PSP Phone hands on

Phones are used as much for gaming as calling or texting these days, and you can't use public transport without knocking elbows with someone playing Angry fricking Birds. Hence, Sony's latest venture - the PSP phone, otherwise known as the Xperia Play.

 

This beast looks like a standard Xperia smartphone, except you can slide the screen up to reveal a familiar-looking gamepad underneath. It solves the problem of carrying a bulky handheld gaming machine with you, and allows you to play games such as Fifa instead of those damned infernal 'casual' titles.

 

We checked it out at a press event last night, and first impressions sadly aren't great. The racing game Asphalt stuttered on almost every turn, which as you'd imagine isn't too helpful when trying to overtake slow-moving traffic. The random Bruce Lee fighting sim ran more smoothly, but looks like a slightly polished PS One game and didn't exactly have our blood pumping.

 

There's still a couple of months before release, so maybe Sony can sort out the slowdown and produce a more exciting line-up of games, beyond recycling their (frankly tired) back catalogue. For now, it's back to Bejewelled...