Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re looking for reasons not to jump on the Verizon iPhone bandwagon, here’s a pretty compelling, albeit unconfirmed, one: the Xperia Play may be headed to Big Red as well. In comparing Sony Ericsson’s thumb-friendly Android handset to the iPhone 4, Wirefly has listed VZW as the carrier for the Play. This is the first we’ve really heard of a US provider for the phone, though we’d hardly be surprised if Sony Ericsson opts to spam it out to all four major networks. It did as much in the UK, where every single operator will try to sell you one in April, and we don’t see why that strategy should change on US soil. The Xperia Play will be announced in full this Sunday, February 13th, when we might just learn more about its global availability… if we’re really polite and wear our PlayStation T-shirts, presumably.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play may be headed to Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:49:00 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.

Update 2: Pocket-lint is additionally reporting that Orange and T-Mobile UK (collectively known as Everything Everywhere) are signed up to get it in April, which would put it around the same time as the Xperia Arc. Still no word on what this might mean for North American launches.

O2 UK says it’s getting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: other UK carriers, April launch) 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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Sony Ericsson has finally stopped teasing, winking, and nodding knowingly and has just come clean — the Xperia Play is most definitely real and it’ll be one of the first devices announced at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We’re treated to a date and time, February 13th at 6PM GMT, a pair of full frontal shots of the Gingerbread-running, gamepad-wearing smartphone, and the full version of that creepy ad we saw for it a couple of days back. Missed it on the Super Bowl? Scope it out after the break.

P.S. – Missed our coverage of Super Bowl Media Day? Catch up here!

Continue reading Sony Ericsson makes Xperia Play official in Super Bowl commercial, full launch coming February 13th

Sony Ericsson makes Xperia Play official in Super Bowl commercial, full launch coming February 13th originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We said it at the Show and we’ll say it again, Sony Ericsson just doesn’t know how to keep a secret. One of its phones set for launch at Mobile World Congress 2011 has just slipped the net (again) and this time we have its full product name to boot, the Xperia Neo. You’ll be familiar with this Android 2.3 handset already from mobile-review‘s thorough preview a couple of weeks ago, though at the time it was known under its codename of MT15i. This latest hands-on look at the hardware is similarly positive about the Neo, describing it as a well constructed phone and praising Sony’s Android modifications as restrained and actually useful. Talk about a 180-degree turn from the way things used to be.

There’s another reason to be excited about this phone, however. Back in December, Sony Ericsson registered trademarks for Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, and… an Xperia Duo. We expect all four to be out and about at MWC this year, and we may have already seen the latter device in yet another bit of leaked photography.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo named and previewed in one fell swoop, bringing Gingerbread to MWC 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That pinch-to-zoom update for the Xperia X10 that Japanese customers got an early lead on is now rolling out around the globe according to a new blog post from the boys and girls at Sony Ericsson. That may not be the most interesting part, though: they’re also chatting up a future firmware update that’ll enable ANT+ support on the Xperia X8, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro, a capability baked into the chipsets on those devices that Sony Ericsson hadn’t previously exploited. Theoretically, that means that heart rate monitors and other wearable fitness gear — a market where ANT+ has really blossomed — could connect directly to your phone rather than passing through a computer with an ANT+ dongle first, perfect for analyzing jogs on the go. Of course, workout technology is always more appealing than the workout itself… but if you can solve that problem, Sony Ericsson, let us know. You can find us on the couch over there.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10’s multitouch update rolling out now; X8, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro getting ANT+ support soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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