The PlayStation Suite: PS1 games and a game store for all Androids

Sony's plan for mobile PlayStation gaming goes much further than just the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play - the newly announced PlayStation Suite platform will deliver PlayStation games on a variety of Android-based devices and plans include a dedicated game store too. To kick-start the whole thing, Sony will be launching a PlayStation One emulator (not a PSP emulator as originally thought), which will allow Android devices to play games for the original PS console. Original titles will be developed too - the first should come out as early as this year.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc preview: First look - GSMArena.com

Sony Ericsson is back at it and they are pushing pedal to the metal with their latest unusually curved and unusually streamlined sports car – the XPERIA Arc. Once one of the top three phone manufacturers, Sony Ericsson has been through some hard times but the company underwent a painful restructuring and it found a way to make its handsets desirable again by focusing on the high-end segment and staking on Android OS. The XPERIA X10 did a lot to repair the company public image and it’s now up to the Arc to improve it even further.

In theory it should be easier now – we already know Sony Ericsson is capable of producing top-notch hardware. Even if they aren’t doing spectacularly in terms of pushing updates, their recent smartphones have all been good value for money so the Arc won’t have its origin held against it.

Yet competition on the high-end has never been more intense so a significant performance boost would be required from the Arc even if it was only to retain the same position as the X10 last year. Fortunately it might just manage to deliver, or at least as far as it specs sheet suggests:

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc at a glance:

1. General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 5.76Mbps HSUPA
2. Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
3. Dimensions: 125 x 63 x 8.7-10 mm, 117 g
4. Display: 4.2" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 854 x 480 pixels
5. CPU: Qualcomm MSM8255 1 GHz Snapdragon platform
6. OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
7. Memory: 287MB storage, 512MB RAM, microSD card slot, 8GB card included in the retail box
8. Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, face detection and touch focus; 720p video recording at 30fps
9. Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, microHDMI port
10. Misc: Sony Ericsson Timescape UI, built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, Sony Mobile Bravia engine, multi-touch input, scratch-resistant surface

Xperia arc Design and Home Screen

A short video introducing the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc. Focus is on the design and a brief glimpse of the Home Screen user interface. For more information please visit http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/blogs

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Specifications

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Specifications

Android touch phone with super-screen

View pics and video in vivid colours with your Android touch phone. Crisp and clear on the 4.2” Reality display with Sony Mobile BRAVIA® Engine

The sleek, super-slim Xperia™ arc

Start with premium materials. Stir in some beautiful curvature. Squeeze down to 8.7 mm. And there it is, a perfect palm fit: the slim, lightweight and strong Xperia™ arc.

HD phone with 8.1 megapixel camera

"Your HD phone has an Exmor R™ sensor that lets you capture high-quality movies and stills in low light. So go ahead and shoot. Then show, in stunning HD direct on your TV via the HDMI connector.

Screen - 16,777,216 color TFT

Memory - microSD™ (supported to 32GB) - Up to 512MB

Networks

- UMTS HSPA 800/850/900/1900/2100

- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

Available colours - Midnight Blue - Misty Silver

Sizes

- 125.0 x 63.0 x 8.7 mm

- 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches

Weight

- 117.0 gr

- 4.1 oz

Features

Camera

* Flash / light type - LED

* Digital Zoom - smart zoom up to 2.46x

* Camera - 8.1 Megapixel

* Video stabiliser

* Video recording

* Video light

* Touch focus

* Sony Exmor R™ CMOS sensor

* Smile detection

* Send to web

* Image stabiliser

* HD video recording (720p)

* Geo tagging

* Face detection

* Auto focus

Entertainment

* Radio - FM radio

* YouTube™

* Video viewing

* Video streaming

* Motion gaming

* Media Browser

* 3D games

Communication

* Twitter™ - Timescape™ integration

* Vibrating Alert

* Speakerphone

* Sony Ericsson Timescape™

* Facebook™ application

Music

* Music tones - MP3, AAC

* TrackID™ music recognition

* PlayNow™

* Media Player

* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)

* Album art

Connectivity

* Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation

* WiFi™

* USB support

* USB mass storage

* TV out

* Synchronisation

* NeoReader® barcode scanner

* Modem

* HDMI

* Google Maps™

* Bluetooth™ technology

* aGPS

* 3.5 mm audio jack

Design

* Keyboard - Onscreen QWERTY

* Wallpaper animation

* Touchscreen

* Reality display with Sony Mobile BRAVIA® Engine

* Picture wallpaper

* Auto rotate

Web

* Web browser - WebKit

* Pan & zoom

* Google™ search

* Bookmarks

Messaging

* Text messaging (SMS)

* Predictive text input

* Picture messaging (MMS)

* Instant messaging

* Exchange ActiveSync®

* Email

* Conversations

Organiser

* Phone book

* Infinite button

* Flight mode

* Document readers

* Calendar

* Calculator

* Android™ platform

* Alarm clock