Thinking of getting one of these as they are sub £200 SIM Free, running Gingerbread, 1ghz CPU and 4 inch screen. Anyone got one which they use as a phone, not a Playstation ? If so, any good?

The x10 was a bit hit and miss. I guess the play will be able to handle the stuff and apps thrown at it a bit better.

Very happy with my Xperia Arc - seems to be the same hardware specs, without the game-y bits.

Only issue I have (which my HTC shared) is it will lose 3G connection (well, download, the upload light works -_-) and I have to restart it to get it working again.

Keyboards a bit irritating, as you have to change to another screen to get to numbers etc (like an iPhone) whereas HTC Sense let you long press to get to symbols and numbers. Minor gripes, but otherwise I'm very happy.

Very happy with my Xperia Arc - seems to be the same hardware specs, without the game-y bits.

Saw the Arc but almost twice the money. Had a unlocked and rooted Orange San Francisco for a year now but fascia damaged and the camera is shockingly bad. Sony looks good value, so ordered one @ £190 unlocked, will post up my summary of phone in between games of FF7

Twice the price? :S I found the Play to be £100 ish more than the Arc when I got mine, otherwise I'd have got a play! Got mine for £30 unlocked using Tesco vouchers.

Oh well, enjoy it.

Got mine for £30 unlocked using Tesco vouchers.

Wow thats a lot of Tesco vouchers for a phone that CPW are still selling at over £500 without a contract. £190 contract free still good value I hope :wonder:

Another Xperia Arc user here, and I love it. Would imagine the Play wouldn't be too much different, SE certainly seem to have upped their game this year. My mates with iPhones all took a second look at the Arc, and were impressed

Just thought i'd post this might be of use?

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Limited Time Only

Was £329.99

Now £149.99

From the 02 shop website.

Just thought i'd post this might be of use?

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Limited Time Only

Was £329.99

Now £149.99

From the 02 shop website.

Useful post. Aren't 02 phones locked though?

Meh. Cheap enough to get a phone unlocked these days.

Probably looking at £15 max.

Phil

Meh. Cheap enough to get a phone unlocked these days.

Probably looking at £15 max.

Phil

Agreed, but with locked phones, unlocked and used on a different network, providers refuse to deal with warranty issue's unless you provide them with a valid network mobile number. There are various sites around but no guarantees the code will work. Always bought from CPW previously as they supply generic unlocked phones, regardless of contracts, assuming you have one. Suspect 02 supplied handsets are locked.

My contract is nearly ending with 02, who I would like to say are useless! And been looking around for a new phone. I really cant wait to get my hands on the XP. I love the retro gaming side of things like the kiddy I am. But the hardware of the thing is awesome as well! Ive currently got a HTC Desire, and while its been a good phone it has thrown up a few problems. But im a big fan of Android over the iPhone software. For me the XP is going to be right up my street, cant wait

Ok, had this for a week or so now, so time for a mini review, ignoring the gamey bit.

Official Specs HERE

General look and feel:

Compares well to colleagues HTC Desire's and Galaxy S phones. A bit on the heavy side (170g), due to the gamepad. Speed is well upto par. Played Tron 2010 no problems with Mobo Player. Flash works without slowdown's. Very good quality 5MP camera, but no zoom of any sort. Works well in bad light too, with bright LED flash.

Build quality is very good, back feels a little plasticky if I must complain. Got 3x screen protectors off Ebay for 99p ...

Comes with Micro USB Charger, 8GB Class 6 MicroSD card and a set of headphones. No video/HDMI out.

Battery Life:

Getting 2 days. I do run Advanced Task Killer and turn off the Data connection when not using it. The phone is not possible to root with Gingerbreak so unless I do the official bootloader hack (which invalidates the warranty), then I can't run Adblock and use Titanium Backup to remove bloatware. Not the phones fault, apparently there are no exploits for 2.3.3 (yet?).

Reliability.

Not crashed once despite me hammering it. Decided on Skyfire as the best browser for speed and size. Dolphin HD runs great but not keen on the anonymous stats gathering. Using K9 for mail as before.

Games.

Ok , have to mention this. It's probably so cheap because it hasn't taken off as a gamepad phone but you get 11 free : Bruce Lee, EA NFS Shift and Hot Pursuit, Fifa 2010, Dead Space, Battle Commander 2, The Sims 3, Tetris, Star Battlalion, Crash Bandicoot PS1 and Gameloft Asphalt 6. Some you have to download, via Wifi.

Summary

£200 sim free, found it cheaper (actually got it for £190 as get cashback through work) but locked to network and sold out.

I would say you'd have a hard job to find a faster, better phone for less right now. CPW still selling it at £499 which it is certainly not worth in light of the competition.

The gamey bit is a bonus if you need to past some time when your stuck at trains stations etc.