Sony Xperia Play Heads to Verizon - Updated

Sony has announced that the Xperia Play (formerly known as the Playstation Phone) will be heading to Verizon Wireless in America.

Sony Ericsson’s new Xperia PLAY, the world’s first PlayStation certified smartphone, will be available on the Verizon Wireless network in Spring 2011.

No word on pricing, exact availability or required plans for discounts were made available yet. Just these nifty photos.

Update:

The details of the Android-based Xperia Play, which have been much leaked in the run up to this week’s show, include: a slideout gaming keyboard featuring a digital D pad, a second pad featuring the distinctive PlayStation buttons, as well as two analogue touch pads and two shoulder buttons. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor has been optimised for gaming on the new handset, which also features a four-inch screen.

Less expected than the announcement of the Xperia Play was the news that the first operator to sell the handset in the US will be Verizon Wireless. As one of the country’s two leading operators, along with AT&T Wireless, getting Verizon Wireless’ support should give sales of the Xperia Play a big lift in the States. It will be the first Sony Ericsson handset sold by Verizon Wireless for some years.  The vendor did not reveal the names of the handset’s launch operators in Europe and Asia.

The vendor needs to offer a library of games to support the launch of the Xperia Play.  There will be 50 titles available, mostly in the Android Market, for its appearance next month. About 15 developers are working on games, including Electronic Arts, Gameloft and Glu Mobile. One game from Sony will be available for free on the new handset, plus 5-6 from other developers.

The Xperia Play is the first PlayStation-certified handset. Sony announced its certification programme for Android handset vendors last month which means other vendors can compete against Sony Ericsson with PlayStation-certified devices.

Updated again:

The 175g Xperia Play boasts a 1GHz ARM CPU, a 480 x 854 screen, the Android 2.3 OS and comes bundled with an 8GB microSD card. The 50 launch titles will come from 20 publishers and include a Guitar Hero game from Activision. That must have been before they decided to cancel all development on that game series.