Xperia Play and Arc hands on (video)

After months of leaked prototypes and endless speculation on the name, Sony Ericsson finally unveiled their gaming smartphone earlier this year with the Xperia Play. Both the Play and the more traditional slate style Xperia Arc will be coming to Rogers this spring. The two devices, while sharing much in the way of innards, are definitely aimed at different mobile market segments.

Both phones will ship with Android 2.3, AKA Gingerbread, and feature the latest generation 1GHz Snapdragon processor with the Adreno 205 GPU. The means regardless of which phone the user opts for, they can expect a solid graphics experience. To further differentiate the devices, the Arc features an 8 Mpixel shooter on the back, while the Play has a more common 5 Mpixel sensor, as well as a front facing VGA camera.

While the Play is a little on the chunky side, the tapered sides help minimize the ‘in-pocket’ feel of the device, and photos make it appear deceptively large. The main question when it comes to the Play is how the controller performs, and on that front, Sony Ericsson has done a great job. There’s a full complement of gaming controls, including shoulder buttons, and while it may take a bit of time getting used to the capacitive joystick replacements, the learning curve should be quick. In our hands on, everything played smoothly, and SE is promising 5.5 hours of gaming time on the 1500mAh battery. How that stacks up in the real world will have to be put to the test.

The Play will ship with 6 games from various genres including Tetris, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Crash Bandicoot, Star Battalion and sports covering both types of football – FIFA 10 and Madden NFL 11. In addition there will be two free titles available for download via the store – The Sims 3 and Asphalt 6: Adrenaline. In the future, players can expect more titles coming from developers such as EA and Gameloft.

In contrast to the Play, the Arc is a sleek no-nonsense slate, with a 4.2″ screen, and only 8.4mm thin at its centre point. The curve of the phone sits well in the hand, though depending on your tastes may be a little light, much like the Samsung Galaxy phones. Some quick indoor stills show that the Arc does a commendable job of taking pictures. Some of the hardware choices on the device are odd though, as the two-stage camera button is very small, and located almost uncomfortably close to the corner of the Arc, and the decision to place the headphone jack on the side as opposed to the top or bottom is odd.

Despite some of these decisions, the Arc is definitely one of the most elegantly designed Android phones on the market, and offers up some nice features of its own.  We managed to snap a couple of pictures with the Arc’s 8 Mpixel camera, and while we didn’t get a chance to bring them to our hands on, the quality was definitely on the higher end of the smartphone imaging range.  The Arc, like the Play, also sports an updated versions of Timescape, which performed much more smoothly than on their older brother the X10, and the absence of Mediascape, replaced by a more stock Android media browsing experience.

You can see more pictures from the hands on in the gallery below, and video of the HDMI out of the Arc, as well as some Play game time should be up shortly.

[Mobile friendly video link]

Gallery