Back in early August, a rumor started that Sony Ericsson had an Android powered PlayStation phone in the works. Some people questioned the authenticity of the handset, but now Engadget has posted a series of hard-to-argue-with pictures that show a prototype of the future SE gaming device.
The PlayStation Phone will supposedly be released sometime in the next few months – perhaps even in time for the holidays, but more likely in 2011. The device is said to run Gingerbread (Android 2.3?) and feature a Sony Marketplace, which will let users buy and download games that have been specifically designed for the platform.
The prototype device in the gallery is rocking a second-gen 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor with the same Adreno 205 GPU that can be found on the HTC Desire Z, Desire HD and myTouch. It sports 512MB of RAM, a 1GB ROM, custom slide-out gaming controls, and the screen is estimated to be somewhere between 3.7 – 4.1 inches. If you wonder what that oval area in the middle of the gaming keys is for, it’s apparently a long touchpad with multitouch capability, which should be able to provide some interesting gameplay options.
I personally wish SE would’ve used a more powerful, dual-core processor such as the Tegra 2 for the device. The Tegra 2 is more suitable for intense graphics, and the rumored PlayStation Phone basically has the same hardware as my HTC Desire, although with a faster, second-gen Snapdragon chip instead. But at least the specs of the PlayStation Phone blow the current PlayStation Portable out of the water.
Do you think this device will be a success, or will SE’s PlayStation Phone be for hardcore gamers only? Would you also have preferred more state-of-the-art hardware, or are you pleased with the specs?