Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Game away

Side buttons

Gingerbread

Camera

Bulky

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The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play looks a lot like a regular Android smartphone at first glance. It has a great 4-inch display, and is clad in a glossy piano-black finish.

Caption by Nicole Lee / Photo by Josh P. Miller/CNET

The slide-out game pad on the Xperia Play reveals a D-pad and face buttons that look like the controls on Sony's Dualshock PlayStation controller. Instead of two analog joysticks, however, the Xperia Play has two touch-sensitive circles.

The Xperia Play comes with seven preloaded games, six of which are playable with the physical game controls. An app provides access to featured Xperia Play games that are available from the V Cast App store. You can play games from the Android Market that are designed for the Xperia Play, too.

Caption by Nicole Lee / Photo by Josh P. Miller/CNET

On the side edge of the Xperia Play are the left and right shoulder buttons, plus a volume rocker.

Caption by Nicole Lee / Photo by Josh P. Miller/CNET

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the latest Android OS. The interface is quite vanilla; there aren't any manufacturer or carrier skins interfering with the experience.

Caption by Nicole Lee / Photo by Josh P. Miller/CNET