Hasta La Gadget!

Xperia Play coming to Canada, exclusive to Rogers? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the Xperia Play is finally official ahead of a full unveiling at MWC next week, carriers are ready to hop on the bandwagon — or at least one is: O2 in the UK. Other than a brief tweet, no other details are given at this point, though the quick support of a major European carrier has to be good news for Sony Ericsson considering that device subsidies are no longer a sure thing… and without question, the Play represents something of a Hail Mary for one of the most badly bruised and beaten titans of the wireless industry. Pricing on contract is, of course, a huge open question — as is North American support — but hopefully all will be revealed on the 13th.

[Thanks, Ed]

Update: Pocket-lint says it can “exclusively confirm” that Vodafone will be getting the phone as well, suggesting that Sony Ericsson may not be pursuing exclusivity periods here — at least, not in the UK.

O2 UK says it’s getting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: Vodafone, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android is our future, the stat mavens all agree, but for all its rapid growth, Google’s OS still suffers from a shortage of top tier differentiation. This has in part been down to LG and Sony — two of the world’s biggest phone makers — spending the majority of 2010 watching the battle for Android supremacy from the sidelines (the X10 disqualified itself when it announced it neither knew nor cared what Froyo was). 2011 might just be the year of redemption for both, however, as LG will soon assault the European market with a pair of truly desirable and powerful Android smartphones in the Optimus 2X and Black, while Sony Ericsson’s well leaked portfolio of new Xperias includes the Arc, Neo and Play, each one of them coming with Gingerbread preloaded. We’ve wrapped our mitts around a pair of these high-hope devices, one from each manufacturer, and photographed the living daylights out of them sat side by side.

We humbly submit that the Xperia Arc looks and feels far more refined than LG’s admittedly well designed Optimus 2X. The Arc’s curvature seriously makes it feel like the thinnest phone we’ve ever handled and its weight is also dramatically, unreasonably minimal. Another note of import is that the 2X comes with a 4-inch screen whereas the Arc offers a more generous 4.2-inch display, yet their overall dimensions are nearly identical. All in all, we’d hardly object to having either one in our pockets, but the Arc wins it for us in terms of aesthetic appeal. Of course, the Optimus 2X has a dual-core Tegra 2 heart beating within, it’s not all about looks, though in the case of this hands-on comparison, it kind of was. We’ll have a full review of LG’s handset in the coming days, while Sony Ericsson promises the Xperia Arc will land in Europe by the end of March. You can see more of the prototype unit we got to handle in the gallery below and there’s a video comparison of the two Android newcomers after the break as well.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Xperia Play commercial surfaces, makes back alley surgery fun again (video)

Xperia Play commercial surfaces, makes back alley surgery fun again (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve never had a guest on The Engadget Show that inspired quite as much excitement as Steve Wozniak — the crowd was pumped and the Woz was in full effect. Josh and Woz talked for a full 40 minutes about everything from Woz’s white iPhone to the future of server storage to anecdotes about Apple, and it’s all topped off with a little creative currency manipulation, as Woz promises us his custom $2 bills can get us “arrested, but not convicted.”

Then it’s on to the roundtable, where Josh, Paul, and Nilay talk over Sony’s new NGP, PlayStation Suite, and even play with a super-secret unannounced prototype of the PlayStation Phone. This is one you absolutely should not miss. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Special guests: Steve Wozniak
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger
Edited by: Danny Madden
Music by: Zen Albatross
Visuals by: invaderbacca
Woz Intro by: Nick Criscuolo
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec

Taped live at Cooper Union’s Rose Auditorium
Download the Show: The Engadget Show – 017 (HD) / The Engadget Show – 017 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show – 017 (Small)

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Continue reading The Engadget Show – 017: Steve Wozniak, Sony NGP, PlayStation Phone prototype

The Engadget Show – 017: Steve Wozniak, Sony NGP, PlayStation Phone prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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