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The Playstation Phone

ZerokkuZerokku Registered User regular
edited October 2010 in Games and Technology
engadgetpspphone7.jpg
EnGadget wrote:
Cellphones, Gaming, Mobile Handsets
The PlayStation Phone
By Joshua Topolsky posted Oct 26th 2010 9:09PM
Exclusive
It's hard to believe that what we're looking at is real -- but we assure you, the picture above is in fact the PlayStation Phone you've long been waiting for. As we reported back in August, the device you see is headed into the market soon, likely boasting Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread), along with a custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform. The device snapped up top (and in our gallery below) is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (a chip similar to the one found in the G2, but 200MHz faster), 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches. Looking almost identical to the mockup we hit you with this summer, the handset does indeed have a long touchpad in the center which is apparently multitouch, and you can see in the photos that it's still bearing those familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons. For Sony buffs, you'll be interested to know that there's no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.

The particular model in these shots is still in prototyping mode. As such, the unit doesn't have a custom skin (not even SE's Timescape design seen on the Xperia devices), and is said to be rather buggy. We're digging into more facts as we speak, but it's likely that much of what we reported earlier is still accurate, and though the device could still be headed for a 2010 release, 2011 is looking much more realistic. Still, there's a lot of time between now and the holidays... so keep your fingers crossed!

Surprised this wasn't posted yet. But yah, here we are.

I'm curious if this is supposed to be the PSP2, or a more gaming-centric phone.

Zerokku on
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Posts

  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Interesting choice regarding the "Touch pad" to essentially take the place of analog stick type control.

    slash000 on
  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Is that ugly ovally recess in the metal the touchpad? Because whatever that is, they need to rethink the look of it.

    Linespider5 on
  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Is that ugly ovally recess in the metal the touchpad? Because whatever that is, they need to rethink the look of it.

    According to the article it is a touchpad yeah. But it also says this is a leaked prototype so that particular aesthetic design is very likely to change along with the rest of it.

    slash000 on
  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    This is the fucking angle they should have gone with all along instead of that dopey PSP GO thing that noone bought...

    Allforce on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Okay. I've talked about this in the industry thread a lot, and I'm alone in the world, but here I go.

    So, for a long time people having been asking about PSP2. A while ago, Sony had a partnership started to develop a phone device - the thing above, apparently - along with Sony stating its competitors with the PSP brand are now the iPhone / Droid stuffs. This device accomplishes that, but it's not a PSP? I don't think so.

    There's rumors about an actual PSP2 being made and it'll be out next year. This is Sony's plan b, I'm guessing, in case this phone device fails out. It allows them room to carry on the PSP brand without damaging it.

    If this phone device turns out to succeed to some degree, I am willing to bet Sony will rebrand it as the spiritual successor to the PSP on an official level, and the rumored PSP2 for next year will be "canceled" (cancel in this case being in air-quotes because they haven't started developing it, and it isn't going to be hard to shit out a device that's just a fancier PSP).

    This is all a game they're playing to fool analysts, investors, and consumers-at-large.

    Henroid on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    slash000 wrote: »
    Interesting choice regarding the "Touch pad" to essentially take the place of analog stick type control.

    I still think those could be tiny holes in the middle of the touchpad to insert your own joysticks.

    (The lighting on it really makes them look like holes. Guess it could be some other unfinished aspect of the device though.)

    UncleSporky on
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  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Ah, so this is Sony's 'third pillar' then.

    Linespider5 on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Ah, so this is Sony's 'third pillar' then.

    I forgot about that pillar nonsense.

    Henroid on
  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    slash000 wrote: »
    Interesting choice regarding the "Touch pad" to essentially take the place of analog stick type control.

    I still think those could be tiny holes in the middle of the touchpad to insert your own joysticks.

    (The lighting on it really makes them look like holes. Guess it could be some other unfinished aspect of the device though.)

    Could be those little joysticks they use on some Android phones like the HTC Incredible, they're tiny like that and are analog.

    Allforce on
  • exisexis Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    There's rumors about an actual PSP2 being made and it'll be out next year. This is Sony's plan b, I'm guessing, in case this phone device fails out. It allows them room to carry on the PSP brand without damaging it.

    I think the original PSP line's slow but steady decline, hammered home by the utter failure of PSPGo was more than enough to damage the PSP brand.

    If this is moderately successful, I don't see how labeling it a PSP will be of benefit at all.

    exis on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    exis wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    There's rumors about an actual PSP2 being made and it'll be out next year. This is Sony's plan b, I'm guessing, in case this phone device fails out. It allows them room to carry on the PSP brand without damaging it.

    I think the original PSP line's slow but steady decline, hammered home by the utter failure of PSPGo was more than enough to damage the PSP brand.

    If this is moderately successful, I don't see how labeling it a PSP will be of benefit at all.

    The realities don't mean anything to Sony. Their marketing for the PSP has only gotten stronger and they're sticking by this thing thru-and-thru. So if / when they relabel this device as part of the PSP family, it'll help bolster the brand's name and they can tout it around more.

    Henroid on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    One huuuuuuge problem with this thing is that the major benefit of every other phone with a slide out section is having a full keyboard. Hell, that's what makes them better than Apple's horrible touch keyboards. But having nothing but gaming controls will be useless to a lot of people.

    UncleSporky on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Smartphones have some game capability, more other-use capability. This device is the other way around, I would assume.

    Making it fall in line with what a PSP made to compete with smartphones would do.

    ... I'M NOT CRAZY.

    Henroid on
  • exisexis Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    One huuuuuuge problem with this thing is that the major benefit of every other phone with a slide out section is having a full keyboard. Hell, that's what makes them better than Apple's horrible touch keyboards. But having nothing but gaming controls will be useless to a lot of people.

    It's not for people that would find gaming controls useless.

    exis on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    exis wrote: »
    One huuuuuuge problem with this thing is that the major benefit of every other phone with a slide out section is having a full keyboard. Hell, that's what makes them better than Apple's horrible touch keyboards. But having nothing but gaming controls will be useless to a lot of people.

    It's not for people that would find gaming controls useless.

    Apparently it's not for gamers either then, because as a primary phone such things as a keyboard are pretty important these days.

    It's apparently for people who bought the N-Gage just for gaming.

    UncleSporky on
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  • exisexis Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    exis wrote: »
    One huuuuuuge problem with this thing is that the major benefit of every other phone with a slide out section is having a full keyboard. Hell, that's what makes them better than Apple's horrible touch keyboards. But having nothing but gaming controls will be useless to a lot of people.

    It's not for people that would find gaming controls useless.

    Apparently it's not for gamers either then, because as a primary phone such things as a keyboard are pretty important these days.

    It's apparently for people who bought the N-Gage just for gaming.

    If the touch screen is decent (and why wouldn't it be), there's nothing to stop it being as useful as any other Android phone without a slide-out keyboard.

    exis on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Huh, look at this from back in August...

    pspmockupengadgetz.jpg

    http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/11/exclusive-sony-ericsson-to-introduce-android-3-0-gaming-platfor/
    Titles currently being shown off seem to be focused around some older PSX as well as new PSP offerings, with God of War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and LittleBigPlanet 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 as October of this year, but we have yet to confirm.

    Either someone totally nailed it back then or this is all a fake.

    UncleSporky on
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  • Drunk_caterpillarDrunk_caterpillar Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    As someone with an iPhone 4 I can honestly say that I would much rather prefer proper gaming controls over a tactile keyboard.

    Drunk_caterpillar on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    As someone with an iPhone 4 I can honestly say that I would much rather prefer proper gaming controls over a tactile keyboard.

    How would you like to have BOTH!

    jungleo.jpg

    Wait...

    UncleSporky on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Well played, Sporky.

    Henroid on
  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Well...this is kinda ballsy, even for Sony. I would think this would rather piss off their own cell phone manufacturers or something. Whether Sony cares is one thing, but...it would be implied that the success of this device would sooner eat into their own market rather than elsewhere.

    Although very curiously, it WOULD avoid directly competing against the 3DS by virtue of being a phone.

    Linespider5 on
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Well...this is kinda ballsy, even for Sony. I would think this would rather piss off their own cell phone manufacturers or something. Whether Sony cares is one thing, but...it would be implied that the success of this device would sooner eat into their own market rather than elsewhere.

    Although very curiously, it WOULD avoid directly competing against the 3DS by virtue of being a phone.

    It's not a PlayStation Phone, it's an Ericsson running an Android OS that happens to have PlayStation buttons. It can't eat into their own cell phone market because the Ericsson is their cell phone market now that they no longer manufacture the Clie.

    SmokeStacks on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Sony has no intention of competing with Nintendo. Not just in their actions, but their words.

    Henroid on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I've had my doubts on a Playstation phone for a long time, mainly because there's already more phone models out there than the market can bear, not to mention the iPhone, Android and Blackberry already have the market sewn up. And that's before you count the new Windows phone.

    Yes, it does games too, but if you have to sign this thing up to a contract on a carrier, it'll be judged as a phone first.

    And given the rumored difficulties Sony's having in getting an actual PSP2 off the ground, plus the insane buzz the 3DS is getting, I wouldn't be shocked if Henroid turns out to be right.

    cloudeagle on
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  • dantreedantree Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I have yet to get a cell phone (sometimes I think I am the last person in the world without one), something like this could push me over the edge to finally get one.

    I also like the concept of a touchpad taking the place of the analog sticks, as long as it was done well.

    dantree on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    And given the rumored difficulties Sony's having in getting an actual PSP2 off the ground, plus the insane buzz the 3DS is getting, I wouldn't be shocked if Henroid turns out to be right.

    yay <3

    Henroid on
  • DyvionDyvion Back in Sunny Florida!!Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I didn't get a PSPgo because of the terrible controls. I love my PSP and am a diehard fan, but my model 1000 is pretty much dead at this point, the battery won't stay installed (it keeps popping the back cover off and falling out, while I'm using it). I was considering a Go, but after I actually used one to try and play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite I nixed that idea. I heard about the PSP2 and decided to hold off on getting a 3000 to wait for that next year. If this is the platform they have in mind for Monster Hunter Portable 3 then I'm very excited... a dual joystick (ne, touchpad) control scheme would be great, in theory (I'd still want to try it). If it works it would absolutely sell me on this being my next phone.

    Dyvion on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Neat. Makes me only slightly second-guess my intended first-smart-phone purchase.

    maximumzero on
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  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Huh, how about that. I need a new phone. Pity it's so far off still.

    -Loki- on
  • vegas-stevenvegas-steven Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I hate this. A lot.

    This thing will be rooted and the games pirated just like the psp was. Does this at all further psp hardware? No. Is there any reason for it? No.

    Everyone seems to be getting on the android bandwagon but I suspect this will be a broken mess of phone meets playstation.

    vegas-steven on
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  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I don't think a lot of the people in this thread are understanding the fact that this device has absolutely nothing to do with the PSP. At all. This is a Sony Ericsson cell phone. It runs a different OS, has completely different hardware, and will have different games. You'll get your games and apps from the Android Marketplace, not the PSN.

    It's not a PSP replacement, it's not a PSP sequel, it's literally just a phone that has PlayStation buttons on it.

    SmokeStacks on
  • vegas-stevenvegas-steven Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I don't think a lot of the people in this thread are understanding the fact that this device has absolutely nothing to do with the PSP. At all. This is a Sony Ericsson cell phone. It runs a different OS, has completely different hardware, and will have different games. You'll get your games and apps from the Android Marketplace, not the PSN.

    It's not a PSP replacement, it's not a PSP sequel, it's literally just a phone that has PlayStation buttons on it.

    Maybe you missed the thread title:

    Playstation phone.

    So you think Sony would put the playstation brand on some piece of crap that played simple garbage android store games?

    No, those will likely not be allowed. I will assume this game will run a psp emulator and psp roms from the psn store.

    vegas-steven on
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  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Maybe you missed the fact that putting PlayStation buttons on a phone doesn't magically turn it into a PSP?

    Notice how Sony isn't calling it the "PlayStation Phone", the internet is.

    And as for Android Marketplace games and apps "not being allowed" on an Android OS device, uhhh, sure. Open platform schmopen platform, right?

    You won't be playing "PSP roms". The most we might ever see in terms of library crosstalk would maybe be minis or certain PSN games being ported to Android, not emulated. The 8655 is nowhere near powerful enough to emulate the PSP, it chokes emulating the PlayStation.

    It's just a phone.

    SmokeStacks on
  • AntihippyAntihippy Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Antihippy on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Antihippy wrote: »

    Looks like it's fake then. While SCEE may not have known about it if it were just a Sony Ericsson product, Engadget made it sound like the system would also feature the PS Store. That SCEE would know about, since last I remember, they were the ones that actually built the PS Store. So unless this SCEE spokesperson was misinformed, I'm guessing they're right.

    As for the 'A' and 'B' buttons on the interface, they don't really ring any warning bells to me. I just figured Engadget (or whoever gave them the screens) had photoshopped that picture onto the screen to show what it'd look like.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    They might have confused the PlayStation Store with MediaGo, which supports Ericsson phones.

    SmokeStacks on
  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I don't get the particular argument that "Sony wouldn't abandon Memory Stick", SE has already abandoned Memory Stick. I've got an SE phone right here with microSD.
    Antihippy wrote: »

    Looks like it's fake then. While SCEE may not have known about it if it were just a Sony Ericsson product, Engadget made it sound like the system would also feature the PS Store. That SCEE would know about, since last I remember, they were the ones that actually built the PS Store. So unless this SCEE spokesperson was misinformed, I'm guessing they're right.

    As for the 'A' and 'B' buttons on the interface, they don't really ring any warning bells to me. I just figured Engadget (or whoever gave them the screens) had photoshopped that picture onto the screen to show what it'd look like.

    The NowGamer article has been updated; they've changed the claim from SCEE saying that the photos are fake to SCEE saying that they will not comment on speculation. Who knows what that means?

    ronya on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    Might mean the SCEE spokesperson was misinformed and has just been given the official line by management (or Sony Ericsson). Even if it isn't fake, it still isn't a 'Playstation Phone', seeing as there's no indication SCE has anything to do with it.

    As for Memory Sticks, yeah they've been on the way out for a while now. The first couple of PS3 SKU's had CompactFlash and SD slots right alongside the Memory Stick slot.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    I wonder how effective attempting to emulate Playstation games on Android will be, too.

    And this, from the Android thread:
    Kashi wrote: »
    If their track record with their first set of android phones is any indication you can expect:
    • an amazingly rigid version of Android, spitting in the face of Android's presumed philosophy of openness
    • excruciatingly slow software updates
    • software so bloated that it heavily bogs down what would be otherwise really nice hardware
    • software that you cannot delete even if you don't want it or use it that runs in the background all the time and eats your battery power
    • software that will be a six months to one year behind other phones released at the same time
    • being jealous of everyone else's phones in spite of owning what is supposed to be a sexy, top of the line piece of Sony electronics
    • the phone will be released in North America like three months after being available in Japan and Europe for some reason, during which time other, much better phones will have already been released

    Yes, I'm bitter.

    Ow. But true. Fits my experience with SE, too.

    ronya on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited October 2010
    ronya wrote: »
    I wonder how effective attempting to emulate Playstation games on Android will be, too.

    Playstation as in PS1 or PSP? Cause PS1 games should be piss easy, the PS2 emulated the PS1 for christs sake. PSP though? I doubt it'd ever happen. The PS3 has a PSP emulator that can play Minis but is apparently just not good enough to pull off proper PSP games (so Sony have it disabled). So if the PS3 can't emulate the PSP properly, I don't think there's any chance this phone would be able to.

    SmokeStacks: Is Media Go just used to manage videos, photos and music? Cause the engadget article said that this phone would be able to download games and I doubt they'd make an entirely different store just for it.

    Unco-ordinated on
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