14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, Japanese-Swedish mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson unveiled a series of new mobile phones running under Google's Android operating system, including the Xperia PLAY, the first smartphone in the world to sport PlayStation certification.
The handset has been long rumored before its official release, and is set to make an appearance on the market in Europe as soon as April 1st, provided that Sony Ericsson won't face difficulties with delivering handsets to the market, just as the company announced a while ago.
The mobile phone is expected to become available for purchase in the United States as well, via wireless carrier Verizon, though others might also add it to their offerings.
Rumor has it that Big Red might have the new phone on shelves by mid-April, though an exact release date was not confirmed for the time being.
Running under Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, the Xperia PLAY seems to be one of the most appealing handsets of the first quarter of the year, especially courtesy of its enhanced gaming capabilities.
And it seems that this is exactly the area on which Sony Ericsson plans on betting, as the three videos embedded at the bottom of this article show.
The handset would offer support for HD gaming, which should turn into a great mobile experience, Sony Ericsson suggests in these video ads.
The handset should appeal a lot to PlayStation enthusiasts, that's for sure, since it some with a sliding game pad with the popular controls included.
Of course, its phone capabilities were not left aside either, and the large 4-inch touchscreen display would prove great for navigating through menus, or for accessing the Internet or various social networking websites.
Users would benefit from all these on the phone's 4-inch FWVGA (480 x 854 pixel) touchscreen display.
The handset packs a 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7 single-core CPU inside, complemented by 400MB of internal memory, and an 8GB microSD memory card (though it would support larger cards), as well as a 5.1-megapixel auto focus camera with flash and video recording.
Have a look at the videos embedded below, featuring Kristen Schaal and, of course, the Xperia PLAY smartphone.