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Possible Sony Xperia Play 2 prototype surfaces eight years after it was canceled
Much sleeker than the Play 1 and looks like it had a 3D gimmick on board
Gaming phones are commonplace now that mobile gaming has reached a level of maturity, although most half-decent phones can play modern games to a pretty good standard these days anyway. Rewind back to 2011, and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play 1 was a unique proposition with its slide-out PlayStation gamepad and stereo speakers. A follow-up was sadly canceled, but it appears as though images of a prototype have surfaced all these years later.
LineageOS has done an impressive job with adding official support for more and more devices. The last time we took a look at the ROM, it had improved its Jelly browser and merged the August security patch to all its devices. Now even more phones are receiving official builds, including the OnePlus 5.
Sony, you really confuse me sometimes. The US is just about to get the Xperia Ion on AT&T, supposedly the Sony-branded flagship smartphone. The problem is that the Xperia GX just took that crown from the Ion - before it even came out. I'm not sure what Sony's grand master plan here is, but looking from the outside in, it seems like the company (that lost .7 billion last year - most of it in the fourth quarter alone) is flying completely and utterly blind.
I know, I know. 4.0.2 sounds a lot like Android 4.0, but it isn't. It's actually Gingerbread 2.3.4, and Verizon Xperia Play owners who wish to rock out like it's May 2011 need only mash the update button.
Sony completed its $1.47 billion acquisition of Sony Ericsson today, launching an aptly-named venture, Sony Mobile Communications. The Japanese conglomerate stated the official goal of Sony Mobile Communications in a statement announcing the transaction back in October:
[Updated] CES 2012: AT&T Bringing Six New Android-Powered Devices To Its LTE Network In 2012: Sony Xperia Ion, Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket II, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Exhilarate, Pantech Burst, And Pantech Element
AT&T embraced the go big or go home motto like a boss today at CES
AT&T embraced the go big or go home motto like a boss today at CES -- it announced six new Android devices. Three premium phones, two budget phones, and a budget tablet. Not only that, but every single one of these new devices will run on its 4G LTE network. Let's take a look at what we know so far, and we'll update as more info shows up.
There must be something weird going on with manufacturers lately - first Huawei released an alpha build of ICS for the Honor, and now Sony Ericsson (soon to be just Sony) has released an ICS ROM for certain unlocked Xperia devices, including the Arc S, Neo V, and Ray.
Thanksgiving is over, but you know what that means - Black Friday is now officially in full effect, and we're seeing some pretty good deals, some of which are getting snatched up in mere seconds (cough, $199.99 Toshiba Thrive).
It looks like the Cyanogenmod team, in a continued effort to bring continually-updated Gingerbread goodness to as many devices as possible, have brought nightlies to a new crop of handsets, including AT&T's variant of the Samsung Galaxy SII, the Motorola Atrix, LG's Optimus Black and a handful of Sony devices including the Xperia X10, Play, Arc (X12), X10 mini, ST18i, and about five others.
We heard that Sony was looking to buy Ericsson's half of Sony Ericsson earlier this month, and now that deal has come to fruition. Sony will purchase Ericsson's part of the joint effort that has been over a decade in the making for €1.05 billion cash. Aside from the obvious, the deal will also land Sony a cross-licensing agreement that includes access to a few "essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology."
Back in 2001, Sony joined forces with Ericsson to push out a new line of mobile phones, while keeping its current line of game devices, media players, and other electronics a separate entity altogether. Now, Sony is looking to buy Ericsson out in order to streamline all of its mobile technologies into one market, allowing one unified ecosystem across all devices.
At the beginning of August, the CM team announced that they would be supporting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, arc, and neo. Cyanogen himself has now announced via Google+ that they have joined together with the FreeXperia Team to bring CM7 to seven other Xperia devices in future releases, totaling the number of supported Xperia devices to ten. The full list includes:
Earlier today we reported, with great skepticism, that Sony Ericsson would be bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to all of its Xperia devices. It looks like our doubts were dead on, as SE told Slashgear that "no such decision has been made."
Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play, also known as the Playstation Phone, will be hitting AT&T's HSPA+ network on September 18th for a mere $50, finally allowing gamers rocking Ma Bell to let go some of that envy towards VZW. This portable gaming/smartphone hybrid sports a 4-inch screen, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP rear shooter, and Android 2.3 out of the box; what really makes this device unique, though, it its slide-out Playstation gamepad and exclusive gaming content.
Update: We knew it was too good to be true, and Sony Ericsson has released an official statement on the matter. Let's just say that Xperia devices may not be seeing ICS after all.
Sony Ericsson's original Xperia arc was a great phone, winning Best European Camera Phone from EISA, and another award for its sleek design. The arc's next iteration- the Xperia arc S was announced by Sony today in Berlin, and ups the ante over its predecessor by packing in a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a sweep panorama camera function that has the capability of creating 3D panoramas. The phone also comes with access to Sony's Music and Video unlimited services, bringing a lot more entertainment to your device.
The "Walkman" brand name, originally created by Sony over 30 years ago, lives on in Sony Ericsson's newest Android device, the "Live with Walkman". This diminutive smartphone, announced in a press release earlier today, will be a music playing device first and foremost with a dedicated music discovery button and "deep Facebook integration," which means it will most likely carry something similar to (or exactly like) Sony's "Facebook inside Xperia" interface.
Good news, Xperia Play, neo, and arc owners: the worlds greatest custom ROM, CyanogenMod, is coming soon to a device near you! Thanks to some newly submitted code, support for these devices can be expected to hit the CyanogenMod repositories soon, and nightlies will be available shortly after that.