Before I had a cell phone, I used to carry my Gameboy everywhere I went. In the car, at school, and to the bathroom. Since then, things have changed. With my pocket being occupied by my cell phone, I no longer can carry and gaming devices around. There is always the iPhone, but that is not primarily a gaming device. Now, it seems, we have a phone that can is focussed on gaming.
As most of you probably heard the Playstation Phone has been leaked. Engadget was the first to to throw up the news. What they have found so far is that the PS Phone is sporting a 3.7 to 4.1in screen, a second-gen 1 G-v Hz Snapdragon processor (MSM8655), 512 MB RAM, 1 GB ROM, 5 megapixel camera with flash, and gaming controls. These controls consist of the D-pad, the four standard Playstation buttons, R + L shoulder buttons, and a center touch bad. Somethings Engadget gets wrong is the claim that it will have Android 3.0. Though it is said to have Gingerbread (Googles next release) there is no word yet if this is a full number update or just Android 2.3.
We can rest assured that this is not the PSP2. There is no back touch pad as claimed by most developers, and the graphical quality of the processors are not enough to convince me that this is a full upgrade. It’s has actually been rumored that the PSP2 will be using NVIDIA Tregra 2 (NVIDIA’s upcoming dual-core processor). Graphically, Sony is not going to want to be outdone by Nintendo. It’s strange that Sony would use a single-core processor since NVIDIA has already announce that their dual-cores will be out within the coming months. This CPU is claimed to l have graphics 5X then that of current processors, 1080p video playback, and low battery consumption.
The Android software and it’s community is great. There is a lot of custom software that is release and distributed freely. If I were to get this product, I could carry around a true gaming system and a phone with software I love. Also, for you pirates, there is many great emulators on the Android software already. The lack of controls have made them useless. With the PS Phone’s controls I will be able to enjoy some awesome classics I wouldn’t be able to any other way.
However, if this phone is released with the specs that Engadget is stating, then the Playstation Phone may fail. The performance just isn’t going to be there, and there are phones that will be release with more impressive capabilities (more RAM, and dual-core CPUs). They will also have to make it look a bit more sharp. It isn’t as a aesthetically pleasing as I would expect from a Sony platform. This is a prototype so I remain excited. I don’t doubt we will see improvements in the final product.
