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ok its starting to annoy me now... but android has been around long enough and gotten a fairly large established user base that i cant see any excuse why our games are so CRAP compared to the iphone...
I refuse completly to buy an iphone.. in fact i point blank refuse to own any single apple product... i detest the level of control the force upon every one of there products... but as much as i try to argue the fact that my desire and android OS is superior to the iphone it falls flat on its face every time i see the games available for the iphone.... so what gives?
Is it that the hardware is so poor compared to the iphone it just cant cope with the games that work so well on the iphone? is it just that no one is making games
for android seriously yet?
I scan the market and see highly rated games like throttle coptor.. or abduction... i mean really? my 4-5 year old N95 had better gameplay !!!
I love my android in every other way ( not THAT way... god some peoples minds are in the sewer.. :0) ) but i just wish there were some decent games out there that could compete with the iphone ... i just dont know why!
Why bother arguing, who cares, you like your phone they like theirs. I bought a droid phone because it does what I want I could care less if it has ****ty games If I wanted to play good games on the move i'd by a DS or PSP.
If you take a look at Gameloft's games, you'll find they are pretty much close to their iPhone equivalents. Most of them are not available on the Market, but I like Dungeon Hunter and Nova.
The games market for Android is still fledgling, but expect it to improve dramatically over the next year.
Regards,
Dave
i was looking at a review on some of the gameloft titles ported from iphone.. and in pretty much every review it said the game was far inferior to the iphone... not so much graphicaly (although they did say they ran alot chopier on the desire) but the controls are meant to be awful... as for some reason the desire and other android devices cant cope half as well with multi touch controls?
the reason why is the apps sd issue.
iphones can use all of the 16/32 gb for app storage, android can only use the onboard RAM, which isnt bigger than 512mb usually. this limits the size of apps.
Up until now, developers have been hampered by the fact that every Android phone to date has had a relatively small amount of storage available for applications (a couple hundred megabytes as opposed to the iPhone’s many gigabytes). Apps are stored in the phone’s ROM rather than the phone’s removable (and cheaper) SD storage, which grants developers enhanced protection against having their apps pirated. But it’s also proven to be a handicap.
Many of the iPhone’s most popular applications are graphics intensive, rich games. But these games often require high quality visual assets to go with them. The iPhone handles these fine — you can download massive apps over Wi-Fi or through iTunes sync. On the other hand, while the newest Android phones are certainly capable of rendering high quality graphics, their ability to handle large apps is limited by the phone’s available storage. Yes, developers can choose to download their app’s assets to the SD card after the initial install, but this isn’t a good experience for the end user.
from now on, ie with Froyo and probably 3.0 gingerbread games can be stored on the sd card( apart from smoe kb files) this will encourage more game development.
bob dylan said:
the reason why is the apps sd issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not convinced this is totally accurate! Most of the better games just have a separate download which goes direct to SD card anyway.
Regards,
Dave
I find alot of people on xda (as good of a site this is) stuck in the past!
I mean "if i want to play good games i'll buy a ds?"
So you deem £400 plus for a device a good price for something you consider to be just a phone? I'm sorry but thats nuts!
Believe it or not the most fun to be had with a phone these days is not changing what the battery icon looks like.
And to the op games on android are picking up, this is somthing i've noticed in the short time i've been with android,
Nfs shift for example, DS? I think not!
It's even said to be better than the psp version.
Then we have Raging thunder 2, Monopoly classic HD, Lets golf, Hyper jump, Hungry shark, Anytime pool,
Hero of sparta, Backbreaker football, Sims 3 HD, Crush the castle, Nova,
Tiki towers and also out this month Reckless racing and Angry birds, all good games
And to round off my rant HTC packaged and sold the desire as many other manufactures do as a "Multimedia device"
And gaming takes more money as an industry today than music and Movies put together!
Put's on flame coat and hides! LOL a DS?
Chivalryyyy said:
i was looking at a review on some of the gameloft titles ported from iphone.. and in pretty much every review it said the game was far inferior to the iphone... not so much graphicaly (although they did say they ran alot chopier on the desire) but the controls are meant to be awful... as for some reason the desire and other android devices cant cope half as well with multi touch controls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats because the desire dosent have multi touch, it only has dual touch, that ok when you need to say move a virtual joystick and press a button, but if you need to use 2 virtual joysticks or 2 x/y axis's the desire gets confused n f'ks up lol
better drivers .. better hardware.. for a PHONE this is very good... asphalt , super ko, talking tom etc... all very good graphics... but it is . at the end of the day ... a PHONE... until the they are fully converged... will have to stick to huge games on your sd card .
Chivalryyyy said:
ok its starting to annoy me now... but android has been around long enough and gotten a fairly large established user base that i cant see any excuse why our games are so CRAP compared to the iphone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're not crap at all:
4 Android 3D Games Worth Buying
A Look at Android Gaming: Video Overview of the Top Games Google’s OS Has to Offer
Android may have some catching up to do, but it's catching up fast
The Nexus One and the Desire use a Synaptics ClearPad 2000 touch sensor. Later HTC phones (e.g. EVO and Incredible) are using better touch sensor (see here for more details), and I expect this to be continued in the Ace/Desire HD and newer models.
So, it's not "Android's" fault - it's the hardware. That being said, there is no reason why the game developers couldn't tweak the controls to better suit the Nexus Ones/Desires touch sensor - they just tend not to bother because many of the games are direct iPhone ports.
Regards,
Dave
got myself an omnia 7, 8GB UK. so far so lets say i start with 7gb really. 1.31GB is music, 11mb is photos ( thanks skydrive i randomly check to see how much memory ive got left, answer = 2.11GB !!!!!!!! WHAT????? where has all my memory gone??? ah need for speed undercover 200mb, uninstalled now..... perhaps i should also uninstall, the harvest,OMG, max and magic marker, the revenants, twin blades, glow hockey, cliffed and one or two other games.... seriously 8gb really isnt enough for games if they are gonna be that big like need for speed. good thing i only tried them out. though i will be keeping rocket riot thoughts?
They do consume a lot of space but at the same time I would guess that the games have better graphics and maybe a few cut scenes.
Are the graphics really good compared to other phones ? For example Android phones.
unfortunately ive been left unimpressed with the graphics AND performance from WP7 games, the 2d games look good as you will see in twin blades, but the 3d games are disappointing. the exception being "the Harvest" it seems that wp7 may well struggle with 3d games and performance at the same time, for example, the harvest looks great, but its not the quickest gamplay. however more simple games like glow hockey have much simpler graphics but run quick and smoothly my defination of supersmooth is 60fps, 30 fps is reasonable but at 60fps it looks like, (and i hate to say it) its running on an iphone. im hoping this is because developers are not used to wp7 yet. but i doubt it.
the games overall are better but this is what happens when they only had emulators for testing, give it a lil bit of time and we will see some hardcore games coming out. Microsoft game studios has there own gaming division plus there is live integration and live is the best games platform period nothing compares or even comes close. We will see games getting faster smother and better this is a new platform. As for 8gb this was obvious and i dont see how anyone could say they didn't see that coming this is why i avoided the omnia esp as in all other aspects its the best phone. Though tbh i wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't an sd card inside like the hd7.
sadly i didnt see this game business coming and so i bought the omnia i didnt think any games wouldbe over 100mb let alone 200mb! fortunately im quick strick games ill only bother to have really good ones so ill be purchasing rocket riot!
forgot to mention, there is no SD slot in the Omnia 7. it has soldered in nand memory. the only good thing being is that at least its superior and quicker than sd memory but still i would rather have had 16gb verson to choose from. my bad.
all you need is rocket riot.
so goood
don't the photos get converted when uploading to skydrive?
hboos said:
all you need is rocket riot.
so goood
don't the photos get converted when uploading to skydrive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, only if you tell it to resize them. Just like any other photo hosting site (i.e. Photobucket, ImageShack).
Expanded my Focus to 24GB with a 16GB micro sd. Got to say storage is a must if you want to download or store a lot of music.
You don't have to tell me that twice, I wouldn't even be able to fit all my music 8bg, much less games.
Of course. This is obvious. Sorry but I don't understand those who bought a 8GB device.
I like the Omnia 7 a lot for instance, but never I would have paid for 8GB.
It is absolutely impossible to manage if you love games, if you love music & videos.... or even if you install a GPS.
- Firstly, it's not 8GB. The available storage is actually even less
- All your downloaded apps will waste this precious internal storage, especially games.
- Only the sole GPS will waste 10% of the storage
- Zune will require some 'reserved space'
- Skydrive is not an option for music and videos.
How can you give your money to the manufacturers that did not make the efforts to propose you a decent 16GB device?
I guess it really depends on the person. In my Touch HD which also had 8 GB, I never used more than 1GB. I do expect to use more on this phone, but not 8 times as much.
Are you sure Zune isn't reserving a load of space? I've got 23 albums on my phone right now that I downloaded from Zune Marketplace last night, 1.58GB. I've also got 1.59GB of "content from other computers" which I guess must be apps. That's with The Harvest, de Blob, Flowerz, MaTMM, Hexic, OMG, Rocket Riot, Twin Blades, Unite, Xbox Live Extras and 24 other apps installed. Free space is showing up as 3.48GB. I can't figure out where all your space has gone. It seems we have similar stuff but you've got around a GB less than I have left. Very odd.
I only really find 8GB an issue when I'm away and can't sync with the computer for a while. If I can sync a couple of times a week, refreshing the content each time, I'm happy and can manage with 8GB. In some ways it's preferable to high capacity, I've rediscovered a few albums since getting my Trophy because I'm actively looking for music to sync on to the device every few days. With my iPhone I was lazy, the storage capacity was high enough that I could just throw 20GB of albums on there and forget about it for a few months. I've got a music collection that's fast approaching 200GB (it'd be huger but Spotify and now Zune Pass have distracted me from buying for the past 18 months) so that's a lot of albums that were going un-listened to.
I'm so glad that I'm German right now
We've got a 16GB Version of the Omnia, and with that, the best of both worlds.
(On the other side its still at least 10 days till the phone arrives in our stores, so you have something good yourself )
Omnia FTW!
The 8GB storage is a little disappointing compared to what some of the other phones are offering but if you don't really put much music / videos on your phone then it should last.
Phone Titan said:
The 8GB storage is a little disappointing compared to what some of the other phones are offering but if you don't really put much music / videos on your phone then it should last.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The highlights of WP7 is Zune [music,videos,games] If there is not enough storage available then why should I wast my money on this phone?
If I still have to have a separate media player to play music and videos I will just stick to a cheep Nokia and separate media player.
I was hopping this would be the ideal all in one device for me but the small memory capacity on a few of these phones is holding me back. I will not be parting with my money unless I can get 16 GB minimum.
@agp64: So buy the LG then... there are options right now with 16GB
hboos said:
don't the photos get converted when uploading to skydrive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
N8ter said:
No, only if you tell it to resize them. Just like any other photo hosting site (i.e. Photobucket, ImageShack).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they do get resized (don't remember to what off the top of my head). The only way to get the full version is to email it or sync it with Zune.
agp64 said:
The highlights of WP7 is Zune [music,videos,games] If there is not enough storage available then why should I wast my money on this phone?
If I still have to have a separate media player to play music and videos I will just stick to a cheep Nokia and separate media player.
I was hopping this would be the ideal all in one device for me but the small memory capacity on a few of these phones is holding me back. I will not be parting with my money unless I can get 16 GB minimum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You realize you can stream anything through Zune wherever you have service, thus not requiring you to use ANY space at all on your phone for music? Granted that could get pricey depending on your data plan...
wait for better windows 7 phones. Later windows phones are much better, faster and with more storage. The now upcoming devices are too young to be the perfect phones. Even win mobile 6.5.x has more functions(and its easy to get much storage) than a windows phone 7 device.
I know there are lots of threads asking other people what kind of phone they should get, but those threads are a little bit outdated.
With all the newer phones getting dual core processors, and bigger RAM sizes, and more internal storage, does it mean that the Xperia Play is getting outdated?
With almost all of these newer phones wouldn't it make Google just want to make Jellybean (which comes out in just a while), a "only dual-core" OS?
If I were to look into a phone - I am stuck between a few of them, but if I knew that the Xperia Play could at least survive another OS, then I would heavily consider it.
What's more worth it though: Xperia Play vs. Motorola Atrix 4G?
Or even more harder: Xperia Play vs. Samsung Galaxy S II.
I have a pretty flexible budget, but I want a phone that is unique and one that can play games. I need one that can be modded, and I see that the Xperia is in the headlines a lot about small things...... What are your guys' opinion?
How much support life does the Xperia Play have left?
I want to have hope in the xperia, but I don't want to be left high and dry.
If you want to play classic games on emulators it is the best phone because of the controls, but if what you want to play is moden games, you should get another phone, even GTA3 goes slow even on low detail on this phone, but i dont care, because what i use the most and it goes perfect is the emulators, world of goo and fifa 12.
Samsung Galaxy S2 can play GTA 3 Perfect, but you can only use the games and emulators with touch controls or a external gamepad, wich sucks.
Storage is not a problem, i got it with a 64gb microsd card.
I say get the Xperia Play unless if you want your hands covering half of the screen when playing games.
Is it on it's last end of life? I don't want to buy it - and then find out that the entire line of Xperia Play is dead?
It's getting more support- ICS and playstation suite are expected soon but it isn't getting too much support- you may be a bit underwhelmed cause of this after about a month. But leave it for someone who knows what they're on about to give you a better answer
Sent from my R800i using XDA
As I read around the Internet, I see mixed reviews of the Xperia Play. However, if there is one thing i've learned through forum dwelling, it's that the unhappy are 10 times more likely to speak than the content.
If you don't want to answer any of those questions down below this, at least answer the poll <3
How well does it act as a phone? Are its texting/calling abilities acceptable?
How are the games? Are there emulators that take advantage of the control pad? Are there a reasonable amount of games that use the control pad? How often do you play games on it using the control pad? (I care so much about the control pad because it is the reason i'm considering buying it )
Is it exceptionally far behind recent phones? (Obviously it is behind as it isn't exactly a new phone, but will it still be useable 2-3 years from now?)
How well does Android run on it? Does it run more smoothly on the port of ICS or on its default Gingerbread? Do either of those OS's have a noticeable impact (good or bad) on gaming (compatibility, framerate, etc...)?
Would you buy your Xperia Play again?
Any other comments and experiences you have had are very welcome as well. Thank you for your time! I'm sure this thread will help at least one more person in the future.
Redjericho said:
How well does it act as a phone? Are its texting/calling abilities acceptable?
How are the games? Are there emulators that take advantage of the control pad? Are there a reasonable amount of games that use the control pad? How often do you play games on it using the control pad? (I care so much about the control pad because it is the reason i'm considering buying it )
Is it exceptionally far behind recent phones? (Obviously it is behind as it isn't exactly a new phone, but will it still be useable 2-3 years from now?)
How well does Android run on it? Does it run more smoothly on the port of ICS or on its default Gingerbread? Do either of those OS's have a noticeable impact (good or bad) on gaming (compatibility, framerate, etc...)?
Would you buy your Xperia Play again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) The thing I like the best about Xperia Play is that it's not just good at being a game device. While I'm struggling to have any use for my PlayStation Vita, my Xperia Play's able to be an 'everything'.
2) The games are nice! Which is a very big deal for me. What I feared the most is that this would just be another OpenPandora, GP32, Dingoo A320, iControlPad or Gametel Controller; coming with all kinds of high tech, next-level hardware that people are wasting for all these old-ass games. I don't want to buy new technology for old software. I like seeing games that are actually able to take advantage of Xperia Play's full resolution and all it's methods of this-generation controls. What makes Xperia Play a winner to me is that it has all that. It's an excellent emulator, but you can get a good emulator anywhere... don't mean to be blunt, but that's nothing special. What makes Xperia Play special is that it's actually able to play the upper crust of this-generation smartphone games with dual analogs, high-res graphics and conventions of this generation. I'm playing games on it all the time... and shockingly enough, my shiny new PlayStation Vita isn't compromising that.
3) On paper, it seems like it would be far behind current phones because it's a single core. In practice though, it's running software (game and non-game) just as smoothly as the latest and greatest. Adreno 205 isn't very high-ranking on GPU acceleration, but practice always matters more than concept, and in practice I seldom see dips in framerate or hiccups in everyday use... and since it's got game controls, it's got a merit that those powerhouse phones don't. By all means, it should already be obsolete, yet everytime the next big 'benchmark' game comes out, Xperia Play has it's hands all over it. Then again, the same group of oblivious spec-counters talk **** about how every iPhone released is behind the curve at launch... yet single cores still hold their ground.
4) Android runs pretty silky smooth for me. What I will say is that you may not get the smoothest performance with that crappy standard launcher Sony puts on it's phones. With LauncherPro or ssLauncher, you see the Xperia Play being ridiculously smooth (those two launchers in particular also are a huge battery life savers).
5) I'd definitely buy it again. When I initially got this, it was a toss up between this and the Motorola Atrix. Now I see people with GS2's, Atrix, G2x, Atrix 2, GNotes that all fall in love with this single core phone I have (a few have even offered to trade their stronger phone for my weaker one that has game controls). I'll be able to upgrade again soon, and I'll likely just be using that for eBay fodder. As long as my Xperia Play continues being silky smooth and keeps providing a gaming experience that nothing else parallels, I don't see myself caring how strong phones get.
Do you like your Xperia Play?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the things that I don't like about it are cpu, gpu and ram because they are not appropriate for a gaming device.
but will it still be useable 2-3 years from now?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a gaming device, I think it will not be usuable for games because games in the future will require Android 4.1 + more than good hardware like (1GB RAM - Snapdragon S4 CPU ... etc)
Would you buy your Xperia Play again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
da
TLRtheory said:
1) The thing I like the best about Xperia Play is that it's not just good at being a game device. While I'm struggling to have any use for my PlayStation Vita, my Xperia Play's able to be an 'everything'.
2) The games are nice! Which is a very big deal for me. What I feared the most is that this would just be another OpenPandora, GP32, Dingoo A320, iControlPad or Gametel Controller; coming with all kinds of high tech, next-level hardware that people are wasting for all these old-ass games. I don't want to buy new technology for old software. I like seeing games that are actually able to take advantage of Xperia Play's full resolution and all it's methods of this-generation controls. What makes Xperia Play a winner to me is that it has all that. It's an excellent emulator, but you can get a good emulator anywhere... don't mean to be blunt, but that's nothing special. What makes Xperia Play special is that it's actually able to play the upper crust of this-generation smartphone games with dual analogs, high-res graphics and conventions of this generation. I'm playing games on it all the time... and shockingly enough, my shiny new PlayStation Vita isn't compromising that.
3) On paper, it seems like it would be far behind current phones because it's a single core. In practice though, it's running software (game and non-game) just as smoothly as the latest and greatest. Adreno 205 isn't very high-ranking on GPU acceleration, but practice always matters more than concept, and in practice I seldom see dips in framerate or hiccups in everyday use... and since it's got game controls, it's got a merit that those powerhouse phones don't.
4) Android runs pretty silky smooth for me. What I will say is that you may not get the smoothest performance with that crappy standard launcher Sony puts on it's phones. With LauncherPro or ssLauncher, you see the Xperia Play being ridiculously smooth (those two launchers in particular also are a huge battery life savers).
5) I'd definitely buy it again. When I initially got this, it was a toss up between this and the Motorola Atrix. Now I see people with GS2's, Atrix, G2x, Atrix 2, GNotes that all fall in love with this single core phone I have (a few have even offered to trade their stronger phone for my weaker one that has game controls). I'll be able to upgrade again soon, and I'll likely just be using that for eBay fodder. As long as my Xperia Play continues being silky smooth and keeps providing a gaming experience that nothing else parallels, I don't see myself caring how strong phones get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your review! You basically covered everything that I have been searching far-and-wide to find. It's good to hear that it can also handle current generation games (for the most part) because it's always nice to have one or two pick-up-and-play mindless games, and the current mobile market excels at that.
I too believe that a device's specs don't mean much unless they are real world, so it's nice to hear from an actual user that it performs well. The main complaints I have read are lag of android and battery life, so to learn that I can improve it (at least a bit) is a very big plus.
Thanks for taking the time to help me out! Where there is one satisfied customer there is bound to be more, but I will stick around to see what others have to say as well.
Xperia-Play said:
Well, the things that I don't like about it are cpu, gpu and ram because they are not appropriate for a gaming device.
As a gaming device, I think it will not be usuable for games because games in the future will require Android 4.1 + more than good hardware like (1GB RAM - Snapdragon S4 CPU ... etc)
da
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really see it as a replacement for a true gaming device. If I wanted to play polygon-packed, particle effect oozing games, I would spring for a Ps Vita (which I probably will get some day). As long as it can run a reasonable selection of game pad optimized games/emulators, i don't mind the lack of specs.
I don't really see it as a replacement for a true gaming device. If I wanted to play polygon-packed, particle effect oozing games, I would spring for a Ps Vita (which I probably will get some day). As long as it can run a reasonable selection of game pad optimized games/emulators, i don't mind the lack of specs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are right
I've
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
How well does it act as a phone? Are its texting/calling abilities acceptable?
Excellent. 100% a good PHONE.
How are the games? Are there emulators that take advantage of the control pad? Are there a reasonable amount of games that use the control pad? How often do you play games on it using the control pad? (I care so much about the control pad because it is the reason i'm considering buying it )
Games for Android are great. SO many games are Xperia PLAY optimized. Emulator games, imo, are where it's at. Most emulated games just downright play better with physical controls. I <3 <3 <3 playing my PS1 roms on it.
Is it exceptionally far behind recent phones? (Obviously it is behind as it isn't exactly a new phone, but will it still be useable 2-3 years from now?)
I think so. Yeah it will lag a bit, especially as newer Android versions will require newer hardware, but imo we're safe for another year and a half or two. Possibly more.
How well does Android run on it? Does it run more smoothly on the port of ICS or on its default Gingerbread? Do either of those OS's have a noticeable impact (good or bad) on gaming (compatibility, framerate, etc...)?
For me using a custom rom (TrueAncestor) it's *butter*y smooth. Plays my games excellently.
Would you buy your Xperia Play again?
I most certainly would. Actually, I just did, and I am NOT regretting that desicion AT ALL. I had bought a beat up used one first and it died, but I liked it so much I bought it again.
i'll buy it ,
if one day , xperia play 2 comes , i'll buy that too , for any price
game pad is really really special H/W on phone , all i need is game and game support
I brought my play specifically for gaming as I'm sure so did everyone who has got this phone, I think it is a really good phone for gaming although it does struggle with some larger games like nova 3 but all in all the games seem to run lag less and have yet to have any issues with gaming myself, the phone itself excluding gaming is great it runs smooth, looks nice and its awesome when u show it to ur mates then flip out the controller lol, I wasn't sure about buying this phone at 1st as it does have some bad reviews and with it only having a 1ghz single core processor it didn't seem that revealing, anyway I went ahead and brought it and im yet to see any faults with it in fact after seeing mine my bro sold his iphone4 to buy one and my mate sold his sensation xe to buy one aswel which on paper is a huge downgrade, like I said some large games like nova 3 for example do lag but personally I think thats not because the phone can't hack it but that the game itself is just made crappy but a little lag on some games is worth bearing for the fact that u have a controller. This is the phone for anyone who likes gaming and if u install a custom rom and kernel its even better, I love this phone and won't ever change it unless an Xperia play 2 comes out
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
Hi, for me it's the best phone out there not only for gaming cause it can everything what a modern android phone should can. I use it every day as a normal phone and everything is fine and if you are a gamer and retrogame fan like me then there isn't something better.
Of course there a lot of more powerfull phones but as said they're just phones, and yeah i tried to play on others but with touch it's impossible to play a good game!!
Well I bricked my rezound so I'm looking for a replacement for about a year until I sign a new contract. I found an Xperia play new for $125. I've read lots reviews and I'm good with everything but I still have one question. Is 512 ram enough? Is the phone responsive as far as the android side of it goes?
jksell07 said:
Well I bricked my rezound so I'm looking for a replacement for about a year until I sign a new contract. I found an Xperia play new for $125. I've read lots reviews and I'm good with everything but I still have one question. Is 512 ram enough? Is the phone responsive as far as the android side of it goes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
512 ram is enough if you only do just gaming nothing running in the background including facebook. I loved my xperia play so much I bought another on ebay. As far as custom roms go I tend to stick with gingerbread. So far there are alot of xperia play optimized games in the google marketplace. As time progresses our xperia play may become a fossil to run on the newer games but I seriously doubt it will happen until the next 3 years. If your tired playing touchscreen based games the xperia play will leave you a smile on your face thats what I felt when I was playing on my play. In my honest opinion the xperia play miles ahead of the competition on gaming even on its 1 ghz cpu.
Yeah it's a good phone - if you like gaming, if you're not a bigger gamer this is probably not the phone for you. After all the selling point of this phone is the game pad. The samsung Galaxy S3 is pretty cool with it's dual core CPU and other fancy stuff but without a game pad those precious HD android games don't mean s*** (to me at least). Plus it's a novelty, when the S4 comes out no one will want the S3. The Xperia Play on the other hand is the only phone with a game pad. It has that unique look and that want factor.