As anticipated, Sony unveiled its "PlayStation Phone" at Mobile World Congress this week, demonstrating the company's vision for 3D-capable gaming while on the move. Called XPeria Play, the new Android-based smartphone comes with a five megapixel camera and large four-inch multi-touch screen. The phone cum handheld gaming gadget comes with a full set of controls similar to the (once popular, but now waning) PSP, and its built-in Andreno 205 GPU promises 60fps smoothness and five solid hours of gameplay. The controls are accessed via a slide-out control pad.

The lines between a mobile phone, general computing tablet and smartphone are blurring as various players ranging from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) move to position their own platform as the kingpin of a next-gen gaming and work environment. As Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has shown with its iOS-based smartphone and tablets, the secret revolves around the creation of an ecosystem that makes it easy for users to access games and productivity applications. Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play is to go on sale in April, and will be launched on the Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless network in the United States.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at AFP
- check out this article at WSJ

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