Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play handset hasn’t exactly been a secret, but the journey ends (and begins) today, as it’s finally official. It’s the first Android device to feature Sony’s Playstation Suite gaming app and enviroment, and is scheduled to appear by the end of the year. The Xperia Play runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU with 4-inch 480×854 resolution display. There are, of course, the PSP-like game buttons on the slider part of the phone, a front facing camera, 5 megapixel rear camera, 512MB RAM, and a microSD card slot.

Sony Ericsson’s been having a really tough go of it, but it seems to really think that Android is the solution to all of its woes. Recently two of its upcoming Android-based handsets leaked out, so let’s tackle them left to right, shall we? The white handset on the left is said to be known as the Shakira, sized between the full-blown Xperia X10 and the Xperia Mini, and might just come to market this fall as the Xperia 10 Mid (ugh). And then there’s the strange QWERTY slider on the right. Apart from giving a shoutout to the form factor of the HTC Shift, this curious device looks to have a display in excess of 5″ and is said to run on Android 2.1. What do we think, gang? Do you think with handsets like these Sony Ericsson can start making some serious cash, or will its trials and tribulations continue until it starts thinking out of the box?

Read [Shakira] Read [QWERTY]

New entrant WIND Mobile may have been getting the lion’s share of media attention in Canada thanks to parent company Globalive’s notorious battle with the CRTC, but today Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises announced it will begin offering its AWS 3G services as early as this spring under the brand name Mobilicity. With a battle cry of “Mobilicity: My Phone. My City. My Way”, all we know at this point in time is that its “value-packed unlimited plans” with contract-free services will kick off in Toronto this spring followed by Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa later in the year. Plan pricing as well as specifics about handsets have not been announced, but we do know that at the very least Nokia, RIM and Sony Ericsson will be well represented. So what say you, Canadians? Are you ready for another non-subsidizing carrier to enter the Canadian marketplace?

Fun fact: Mobilicity will become Canada’s seventh UMTS/HSPA carrier (Bell, Fido, Rogers, TELUS, WIND and Virgin are the others) and second to utilize AWS 3G.

Read

It’s been quite an interesting afternoon wouldn’t you say? We started things off with a brand new launch date for the BlackBerry 8520, flipped it up and saw the T-Mobile G1 v2 for the first time, said hey, hey, hey to this Sony Ericcson CS8 cameraphone, and moseyed on over to the T-Mobile G2. There’s other interesting things like the Sony Ericsson Elle launching in October for free, and an odd looking Samsung QWERTY clamshell called or codenamed the XO launching in August for $38. Here’s all the stuff we unveiled earlier:

T-Mobile’s Walmart roadmap: BlackBerry 8520 launching in July?

T-Mobile’s Walmart roadmap: T-Mobile G1 v2

T-Mobile’s Walmart roadmap: Sony Ericsson CS8 hitting in September

T-Mobile’s Walmart roadmap: T-Mobile G2 with a surprise

Pictures of the slides as well as the new stuff are after the break. Have a good weekend folks! There’s a BGR writer meetup and you’re not invited. Sorry!

Thanks to our Best Buy ninjas, we’ve just got some screen shots showing that Sony Ericsson’s X1a (North American model) will definitely be hitting best buy early next month. The actual in stock date as of now is December 7th. The price? It will sell for a whopping $799.99. Hey, with Circuit City pretty much on the outs, and Best Buys placed directly across the street in most locations… aw, nevermind! Who’s excited? We are! Larger shot after the jump!