Well now that the bad news regarding the Xperia Play, at least for our friends in New Zealand, is out of the way, there is some good news to report on as well. For all of us Android gamers here in the US, the Xperia Play on Verizon has finally gotten a pre-order and launch date along with some pricing to round it all off.
Gamers here in the US have been waiting awhile for the launch of the Xperia Play and now the wait is almost over. Units will start shipping on May 26th and pre-orders will open up May 19th. Considering the parts shortage Sony Ericsson has experienced, it might be wise to go ahead and pre-order one if you are interested in getting your hands on a Xperia Play. So how much will it set you back? The pricing isn’t too bad either. You will be looking to drop $199 on a Xperia Play on-contract.
This means that you can expect prices on all the 3rd party sites like Wirefly and Amazon to be battling it out with sale pricing probably around $149 on-contract. You can check out the full press release below.
Website Referenced: Phandroid
VERIZON WIRELESS AND SONY ERICSSON TAKE MOBILE GAMING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH THE SONY ERICSSON XPERIA™ PLAY
The World’s First PlayStation® Certified Smartphone Combines PlayStation®-Quality Gaming Experience with the Latest Android Smartphone Technology
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Take conference calls, send emails and win football’s biggest game, all on one device. The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, for Verizon Wireless, redefines mobile gaming by combining all the features customers expect from a fully-featured smartphone with the ultimate gaming experience.
Powered by Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread, the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will come pre-loaded with seven game titles, including Madden NFL 11 (EA Sports), Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior (Digital Legends), Asphalt 6: Adrenaline (Gameloft), The Sims 3 (EA), Star Battalion (Gameloft), Crash Bandicoot (Sony PlayStation) and Tetris. Customers can expand their video game library with more than 50 game titles available at launch for download via V CAST Apps. Customers easily become gamers with the slide out game pad revealing a directional keypad, dual analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons and the four iconic PlayStation® symbol keys: circle, X, square and triangle.
Additional Features:
1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon® II processor with Adreno 205 GPU
Adobe® Flash® Player
4-inch multi-touch display
5-megapixel rear-facing camera
VGA front-facing camera for still shots and video chatting
Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk™, Google Search™, Google Maps™, and access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
Mobile hotspot capability- share 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices
Pricing and Availability:
The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will be available for pre-order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 19 and in stores on May 26 for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a smartphone data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access and an unlimited smartphone data plan is $29.99 for monthly access.
Game Developers:
The gaming experience can only get better as additional games are being created. Developers have the flexibility to focus on content and not worry about binary file sizes when submitting apps to V CAST Apps. Developers can visit http://developer.verizon.com/play for additional information about game development for the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY.
For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. To learn more about the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, visit www.sonyericsson.com.
