Newsletter
The picture you are seeing above is a snapshot of what we understand to be Verizon Wireless’s inventory system. At the top of the list is a Sony device. This device happens to be the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play that was officially announced this past week at MWC. This might mean that the phone is coming soon (it was announced to be available in the spring) and VZW is prepping their inventory now. Or, this could mean nothing, we’re hoping for the latter. But, there is no word of definite availability (but the way VZW has been handling availability, we may not see this for months) nor is there any word of pricing.
On another note, Sony CTO Jan Uddenfelt has gone on record saying the Play will NOT be exclusive to Verizon in the US. But, it will be released FIRST on Verizon. It will be coming out another at least one other carrier later in the year. We suspect that since Sony Ericsson worked so closely with Google on the project, Verizon (practically a partner to Google) was able to get their hands on a short-term exclusive deal for the Play.
Another announcement was that SE plans on staying atop of software updates, something they didn’t do with the Xperia X10 (which are now stuck on Android 2.1 with no future upgrades). The upcoming SE devices will all ship with OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) installed, and from the sound of things should get software updates fairly quickly.
Lastly, it was confirmed that SE will be coming out with an LTE/4G device later in the year. They’re currently still working on finalizing them.
Does this bring faith to Sony Ericsson for you guys? Will you consider, or even buy, their upcoming phones?
Image: Engadget