The Android Playstation Phone seems to get a new leak or tipster every week now which is always nice. A few days ago another tipsters came forward to reveal new information about the Playstation Phone including graphics and how they look as well as the price point for games for this device. I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised at the pricing!
The tipster also came right out to say that it is indeed real. Other noteworthy facts straight from MobileCrunch (direct quotes) who received the tip include:
- The screen is “mind-blowing”, on-par (at least by the tipster’s eye) with the iPhone 4′s retina display. The person giving them the rundown on the display indicated that some of Sony’s Bravia technology has trickled in here, with Sony Ericsson considering leveraging the Bravia brand when highlighting the display.
- It won’t ship in time for the holidays, with our tipster saying it was “no where near ready”. According to their Sony-Ericsson rep, the company is off-the-record-officially aiming for February. At this point, a launch scheduled around Mobile World Congress is nearly certain.
- Sony Ericsson currently has the off-contract price floating somewhere around $500, with that purchase including 5 free games.
- It’s unclear whether the “Playstation Phone” is capable of running actual (downloaded) PSP games — I’d wager that it’s not, given what I’ve heard and the amount of emulation work that would be required. We’re likely looking at a new, independent line-up of games built specifically for this platform, which might explain why Sony Ericsson is reportedly planning on pushing this handset with the XPERIA brand rather than the more recognizable Playstation brand. Sony Ericsson is heavily leveraging Sony’s licensing partnerships, though, with names like Tekken being thrown around.
- Games will purportedly be priced like mobile games, not like PSP games. In other words, expect sub-$10, not sub-$40.
- The tipster confirmed that the “Z-System” name so oft thrown around the rumor mill around is still in play, and that Sony-Ericsson reps used it to describe both the gaming platform and the distribution center. It’s still unclear (even to Sony-Ericsson, it sounds like) whether the game distribution will be done in a standalone application or through the Android Market, but our tipster was told that Google was working closely with Sony Ericsson to try and bring it all into a section of the Android market exclusive to these devices. It’d be highly beneficial for Sony Ericsson to have Google on their side, here, given that the latter has considerably more experience with payment processing (and relationships for things like carrier billing).
The general impression the tipster had of the device was a very good one, saying that it was “the best gaming [they’ve] ever had on a mobile device”. We like the sound of that already. The price point for games being in the sub-$10 range is also great news making this very affordable to any type of gamer, casual and hardcore alike. Tekken for $9.99 for a mobile gaming device running Android sounds pretty damn nice and a base unit cost of $500 without contract is even better.
The fact it won’t be coming out for the holidays is no surprise and a Mobile World Conference showing fits right in with Sony Ericsson’s latest hints from last week about the Android Playstation phone about it being possible and something coming at MWC 2011. Now all we need are some solid hardware specs leaked out and we will be happy waiting to get our hands on it quietly.
Website Referenced: MobileCrunch via Pocket-Lint
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