Sony Ericsson, addio a Symbian in favore di Android e WP7

I bought the Xperia Play on ctcnraot a few days ago, and here is a review of my experiences with the phone, in a neat and tidy bullet-point list. Hope it helps! (By the way, I came from an iPhone to the Xperia Play).- THE EXTERIORThe phone, as any smartphone on the market these days, feels sleek, modern and well built. All of the buttons mounted on the phone, including the volume and main buttons on the front, feel secure and thus unlikely to break or wobble over time. In addition, they aren’t too easy to press down on accidentally. The slide-out trademark PlayStation game-pad feels extremely well put together. All of the traditional PlayStation buttons, as said about the other exterior buttons, feel secure and likely to stay put. Build quality is superb on these fronts, but the slide-out feature as a whole, however, feels slightly odd when holding the whole phone. Usually you don’t expect half of the phone to slide out when using it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s secure behind the screen of the phone, but you can’t help wondering if, after being slid-out many times, if it’ll become wonky! Also, the phone isn’t as chunky as some reviewers have made it seem. Yes, the slide-out gamepad does add many millimetres, but on the whole it isn’t the size of a brick, and the extra size is worth the luxury of the unique gaming pad.- THE PHONE AS A PHONEIf you think Sony Ericsson has focused entirely on the gamer’s market and ignored what the intrinsic purpose of a phone should be ( a mobile phone, of course), then think again. The Xperia Play is still a brilliant mobile phone. Calling is very simple, as is texting. Web browsing is a doddle, and the 4 inch screen means you don’t need spectacles to read webpages. The music player is, again, simple to use with great volume. The battery life, unlike some of its rivals (most notably the iPhone), is surprisingly long. Even after playing a few games that demand a lot of processing power and memory it doesn’t require plugging into the mains. One of the up-and-coming standard features on a smartphone these days is a satellite navigation, and this was the iPhone’s shortfall (of many). I’ve been using the Android Navigation’ sat-nav app and it is brilliant. It operates, processes and informs like no other sat-nav I’ve ever used, including Tom-Toms. It’s intelligent, quick, so simple to use and includes all the usual sat-nav options. Overall you’re still getting a top of the range mobile phone which hasn’t been swallowed up by its own gaming hype.- CUSTOMISATIONIf you’re the sort of person who enjoys a personal ringtone, wallpaper etc, and didn’t appreciate the iPhone’s lack of such customisable features, then there’s pleasing news to be found in the Xperia Play. It, of course, allows you to customise to your heart’s content. Need more be said?- THE TOUCH SCREEN / INTERFACEThe touch screen technology is, near as makes no difference, identical to the iPhone’s in terms of usability. Flicking between screens, switching between apps, touch response all of these are excellent. Like the iPhone, the Xperia Play doesn’t require you to smudge your finger to activate the touch screen, nor is it overly-sensitive. Texting is very easy and, despite the slightly squashed on-screen keypad, the technology still recognises what you’re trying to spell (provided you don’t have chubby fingers!). It’s, on the whole, conventional touch screen technology with very few flaws (if any). The home screen interface is welcoming it features your social networking updates, a Google search bar and common app shortcuts (text messaging, contacts etc). The app screen is four-by-four (16 apps on a single page), and the app shortcuts themselves are crisp and clear to identify.- THE APPLICATIONS / APP MARKETIt’s been well documented that the App Store on the iPhone is fully-loaded with any app you could ever want (apparently), and that the Andriod market is far behind. That being said however, you won’t be starved for choice with the Xperia Play when looking for good, free apps. Actually, having just had a look at the range of apps available for free, there are many categories that you’d expect, including Games, Photography, Entertainment, Finance, Sports, Productivity, Socialising, Shopping, Music, News, Lifestyle, Medical/Health and more. People often feel deterred from an Andriod due to the lack of choice’ they hear from critics. To be honest, this is nonsense the Andriod market is comprehensive and spoils the user for choice. The apps themselves, like the entire phone, are all fast to open, easy to use and mess around with etc. Top stuff.- THE CAMERAA phone isn’t a phone without a camera these days! Unexpectedly, Sony have gone down the same path as Apple with a front-facing camera too. The 5mpx camera seems to work well and the pictures are of good quality. The camera also comes with flash settings,