The PSP Phone is real, and its button-packed body has been papped and splashed all over the web. Built by Sony Ericsson, the PSP Phone comes packing Android, a multi-touch gamepad, traditional PSP buttons and what looks like a front-facing camera. Is Sony finally ready to take on the iPhone and Nintendo DSi? It certainly looks that way.
The images, courtesy of Engadget, aren’t your usual grainy spy shots. These are crystal clear, and leave little doubt as to the PSP Phone’s existence.
We’re looking at a standard PSP control pad, with square, triangle, circle and cross buttons, start and select keys, shoulder triggers and a new multi-touch trackpad that looks like replacing the Dualshock controller’s analogue sticks.
On the screen, there’s no doubt this is Android, but with significant Sony sheen. The settings menu is adorned with a theme that matches the PSP’s, although there are strange references to A and B buttons, rather than the PSP’s usual control keys.
Around the back, the PSP Phone clearly has a camera, with an LED flash too, and up front there’s a second lens. It looks like Sony’s gearing up for video calls, or at the very least in-game video chat, as well as standard photography.
Branded as a Sony Ericsson device, this is definitely a PSP Phone. The only thing missing is a genuine PlayStation logo. Instead, there’s a single S in the centre of the slide-out control pad.
What do you think? Is the PSP Phone enough to put Sony back at the top of the portable console game?
