PlayStation Phone pictures in wild

By Robert Purchese Published 27 October, 2010

Powerful, has multi-touch thumb bar.

Pictures of a Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone have appeared on the internet.

The unmistakeable triangle, circle, cross and square of PlayStation face buttons slide out of the handset, according to pictures posted on Endgadget. The control panel also features a classic d-pad as well as multi-touch thumb bar.

Shoulder buttons are also apparently present, and there's support for MicroSD cards rather than memory sticks.

Technically, the device pictured has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 chip, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and a screen that's around 3.7 to 4.1 inches big.

The PlayStation Phone will likely run Android and feature a bespoke PlayStation Store to buy content from.

Endgadget claims the PlayStation Phone will be available "soon", although no actual date is specified - a 2010 release with no prior warning seems unlikely.

A PlayStation phone has been long rumoured, after all, with Ericsson and PlayStation all under one Sony roof it seemed to be the logical next step. However, Ericsson was denied use of the PlayStation brand last January because build quality didn't meet the necessary standards. Either that has vastly improved, then, or the iPhone is now too dominant to ignore.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • JohnnyWashnGo #1 2 years ago

    That bad boy looks ace and I reckon those two optical trackballs in the middle of the control pad will be used for dual analogue sticks.

  • tossetaz #2 2 years ago

    Your fancy photo-browsing thing doesn't work, also your ads is displaying:

    Bad Request

    Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
    Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.

    edit: oh now it's working, ads still broken though
    Edited by tossetaz at 27/10/10 @ 08:34

  • The-Bodybuilder #3 2 years ago

    So where will the games come from?
    Because it sure as hell ain't coming from android app market games.

    edit: ah, the engadget article gives more detail.
    Edited by The-Bodybuilder at 27/10/10 @ 08:36

  • ryandsimmons #4 2 years ago

    Is this seperate to the PSP 2 then BEcause I don't see any info about the touchscreen on the back which was confirmed.

  • GamesConnoisseur #5 2 years ago

    PSPGo is dying a slow death despite the hefty price cut, the more expensive and successful iPhone selling like hot pies, and so Playstation Phone is certainly a good direction to go and I m pretty excited about the controls. Including the trackballs, d pad and four face buttons and shoulder buttons too, meaning can play virtually all the superb classic PS titles of old as well as any grounded up new PP games.

    Having touch control too for say PP version of Plants VS Zombies would be fun.

    So looking forward to see more of this.

  • d00dl #6 2 years ago

    Looks like a standard Android spec. Must also include a tegra/imagination gpu but what's up with the d-pad? No analogues nubs? Hope the d-pad is analogue but then that didn't really hamper the GBA or the DS (digital d-pad?). So I guess this will use a hybrid d-pad plus touchscreen control method for movement like the DS.

    I've got a feeling that this is going to be an N-Gage style mess unless they get it so it can play all the minis and PSP games. They need to invest a lot more in mini and dl game development to make this a success. Which it could be. The Xperia series was a big comeback for SE and this could be another step in helping them leave the doldrums of symbian and ropey handsets. Don't think the PS group would allow SE to make a sub par device in terms of build quality with their brand on it.

  • Malek86 #7 2 years ago

    I'm getting N-gage vibes.

    If this thing can only run Android games and some dedicated stuff (but I can't see many people wasting too much time on it, when they could just make an Android game and sell it to many more devices), I don't think it will be especially successful.

  • RobertFoster #8 2 years ago

    Part of me went "oh cool", but then I remembered why I don't have an iPhone. The thoughts of having to have a mobile phone contract in order to play games puts me off.

    Interesting about the touch slider; at least you don't have to hide gameplay with your thumbs when playing.

  • berelain #9 2 years ago

    Those specs aren't powerful at all... in fact, they're about identical to the HTC Desire, and there's no mention of anything like the nvidia Tegra chip that boosts the graphical capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S and Windows Phone 7 devices.

  • twoism #10 2 years ago

    Not sure I like the look of it, expected something sleeker from the Playstation brand... but then again there's no sign of that on the device at all so perhaps they're separating it from their PS line and making it something else? What's the "S" logo for?

  • MrChaz #11 2 years ago

    The GPU is Adreno 205 (same as the Desire HD or any other phone with that chipset e.g. G2/Desire Z).
    Performance ought to be comparable with the Galaxy S.

  • DavoTheDiv #12 2 years ago

    Absolutly fake. Look at the corners of the phone. Photoshop fail!!

  • evild_edd #13 2 years ago

    Hard to fully judge, but I think this looks a little....well, naff might be the right word.

    If it is just a standard Android spec phone in a PS shell, then no chance - I'll stick with my 3GS thank you.

    If, on the other hand, it has more grunt and ability to play PS Store PSP/PSP2 titles, then that's a different proposition.

    I'm assuming the this is separate to the psp2..?

  • rivuzu #14 2 years ago

    Oh look. A PSPGoPhone.

  • Caimbeul #15 2 years ago

    I'll just have a PSP2 please and stick with a normal phone. The thing that all companies dont seem to get is that, whilst it isnice to be able to play a decent game for a few mins on the move it does mean you kill your battery to the extent that it wont be much use as a phone for very long. Hence either a miracle in battery performance is needed or just give us a dedicated portable gaming unit and stick to seperate phone!

  • Olemak #16 2 years ago

    Seems a bit odd. I'd think that the PSP2 in fact IS the "PlayStation Phone". Look: even the acronym is the same! I see no need to separate the two products.

    What sort of games will it play? Would be pretty cool if I could install (some of) my PS3 games on the phone an play that while commuting, and pick up the savegame on the big screen when I get home. Screen might be a bit small, but that is the kind of functionality that would make me open my wallet. Playing Minis - not so much. I can do that on any phone.

  • Widge #17 2 years ago

    PS3 games on a phone? Maybe in 5/10 years! :D

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #18 2 years ago

    Must also include a tegra/imagination gpu

    It's a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU. The CPU/GPU combo is the same as is in a Desire HD, which is supposed to be better than the slightly disappointing Adreno 200 in the Nexus One, Desire, Sony Ericsson X10 and ALL the Win 7 phones.

    A quick google suggests benchmarks on a par with the Galaxy S, which will mean it's roughly as powerful as iPhone 4 and iPad.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #19 2 years ago

    Actually, a good part of the reason this could be a success, unless they lock it down somehow is emulators.

    Lots of phone platforms have SNES, Gameboy, DS, even PSOne emulators, but none, none have a decent joypad on them. Sonic The Hedgehog on a touchscreen or mini-QWERTY? No thanks.

    This sorts that problem, and will (unless they cripple it) have all the advantages of a modern smartphone OS (and the ability to be used as a telephone) over the likes of the GP2X and Pandora console.

  • BruceWayneIII #20 2 years ago

    It's fake:

    http://www.nowgamer.com/news/4488/sony-p...

  • 3william56 #21 2 years ago

    Jeez, some uninformed comment here. Battery will be same as any smartphone. Games will be both android stock and bespoke psphone, probably ps1 and 2 ports. Game performance is already at least psp level on my bog nexus one: this is better (and there's already a ps1 emulator on android). The look is rough because its a prototype.

    What you have here is iPhone plus joypad. If that thumb bar works decently, it's full of win.

  • berelain #22 2 years ago

    @MrChaz oh really? In that case, not so bad after all.

    Assuming it is real...
    Edited by berelain at 27/10/10 @ 10:03

  • Snaggletooth #23 2 years ago

    Sorry Sony Ericsson,I have been lured in by your marketing hype before. What happened, you used to make such good phones, but those days are long ago. My last 4 phones have been Sony Ericsson with each model getting worse and worse, yet more expensive and feature rich each time. The problem is, they don;t really test them, and the release them onto the public pretty much untested and full of bugs and we are the guinea pigs.....yes i'm looking at you Sony Satio, the phone that was hyped for a year to be the iPhone killer with 12mp camera and fast internet and swish touch screen....i have owned this piece of shit for 14 months now (2yr contract doh) and have had nothing but problems. Battery life doesnt last a working day, internet is slow and unreadable, GPS is a joke and has got me more lost than i was before using it, people ring me and it rings like 20 times their end but it only rings once or twice my end before they hang up. The touch screen is clunky and rotates the screen when it wants. And the main one....there are fuck all apps for it and for all of the hype that surrounded it Sony seemed to pretty much forget about it the day it came out. So, as nice as a PS phone sounds, I just can't deal with the stress of owning another Ericsson product ever again.....

    Sorry for the rant, but I had to get that off my chest :)

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #24 2 years ago

    @BruceWayneIII

    That site got an official No Comment from the people making it, and a slightly out of character comment from a 'spokesperson' at an affiliated company which may or may not have been involved in its development.

    The images are quite convincing to me that they are a real device. If they're fake, then somebody has built this thing, and that seems an awful lot of effort to go to, translucent jelly face buttons, slide mechanism, convincingly SE styled fascia and all. If it is real, and there are pictures of it, it must have been leaked, and if's been leaked it's likely to have been carried out of the office in someone's pocket, whereupon it would have got all linty.

  • CrumpledPaper #25 2 years ago

    I don't think this is separate from the PSP2. I think it's a phone version of it. The interface stuff is all in agreement with the more reliable rumours, just arranged differently. Touchpad on the back is brought to the front here. Dual analogs? Brought onto the touchpad with little circular reference points.

    On a dedicated PSP2 they would be more pronounced nubs, with the touchpad on the back. But functionally this setup would provide the same interface. Indeed, the fact that it does agree with the PSP2 rumours on this front I think should give hope that is a phone with PSP2 rather than some isolated platform for a small selection of games.

  • Beano #26 2 years ago

    No analog nub - I assume this is a completely different platform than PSP and wil not be able to run PSP games?

    Maybe PSP Minis (based on a simple SDK) but not full PSP titles.

  • Widge #27 2 years ago

    My 3GS doesn't last a working day either, but I guess you are caning the phone more with the functionality that comes with it.

  • Widge #28 2 years ago

    Beano, check the area for 2 sticks on the picture.

  • arcam #29 2 years ago

    I'll never understand why no phone maker has done a D-pad yet on a pull out keyboard for Android. It doesn't need the Playstation branding, just the controls.

    Closest yet is the Milestone/Droid, but they put the D-pad on the right! Android has good emulator apps (NES, SNES, Megadrive) which instantly gives a ton of good games, but I can't really imagine getting much fun out of them without a proper D-pad.

  • moriss #30 2 years ago

    @robertfoster

    "Part of me went "oh cool", but then I remembered why I don't have an iPhone. The thoughts of having to have a mobile phone contract in order to play games puts me off. "

    2 words: iPod touch.

  • arcam #31 2 years ago

    Most people already have a phone contract anyway. And if you think contracts (particularly phone contracts!) suck like I do, then just buy the device outright and use a pay as you go with free internet (3, giffgaff), or just stick with wi-fi.

    That what I did with my Nexus One, and while it was expensive to start, it hasn't cost me more than £5 per month for 100 mins, unlimited txts, unlimited internet, while other people are paying £40 for similar service.

  • darc #32 2 years ago

    I know these are fake photos, but still, my 2 cents:

    I can't see how designers are missing the obvious solution - if you want a good gaming phone, the control pads should be split in two halves, and pull out to either *side* of a touch-screen display, rather than sliding out the bottom of the screen. The latter approach is suitable for a qwerty keyboard, but a total missed opportunity for gaming from a simple ergonomics standpoint. See that pointless, redundant touchpad in the images above? That could be the *screen*, which would also be useful for everything non-gaming related, i.e. open it up and it's a PSP, fold it up and it's an iphone killer.

  • zedzee #33 2 years ago

    Looks like a Vivaz sticky-taped on top of a white PSPgo to me.

  • Felwyn #34 2 years ago

    @moriss "2 words: iPod touch. "

    Just so you know, there's a gameboy advance emulator that works on nokia symbian phones, put you probably think 5$ crappy little games are better than anything nintendo ever made right?

  • RedSparrows #35 2 years ago

    wow, that was needlessly aggressive...!