More photos emerge of PlayStation phone

The tale of the not-yet-announced PlayStation phone continued today after Engadget posted photos of a Sony Ericsson slider handset sporting full gaming controls and the Android OS. Sony Ericsson has yet to confirm the existence of such a device, but the photos certainly look like the real thing.

From the outside, the GSM smartphone shares only a passing resemblance to Sony Ericsson's first Andorid handset, the Xperia X10. It has the same thin menu controls below the display and black color scheme, though the ends are more rounded. Slide up the face, however, and you'll see the expansive gaming controls, which includes the standard Sony PlayStation controls, plus what appears to be a touchpad in the center. Sony's shoulder controls should sit on one spine and the camera lens and flash are on the device's back side.

Engadget says the PlayStation phone should have a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, a microSD card slot (goodbye Memory Stick!), and the "Gingerbread" version of Android. That's either Android 2.3 or 3.0, depending on whom you talk to.

That's all we can say right now, but with the holidays fast approaching, this thing could get the official unveiling very soon. If it is true, a gaming-centric Android phone would mean a lot for the platform and for Sony Ericsson. Though plenty of Android games are available, Google's OS still hasn't attracted a gaming buzz. And for Sony Ericsson, a PlayStation phone would give a huge boost to its Android lineup after the nice, but not so amazing, Xperia X10.

For more on what we want from a PlayStation phone, check out Scott Stein's 11 must-have features for a PSP phone.