rom it dosent run pefectly

jdsemler said:
Sound quality is spectacular too, as is the battery life.
The only thing that could use some improvement is the camera.
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Click to collapse
K Sound Agreed, Battery however i would like to know what miracle device you are using to keep it powered cause even with the 2.3.3 update which i wont le improved battery life significantly, i dont find its able to keep up with the demand especially noticable when streaming data i.e. skyFM or TuneInRadio(awsome app by the way for a phone with no FM reciever any radio station you could imagine....from all 7 contenent...yes there is a sat radio station based in antarctica for the 12 people that are ever there at one time, sheesh im Canadian and i say no thanks to that lol sorry off topic tired and ranting), and camera is decent quality 5.0mp front is only1.2 so self portraits are a little grainy i find, but none the less i have to agreee it could use more features to the actual cam its self

AndroHero said:
N64oid v2 runs alot of roms pretty perfect now, and fpse eats tekken alive, infact i havent found one ps1 rom it dosent run pefectly
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Click to collapse
didnt know N64oid v2 was out thanks!, and as for the ps one emu i think i might just steal whatever games they release seeing as i pretty much bought a psone in a phone seems a little redundant to download a program on top of that....just cant wait to see if they find a way to release FFVII and VIII to the phone

Just get an android phone you like
to the guy who started this thread truely you just want an android phone PERIOD with it dominating over 50% of the smart phone generation other companies are trying to figure a way to eat a piece of googles pie....ie rumors which are now apparently confimed (which i havent seen first hand knowledge) but the iPhone 5(BOOO) is set to release with BBM installed, and we all know android with get it first probably for free with some sort if ad support....its like comparing a PS3 to Xbox360 its just not necessary 360 wins in every department like android.(minus blueray but you can obvi get a cheap one of those now to make up for it)

Anyone interested
found a decent site on app creation for android....vogella.de/articles/Android/article.html
sorry bout not making it a link apparently i havent posted enough for our Naziesq forum rules

KronikonE said:
to the guy who started this thread truely you just want an android phone PERIOD with it dominating over 50% of the smart phone generation other companies are trying to figure a way to eat a piece of googles pie....ie rumors which are now apparently confimed (which i havent seen first hand knowledge) but the iPhone 5(BOOO) is set to release with BBM installed, and we all know android with get it first probably for free with some sort if ad support....its like comparing a PS3 to Xbox360 its just not necessary 360 wins in every department like android.(minus blueray but you can obvi get a cheap one of those now to make up for it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't you pissed on this guy's thread enough? Then you come into a forum with people who are obvious playstation and Sony fans and say the Xbox360 "wins in every department" which is so untrue its not even funny but I'm not getting into that flame war here.
You don't seem to like the phone much, and you don't seem to like PS much, door is to the left, go buy another phone then.

xperia play build quality

hi all,
After reading plenty of reviews and all the youtube videos, i am now so close to buying an xperia play, but just a few questions that i need clarifying..
1. whats the build quality like of the game pad?
2. are the analogue pads that bad? or it just the games?
2. anyone here that has had the xperia play for a while.. how do the buttons feel after excessive usage? still the same as when u bought it or they dont feel as good.. im the sort of person that goes a bit mad with the buttons when playing games like marvel vs capcom and as i will be keeping the phone for a very long time, i wanna make sure the phone gamepad can last as long as a normal ps3 pad!
3. how well do the games play? how they play from factory stock android and are there improvements when removing the bloatware software.. really hate that timescape crap! improvements when upgrading to 2.3.3
4. sd card? which is the best class to buy 32gb?
thanks

vegeta2007 said:
hi all,
After reading plenty of reviews and all the youtube videos, i am now so close to buying an xperia play, but just a few questions that i need clarifying..
1. whats the build quality like of the game pad?
2. are the analogue pads that bad? or it just the games?
2. anyone here that has had the xperia play for a while.. how do the buttons feel after excessive usage? still the same as when u bought it or they dont feel as good.. im the sort of person that goes a bit mad with the buttons when playing games like marvel vs capcom and as i will be keeping the phone for a very long time, i wanna make sure the phone gamepad can last as long as a normal ps3 pad!
3. how well do the games play? how they play from factory stock android and are there improvements when removing the bloatware software.. really hate that timescape crap! improvements when upgrading to 2.3.3
4. sd card? which is the best class to buy 32gb?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Mate,
First of all, I love my xperia play, really good phone and great for gaming. FPSE has made this phone for me now, massive choice of games, really cheap too as you can pick up 2nd hand psx games.
My issue with the reviews is that they compare the device to the top end stuff - SGS2, HTC sensation and Moto atrix. Its not that type of device, its all about gaming. The reviews seem to be down on the phone from the off due to the specs (low internal storage and slower than the best cpu). Anyway thats the rant...
1 (and the second 2.) Build quality - Seems a bit cheap and plastically compared to my old HTC desire and the htc sensation. However after 4 months of gaming and general use (i'm very clumsy with my phones and tend to drop them and scratch them all the time) It is still in very good nick, The plastic seems to take punishment a lot better than my old HTC. There are no visible defections and everything is working great - the game pad is still perfect and still feels new - it does pick up dirt pretty easy but I've never felt it affect the touch controls. I button mash a lot and everything feels great and still very responsive, I never feel like I need to be gentle and have gotten stressed a few times when losing a game on fifa and mashing the keys.
2. The pads are brilliant in my opinion, takes a little bit of getting used to in terms of not having any feedback when you push one way or the other. Main issue is the games - FPS has a massive lack in terms of how its controlled. Swiping is annoying but works, push to turn is good but can be too sensitive and hard to target from my experience - it will be a learning curve I'm sure.
3. The games are excellent. The ones that are optimized work smoothly and I've never had an issue with slow down apart from when the phone overheats (normally after 2+ hours or usage/gaming and whilst charging) Even then it was still usable. Some gameloft games aren't that good, its a bit annoying but most are great, its the best experience I've had on a phone, comparable to a psp/ds. Updates have made the phone better and better, then rooting and removing bloat have made it the perfect phone. Everything is instant, no waiting, much better than my HTC Desire, plus I never fill up my internal storage so I have no worried about installing other stuff
4. From what I've read its better to go for a class 6 or 4, but I've not tried a 32gb card yet. Class 10 is good for data transfer but not playing games etc. But I dont have any experience with it as of yet

1. Phone's quality and design is awesome, I love it. The gamepad is very accurate, similar to a PSP one, something you would expect from Sony.
2. It will take a week or so to get used with, after that, it's a piece of cake to play with them.
The other 2. It feels the same, it's also somehow not that fragile as it looks.
3. I have the SD card full of games => almost all HD, never lagged; I also updated to 2.3.3 and all remained the same. Timescape widget is kinda' cool, you'll see.
4. Class 4. Detailed thread about SD card for XPlay here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1129749
Edit: Ninja'd by wired84

Geeve said:
1. Phone's quality and design is awesome, I love it. The gamepad is very accurate, similar to a PSP one, something you would expect from Sony.
2. It will take a week or so to get used with, after that, it's a piece of cake to play with them.
The other 2. It feels the same, it's also somehow not that fragile as it looks.
3. I have the SD card full of games => almost all HD, never lagged; I also updated to 2.3.3 and all remained the same. Timescape widget is kinda' cool, you'll see.
4. Class 4. Detailed thread about SD card for XPlay here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1129749
Edit: Ninja'd by wired84
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I win

vegeta2007 said:
hi all,
After reading plenty of reviews and all the youtube videos, i am now so close to buying an xperia play, but just a few questions that i need clarifying..
1. whats the build quality like of the game pad?
2. are the analogue pads that bad? or it just the games?
2. anyone here that has had the xperia play for a while.. how do the buttons feel after excessive usage? still the same as when u bought it or they dont feel as good.. im the sort of person that goes a bit mad with the buttons when playing games like marvel vs capcom and as i will be keeping the phone for a very long time, i wanna make sure the phone gamepad can last as long as a normal ps3 pad!
3. how well do the games play? how they play from factory stock android and are there improvements when removing the bloatware software.. really hate that timescape crap! improvements when upgrading to 2.3.3
4. sd card? which is the best class to buy 32gb?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Build quality is fine. Mine is sturdy as a rock. Some people report it feels cheap when it is slid open. I guess it is pot luck whether you have a good one or not.
2) Had mine for 4-5 months now. Everything feels brand new. Buttons still have an extremely strong "click" sound and feel when you press them. Ive excessively played with mine.
3) 2.3.3 is a major improvement over stuttering of games. There is now no stuttering. No easy way to root 2.3.3 either. So i didnt bother (even though i rooted 2.3.2). Bloatware is annoying, but just dont use any of it and you forget its even there.
4) I use the standard 16 GB that comes with it. Works fine for me.
Some annoyances -
- Still cant disable auto brightness as a stock feature
- My touch screen sometimes messes up and i still cant figure out why. Pressing the right hand side of the screen sometimes registers as the left side is pressed. HIGHLY annoying when wrong keys appear on the screen when creating messages etc.
- Emulators are still the best games. Dont bother with the phone if you want any kind of official game support from Sony. There is none.
- Analog joysticks are ok. Not the greatest design though. But they do the job.

Does anyone else feel like the xplay sucks for FPS?

I love me some modern combat. But where is was good with the touchscreen on my old phones I feel like I get my ass handed to me constantly. I have had my xplay for 6 months now and play mc most of the time. So far I just feel like I am the fish in the barrel getting shot at. Playing campaign no worries. Online and I just get pissed off. Plus I find it total bs to see people getting g 53 frickin kills in a100 kill game.

Those touchpads are hideous. Sure, they'll work in a pinch, but trying to play against other people using them? No way. Can we convert them into thumbsticks at all? Any sort of accessory?

There are two versions of MC2.one with good controls and one with horrible (shadowgun) controlls. I find playing online enjoyable and I always finish in the top 3...altho that might be my sweet fps skills

Hardly. Developers can suck at using the touchpads properly, but the actual technology is great. Starting off as a total scrub on Modern Combat 3 online, I was pulling off scores and manuevers that I have never been able to do on any other handheld FPS.
EDIT: and yeah, MC2 would give a bad impression if you had any update after 3.3.9 (they started the version count back to 1.0.4+ in all the "broken" new versions).
Sent from my R800a using XDA App

The games are great, MC3, Dead Space, etc but yes I find it difficult to play these games using the 'analogue / touchpads / etc' thingys I can only describe as 'male nipples'!
I'm impressed with the games itself, the graphics for a phone is impressive but until we have better nipples to play with I'm gonna stick to emulators or games that don't use them
brought to you by the XDA app on my badass Android toy

maddog00 said:
Those touchpads are hideous. Sure, they'll work in a pinch, but trying to play against other people using them? No way. Can we convert them into thumbsticks at all? Any sort of accessory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I was reffering to Modern Combat 3. I specifically use the older Modern Combat 2 version where the controls were decent, the version prior to GL destroying the controls. But yeah sorry I should have clarified I am strickly meaning MC3. And I wrote this thread after I just got out of a online game where everyone was like 7 or 8 kills and one guy had 53 kills which I think is bumpkiss. Anyone know if Iphone users and android users play online together? Reason I ask is becuase Iphone users are able to hack their games to do all sorts of stuff, run faster faster, shoot fire out of a handgun, all head shots, etc. Also I really wish that GL would allow users to play against other users within the same rank online. Its BS when you see new inexperienced users playing aginst others far more experienced. It makes online play not fun at all, and I have emailed GL asking them to implement a ranking system that lets you play with other users of similar rank. Never got a reply, of course.
Oh and if it seemed like my first post sounded angry I was. I was pissed and frustrated, this is/was a pissed off thread I was venting. Guess I was just mad because people tell me " I wont play a shooting game with you because you have a PSP phone and you will kick my ass", but my ass is the only one that gets kicked online. Again not mad anymore just annoyed. I play online constantly. If anyone wants to play online with me some time my GL username is the same as my XDA username. Hope to see you all on the Digital Battlefield.

The first games on the Xperia play had little to no support for those touch pads, they were rubbish, Although now, a lot of developers are working it out, Take EA, they have great games for the xperia play.

TheCraig said:
The first games on the Xperia play had little to no support for those touch pads, they were rubbish, Although now, a lot of developers are working it out, Take EA, they have great games for the xperia play.
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Click to collapse
I agree. EA has done an awesome job with the controls. Much better on their first attempts then GL and they 7 or 8th attempt. Dead Space has excellent use of the controls. And the graphics are sweet. I am really looking forward to The Virtual Tennis by Sega. I still play my Dreamcast to this day and have great times with the Tennis game on it.

jgregoryj1 said:
I should have clarified I am strickly meaning MC3. And I wrote this thread after I just got out of a online game where everyone was like 7 or 8 kills and one guy had 53 kills which I think is bumpkiss. Anyone know if Iphone users and android users play online together? Reason I ask is becuase Iphone users are able to hack their games to do all sorts of stuff, run faster faster, shoot fire out of a handgun, all head shots, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well with the iPhone players can use the gyroscope for aiming. That would give them a huge edge but I don't think that that's the case because GL would heavily advertise(yeah I'm American, Yank, fat, whatever *yawn*) that it has cross play.
People can hack and cheat on Android as easily as they do on iOS. I saw a guy who could run 10x faster than every else but I didn't report him because he was on my team and we won because of him lol. And besides, GL will most likely not respond to my email or do anything about it...
I've seen guys get 40+ kills with nothing but headshots. While I do accept that there are guys that are that good, I highly doubt that they would spend the amount of time that they do on MC3 instead Call of Duty (unless they'are cheating of course).
I've seen people cheat on other Android games.
Sent from my R800x using xda premium

bobbysteels216 said:
Well with the iPhone players can use the gyroscope for aiming. That would give them a huge edge...
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Click to collapse
Have you ever tried using the gyroscopic aiming? It's really not practical at all. Matter of fact, pretty much everyone I've shown it to on my iPod Touch thinks it's a horrible gimmick that they'd never use seriously.

TLRtheory said:
Have you ever tried using the gyroscopic aiming? It's really not practical at all. Matter of fact, pretty much everyone I've shown it to on my iPod Touch thinks it's a horrible gimmick that they'd never use seriously.
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Click to collapse
I have an iPod Touch as well. Once you've master gyroscopic controls on a fps, it'll make you a formidable foe. It's easier to look around and get headshots.
Sent from my iPod Touch 4G
using Tapatalk

Dead Space works flawlessly with the Touch Analog pads.
Thing is with some games it doesn't work that well such as Gameloft games.

Well obviously,it doesn't have analog sticks.
Those touch pads are there so you won't cover the screen with your moving thumbs,not just to mimic analog sticks.

Has anyone tried the icontrol pad analog sticks? They have to be better than these "man nips" lol
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
I guess it's a fair deal tho because everyone has to stop moving to take aim so really everyone is at a disadvantage because of the sloppy game system
My opinion is that the control things are crap. Even if the developer can use them right most of the time it's hard as hell and not even fun anymore.
Whats the point in playing a game if no fun? Yup exactly, NONE!
so yeah I agree with OP. FPS on this game are ****e
even the "good" ones still have problems because of the nature of the beast.

Hogwarts said:
Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
I guess it's a fair deal tho because everyone has to stop moving to take aim so really everyone is at a disadvantage because of the sloppy game system
My opinion is that the control things are crap. Even if the developer can use them right most of the time it's hard as hell and not even fun anymore.
Whats the point in playing a game if no fun? Yup exactly, NONE!
so yeah I agree with OP. FPS on this game are ****e
even the "good" ones still have problems because of the nature of the beast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do love playing FPS shooters on the Xplay im just saying it feels like despite the fact you would think we have an advantage over touchscreen users, it seems like we are the ones at a disadvantage. Maybe if a developer makes a FPS and does an ass kicking job in tweaking the touchpads we might have an edge then... but again if that or when that happens

Hogwarts said:
Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*Yawn* ...oh, you again.
First of all, the saying is "Best thing since sliced bread," and I've never said anything about being in love with them. When put in the hands of a competent developer, they serve their purpose. Just because I say they work doesn't mean I prefer them over a more tactile solution.
For what it's worth, I'd actually have rather had twin analogs more akin to what's featured on the iControlPad... but since Xperia PLAY's software support is about 5x more than what iControlPad has, Xperia PLAY it is.
Second, have you played any FPS released in the past decade? Even the most popular, most highly acclaimed series out (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) integrates auto-aim, so you've already failed if what you aim to prove is that Xperia PLAY's integrates auto-aim out of poor quality.
Even still, it's not like auto-aim is a necessity to have precise aiming on Xperia PLAY. Dead Space on Xperia PLAY already proved that; without a doubt, there's a such thing as a control scheme competent enough such that you can lock on for headshots without having computer-aided guidance.
Yeah, some games need auto-aim... but that's because their touchpad integration wasn't made as responsive as EA's was in Dead Space. If Gameloft ever stepped up to that level, Modern Combat, Shadow Vanguard, NOVA 2, BiA2 and all the rest could ditch their aim assistance... that's a developer-side issue, not a fault of the hardware.

I guess I'm in the minority but I feel the control pad is an advantage. I generally suck at FPS games but having played MC2 online numerous times, I have had quite a few matches where I held my own. I never really got frustrated about not being able to get kills, and I enjoy them. Either the people I'm playing against suck, or theres something good to these analog touchpads. Just my 2 cents....

I think it's really bad with Modern Combat 3, I hate touch screen controls, but the analog sticks are just way below par. Minecraft on the other hand, feels like a dream!

jgregoryj1 said:
I do love playing FPS shooters on the Xplay im just saying it feels like despite the fact you would think we have an advantage over touchscreen users, it seems like we are the ones at a disadvantage. Maybe if a developer makes a FPS and does an ass kicking job in tweaking the touchpads we might have an edge then... but again if that or when that happens
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Click to collapse
amen brotha word up
that is the truth speek
I play shadow gun without da analog sticks
it's much easier to get da headshot on da alien muffs without them
using them it's like it never be landing the reticle rite on da head of da bloke
the only games I like using it for are ones where accuracy dont matta like age of zombies or summin

Help me choose a watch and a quick favor!

How are you guys doing?
I have been looking for watches lately, and I decided I want to get one but not sure where to start since there are a billion watches out there.
My price range is approx 100-170 dollars.
I figured i'd ask you guys which watches would be best.
The main reason why I am wanting a watch is because they banned watches from my work, and I am addicted to a game called "brave frontier" so it would be awesome to play that game on it.
I need the watch to:
Work with sim card
Play brave frontier
Best battery life
Please post up which watch you think I should get and WHY.
And, my favor, can someone please take a picture of what the game "brave frontier" looks like on one of these watches? I want to know if its playable or not being that the screen is tiny.

ryvandal said:
How are you guys doing?
I have been looking for watches lately, and I decided I want to get one but not sure where to start since there are a billion watches out there.
My price range is approx 100-170 dollars.
I figured i'd ask you guys which watches would be best.
The main reason why I am wanting a watch is because they banned watches from my work, and I am addicted to a game called "brave frontier" so it would be awesome to play that game on it.
I need the watch to:
Work with sim card
Play brave frontier
Best battery life
Please post up which watch you think I should get and WHY.
And, my favor, can someone please take a picture of what the game "brave frontier" looks like on one of these watches? I want to know if its playable or not being that the screen is tiny.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Never heard of a company banning playing games while "WORKING". Just ludicrous...?...lol
Now to answer your question...I have tested every name brand SW and quite a few Chinese "no names". Games are near impossible to play on this screen size. And due to the lack of a quality GPU, many games won't even boot or run.
Example: I tried an early APK of the original angry birds on the Omate TS Xtreme and was not impressed at all.
I took a look at Brave Frontier... Looks like a game that not only is going to need high-end specs, but also a decent screen size. In the developer's FAQ'S, this game was designed for the newer, modern devices with a minimum of 1GB of RAM and noted that even the LG G2 has issues with smooth game play and excessive heat.
I was going to mention the Neptune Pine as a possibility with its 2.5" screen, but they have yet to confirm a 1GB RAM model. However, your budget is not going to get one of these on your wrist. The good news, for you, is the Pine has now been delayed to an October release... Maybe you can put away a few more Benji's by then.
Other than that, spec wise, the AI Watch has hardware that rivels most decent phones, but sports only a 240x240, 1.5" display. In addition, I would imagine that you would have to do a Xposed mod on the game to work within those dpi limitations...if you got it to run, that is.
Sorry I can't give you better news... But it won't be long before something will pop up. Keep your eye on the Pine. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

mghtymse007 said:
Huh? Never heard of a company banning playing games while "WORKING". Just ludicrous...��...lol
Now to answer your question...I have tested every name brand SW and quite a few Chinese "no names". Games are near impossible to play on this screen size. And due to the lack of a quality GPU, many games won't even boot or run.
Example: I tried an early APK of the original angry birds on the Omate TS Xtreme and was not impressed at all.
I took a look at Brave Frontier... Looks like a game that not only is going to need high-end specs, but also a decent screen size. In the developer's FAQ'S, this game was designed for the newer, modern devices with a minimum of 1GB of RAM and noted that even the LG G2 has issues with smooth game play and excessive heat.
I was going to mention the Neptune Pine as a possibility with its 2.5" screen, but they have yet to confirm a 1GB RAM model. However, your budget is not going to get one of these on your wrist. The good news, for you, is the Pine has now been delayed to an October release... Maybe you can put away a few more Benji's by then.
Other than that, spec wise, the AI Watch has hardware that rivels most decent phones, but sports only a 240x240, 1.5" display. In addition, I would imagine that you would have to do a Xposed mod on the game to work within those dpi limitations...if you got it to run, that is.
Sorry I can't give you better news... But it won't be long before something will pop up. Keep your eye on the Pine. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhhh.... you pretty much answered all my questions literally perfectly....
Thank you for everything I appreciate it all.
you are saying that these watches can't really play anything that complex, but on the zgpax hes playing emulators and what not.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2575556
And there are other youtube vids of people playing pretty 3d games. I wonder if it would work on that watch...
I am still curious if someone on here could just try the game out to see what it was like.... just for fun y'know? (ASWELL, in the game, you can turn down the quality and all the graphics to just have a bare bones game)

Being able to play games (Dreamcast running on mine) and being able to play them well are two different things. If the game uses device buttons, gameplay will be near impossible. If the game uses onscreen controls, gameplay suffers significantly. Angry birds, which has pretty much minimal onscreen controls, is still pretty much useless on the tiny smartwatch screen. Any game with more than one or two buttons ends up having the screen covered with your fingers. Even Angry Birds you spend most of the time with the screen covered by your fingers.
You want an easy example of how the gameplay will be for any game. Find a screenshot of the game and print it out the size of the watch's screen and put your fingers on the onscreen buttons.

Lokifish Marz said:
Being able to play games (Dreamcast running on mine) and being able to play them well are two different things. If the game uses device buttons, gameplay will be near impossible. If the game uses onscreen controls, gameplay suffers significantly. Angry birds, which has pretty much minimal onscreen controls, is still pretty much useless on the tiny smartwatch screen. Any game with more than one or two buttons ends up having the screen covered with your fingers. Even Angry Birds you spend most of the time with the screen covered by your fingers.
You want an easy example of how the gameplay will be for any game. Find a screenshot of the game and print it out the size of the watch's screen and put your fingers on the onscreen buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
makes sense, the game in question (brave frontier) does not have any buttons, but an auto play button which i would be using. which is why i am curious how it runs and looks.