We cover Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play event live

Sony Ericsson is about to hold a iive event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to formally launch the Xperia Play, better known as the PlayStation phone. It should also launch the Xperia Neo and possibly other devices. Check in after the story break for updates as they occur in person, in Barcelona time.

7:38: Show ends -- everything here will be available in the next few weeks.

7:35: Unity Technologies ensuring a continuing flow of premium content to Xperia Play. 350,000 of their developers transferring experience to Xperia Play. First time working with a handset manufacturer.

Building on open Android gives great franchises, multiplayer with your friends.

Shipping in March! Getting ready for launches across the globe. As part of a strategy to focus on the US, launching in US first: Verizon is carrying it in the early spring.

7:32: It's a smartphone first. Updated Timescape, new media player. Front and back cameras.

Showing how gaming works: the PlayStation app shows you all the customized games on Android Market. Graphics are silky smooth, HD at 60FPS. Unobstructed view because you have a full controller.

Showing Dungeon Defenders as an example of a game. Publishers like EA and Gameloft: Battlefield and more showing up.



7:24: History of SE smartphones: started in 2005, X1 in 2007, started on Android in 2008.

Learned how to work with partners. Thanks to collaboration with Google, we're using Android 2.3. No compromise on the smartphone. Even with the gaming, it's the best smartphone ever.

Kaz Hirai from SCEI (PlayStation) up. Notes January 27 news of the PlayStation Suite. Store isn't up yet, but there will be a legendary PlayStation game preloaded, and other games in the Android Market.




7:19: Xperia Play is the first PlayStation Certified phone. Merges communication and entertainment. Has to come from the build-up of a long-term ecosystem. Input from a wide range of consumers and users.

7:14: Next: Xperia Pro. Quick messaging with a QWERTY slider keyboard. Has a custom messaging interface that lets you split the interface between the list and messages. Smart keyboard. Whenever you slide the keyboard out, it's for a reason. If you're in e-mail, it pops up a dialog to reply to a message.

Xperia Play next. People have been dreaming of this since Sony Ericsson began.



7:09: Kathy and Tony up. Xperia Arc will ship in March.

Pleased to introduce the Xperia Neo. HD vido, 8MP camera. Exmor-R (CMOS) sensor for good photos in low light. Live demo showing footage directly through HDMI. Same UI as on the Xperia Arc; pinch on the home screen to show all widgets. Gallery and other apps are similar, too: HDMI makes it come to life.



7:02: Steve Morgan starting up. More excited than ever. Bert Nordberg, CEO up. Massive turnaround year for Sony Ericsson. Huge shift in our platform, launched Android. Little more than 10 months ago with the X10. 10 million Xperia devices sold. Back to black, two consecutive quarters of profit. Promised even stronger collaboration between Sony and Sony Ericsson.

Recapping the Xperia Arc. Showing you even more. Morgan back up.



6:58: Presentation will start in two minutes.

6:38: Still waiting for the event to start. Sony Ericsson must have set 6PM as a basic entry time, not the actual start.

6:21 (GMT+1): Waiting for it to start; Sony Ericsson didn't let the press in until 6PM.

By Electronista Staff