How good compared to my ZTE Blade? Questions for owners!

[Guest seraphim2017]

HI, Daft questio know, but I'd like some opinions.

I'm runing a blade with 2.3 rooted etc cyanogen nightly which does everything I need to do generally.

However, i've got an itchy.... wallet lol so... Was looking at a Galaxy S2 but then saw how cheap a sim free xperia play has become. How come? are they rubish?

Specs wise, what wil the difference be between my blade arm11 adreno 200 and the Plays a8-adreno 205? How bad is the video and camera on the play? (the main reason I fancied a SGS2!)

Are the games on 'tegra zone' which have to be chainfired to work on SGS2 compatible with the play? (i'm thinking Nova 2 HD etc..?) I thought a good feature of the SGS2 was the ability to output to TV while playing games, that appeals to me!, can the play do that?

Screen wise, how decent is the screen etc. of the play? (remember I'm comparing it to an ipod touch 2g and a blade!)

Can the play do 720p video? Tethering? And good as an actual phone? What are the controls like if I got some emulators going on?

Finally, can an owner tell me does it have:

A-GPS?

Gyro sensor?

Compass?

Thanks all you play owners!

(one thing that occrred is that sony are cuttig the Xperia play because of a new phone, is that the case? (is it being replaced already!??!!)

[Guest Christian Edwards]

I asked a similar question in the "My first couple hours with the Xperia PLAY" thread and got this great answer from de_sheppard.

You can read it here.

http://android.modac...topic/335901-My first couple of hours with the Xperia PLAY#entry1838311

Edited November 15, 2011 by Christian Edwards

[Guest seraphim2017]

I asked a similar question in the "My first couple hours with the Xperia PLAY" thread and got this great answer from de_sheppard.

You can read it here.

http://android.modac...topic/335901-My first couple of hours with the Xperia PLAY#entry1838311

Thanks, I saw that review and it was comprehensive, just wondered about specifics as the review got a few things different from the official specs (i.e processor is supposed to be an MSM8255 rather than a 7230 isn't it?)

Ta for the response though, good to see the forum's not dead! :)

[Guest Christian Edwards]

It does seem a bit quiet on here after the super hectic nature of the Monte Carlo Forum!

Edited November 24, 2011 by Christian Edwards

[Guest JasonLeeming]

HI, Daft questio know, but I'd like some opinions.

I'm runing a blade with 2.3 rooted etc cyanogen nightly which does everything I need to do generally.

However, i've got an itchy.... wallet lol so... Was looking at a Galaxy S2 but then saw how cheap a sim free xperia play has become. How come? are they rubish?

Specs wise, what wil the difference be between my blade arm11 adreno 200 and the Plays a8-adreno 205? How bad is the video and camera on the play? (the main reason I fancied a SGS2!)

It's got a decent camera, that does the job, plus 720p video recording has been enabled in the 2.3.4 update. The front facing camera performs as expected. You'll definitely notice the difference in the processor. Flash runs brilliantly, and you can play some really good games (Rainbow Six looks really good).

Are the games on 'tegra zone' which have to be chainfired to work on SGS2 compatible with the play? (i'm thinking Nova 2 HD etc..?) I thought a good feature of the SGS2 was the ability to output to TV while playing games, that appeals to me!, can the play do that?

I'm not sure about the Tegra Zone games, but it can play tons of really great looking, big games. The Play doesn't output with HDMI by default, but with the 2.3.4 update you can output with HDMI with a certain docking ststaion

Screen wise, how decent is the screen etc. of the play? (remember I'm comparing it to an ipod touch 2g and a blade!)

The screen is a really decent, LED backlit LCD. A nice 4" size (not too big, not too small), and has a resolution of 480x854 (compared to the SII's 480x800 stretched over a bigger screen)

Can the play do 720p video? Tethering? And good as an actual phone? What are the controls like if I got some emulators going on?

Again, like I said before, 720p video has been enabled with the 2.3.4 update. Of course it functions perfectly as a phone, and all round multimedia phone, with music playback being particularly good. I haven't really tried many emulators on it on at the moment, just Zelda: Ocarina of Time on N64oid, in which I mapped the controls to the gamepad, and it plays really well and really naturally.

Finally, can an owner tell me does it have:

A-GPS?

Gyro sensor?

Compass?

It has all of the above

Thanks all you play owners!

(one thing that occrred is that sony are cuttig the Xperia play because of a new phone, is that the case? (is it being replaced already!??!!)

A few other things. The Xperia Play will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich, as it was in Sony's 2011 line up. Furthermore it is dirt cheap.

I got this offer: http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/Sony-Ericsson/Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-Play-8GB-Black/3/18-Text-300-All-you-can-eat-Data-(24mths)/11540520

which also came with an official Sony Xperia Play dock, which comes with 3 free gameloft games (it's £30 on the Sony website) and a free case for the Xperia Play.

If you wanted to have that much credit on PAYG you'd have to pay £15, so for an extra £3 a month you get an epic phone, a dock, a case and £30 cashback. I'd definitely advise you to get it. I got that contract expecting to sell the phone cause I already have a Huawei Ideos X5 and a ZTE Blade, but I ended up keeping it and giving my Blade to my girlfriend.

[Guest seraphim2017]

will ice cream sandwich make the phone better then? speed/camera improvements?

Can't use 3 network, signal at home is total bob. Best deal I've found is 24 months 300mins/300txt/500mb free handset cost per month 11.78 after quidco and cashback on t-mobile, very very tempted, unless i can get the sgs2 for under 18 a month the i think i'll go for the play and live with the 'slower' handset for a year or two!

[Guest JasonLeeming]

will ice cream sandwich make the phone better then? speed/camera improvements?

Can't use 3 network, signal at home is total bob. Best deal I've found is 24 months 300mins/300txt/500mb free handset cost per month 11.78 after quidco and cashback on t-mobile, very very tempted, unless i can get the sgs2 for under 18 a month the i think i'll go for the play and live with the 'slower' handset for a year or two!

I presume ICS will improve performance, otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point.

I can only speak from a few days experience, but it does seem like a brilliant phone. If you still want to keep up with modding, rooting and what not, theres plenty of stuff on XDA.

[Guest seraphim2017]

i must admit, i DO like the modded blade on stable cyanogen (173 was the last that worked for me so I've stuck with it!) I still love it when the screen off looks like an old fashioned crt tv!

Looks like i'd beter click along and buy one fo these then! What's the build quality like/size afera few days of using/living with it? is the screen bright/responsive? (not expecting superamoled plus but as good as my blade would be nice (it's tft)

I presume ICS will improve performance, otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point.

I can only speak from a few days experience, but it does seem like a brilliant phone. If you still want to keep up with modding, rooting and what not, theres plenty of stuff on XDA.

[Guest unrandomsam]

I have a blade and an xperia play and I think the xperia play is tons better (There again the xperia play was £160 (sim free) with forced topup (£10) but the blade was only £90 with same forced topup (£10))

(Pretty much all features are properly implemented for a start) e.g sip / bluetooth

I am running a couple of mod's

(The one that allows you to use the trigger buttons in the camera app and the bravia engine one).

Everything I have tried has been fine. (Other than one weird bug - Unless I select WCDMA only then the new market won't install apps over mobile network.)

It has a gorilla glass screen but its still factory covered by a plastic screen protector type thing (You can see it down near the buttons) screen is much better without it on.

I guess with a better quality protector it would be allot better than putting one over the sheet but for me I just don't bother. (The parts are easily available and cheap enough for me to not worry about it).