Xperia Play to launch March 28? Unlocked version already up for pre-orders at Play.com and Expansys USA.

According to numerous sites both in the media and ones that sell mobile devices, the apparent launch date for public sale for the Xperia Play will be March 28, 2011. While this is a little over a month away still, some sites already have the unlocked edition of the Xperia Play up for pre-order but the prices are all over the place.

UK retailer Play.com is advertising their unlocked Xperia Play for £519.99 which seems to be at the higher end of the spectrum when it comes to rumored pricing. Originally it was thought that the Xperia Play would be a low as $400 in US store and with the exchange rate that is around £247 according to PocketGamer.

If you thought that is a bit high, you can pre-order an unlocked version for Expansys's US website site for a measly $884.99! We did find some smaller mobile device retail sites advertising pre-orders of the Xperia Play unlocked for between $599-$699 depending on where you look. This is all pre-order pricing though and there is no guarantee that these will actually be the prices at launch so take it with a grain of salt for now.

Hopefully Sony Ericsson won't go the same route Motorola has gone with the XOOM tablet pricing which is absolutely ridiculous. $599 with contract is a silly price to put on the Xoom that has no 4G, no SD card support, no Flash among other things. Our advice: wait till it gets closer to launch before pre-ordering unless you have the cash to blow. The price will probably come down a bit.

As we find more pricing, we will let everyone know where and for how much.