Sony unveils PlayStation phone

Sony's plans to launch a PlayStation phone have been well outlined through leaks in various forms over the past few months, with details of the operating system, the phone's looks, and its technical specifications all emerging.

Sony Ericsson today finally put the rumors to bed with a reveal of the Xperia Play handset. The device does, as predicted, have a very similar form factor to the PSP go--which was itself prematurely revealed before its official unveiling at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo--and will run the Android operating system. A full reveal has been promised for later on this week during a February 13 event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Xperia Play will bear the PlayStation-certified logo, as well as the familiar PlayStation face buttons, a D pad, and shoulder buttons. It will feature access to the PlayStation Suite online services that were revealed at last month's NGP unveiling in Japan, allowing it to run PSOne games alongside all the normal range of Android apps, games, and widgets.

Sony Ericsson marked the announcement with an advert during last night's Super Bowl; though, like the phone, the advert had already leaked last week. The spot, which was featured during the first half of the Green Bay Packers' hard-fought victory, shows thumbs being surgically grafted to the familiar Android robot, seemingly in the back streets of an Asian city. The ad is viewable below.