The Super Bowl revealed some new smartphones that kick through new goal posts. Sony Ericsson revealed the Sony Xperia Play.
From the commercial, the Sony Xperia Play looks like a landscape slider touchscreen smartphone that slides out to reveal a full game controller. There's an Android character with grafted human hands that can operate game controls. The Sony Xperia Play is Play Station Certified, confirming that it will run Android 2.3 and be able to play PlayStation games.
Specs of the Sony Xperia Play will be a 4" touchscreen, 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, HD video recording, 512MB Ram, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and A-GPS.
Sony Ericsson has a Facebook page dedicated to the Sony Xperia Play that asks the question, "Want to be one of the first 10 people to get one? You need to play..."
You can vote for the commerical to be the best ad on YouTube. The video follows.
By combining two products into one, it compromises one side or the other, Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner reported. She also noted that casual gamers may be happy enough with a regular smartphone, while core gamers will want a full gaming device.
Richard Webb, analyst at Infonetics, believes that the success of the Sony Xperia Play will also be determined by the availability of good games. The Sony Xperia Play will be launched at Mobile World Congress on February 13.