So I tried it. I really did. I spent almost a month in the Android ecosystem trying to love my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Alas, yesterday I returned to the iPhone. I found the Xperia Play a little slow. Switching between a game and texting was painfully slow. The text app also didn’t sort messages in the correct order. I thought I would like having different apps for each function, but eventually I got frustrated trying to figure out if a certain mp3 was in Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player, or loaded on the phone under Music. The same trouble arose for pictures, ebooks, and other content. I had to keep track of where I put stuff. Normally I’m okay with this. I’m a long-time UNIX user, but having to keep track of my content on the phone when the iPhone tracked it all for me was just uncomfortable.
Email was rough, the GMail app seemed okay but to get email from other accounts, I had to use the Xperia Play built in email app. It was a bit rough around the edges. Again, two email apps creating more “where did that message go” moments.
The gaming is brilliant. Really, that’s what kept me trying to love this phone for so long. The Xperia titles are good, the thumb buttons are a little touchy but one you train your thumbs it’s a blast. The trouble with the games is the number of titles. Not alot of PS1 titles in the store and many of the Xperia exclusives are iPhone games patched to support the gamepad.
The final nail in the Xperia Play’s coffin for me was the lack of integration with Playstation. I wanted to be able to access the Playstation Network, chat with friends, send messages, etc. The Xperia Play does not do this. I get better connectivity from my PSP. I wanted to be able to move things from the PS3 to the phone… nope. I found out that I could move movies from the PS3 to a PC and then to the phone, as long as there was no DRM on the movie. So content purchased from the PSN, as far as I know, cannot be put onto the phone.
So I’m a traitor no more… I’ve returned to the iPhone, a nice new black 4S.
Let the “I told you so’es” commence 🙂
