PSP World

Can Windows 7 Compete with PSP Phone?

The new Windows 7 Phones have made quite an impact in the mobile market, with reviewers raving over the nice intuitive design of the interface and the great connectivity features. Even more worrying for competitors - Windows Phone 7 can play games, and play them well. Microsoft, never one to miss an opportunity for cross-branding, has cleverly integrated its Xbox Live social community into the mobile platform. You can't let play XBLA games on the device, but the mobile titles they do have are quite nice, and some of them tie-in with existing console franchises (see a list of Windows Phone 7 games). Does Sony, which plans to launch its own mobile phone gaming platform early next year, have anything to worry about?

So, despite the fact that their marketing department appears to be headed up by my grandmother, Microsoft have inexplicably found themselves with a winning product on their hands. We hate to admit it, but a nice thing about Windows Phone 7 is the interface, which incorporates bright, modular tiles in a very modern design. After early complaints from fans that the PSP phone is ugly, Sony Ericsson may wan to give some thought to making sure their device looks, you know, like something you'd actually like to own. Mobile operating systems have come a long way since the first Sony PSP launched. And while the XMB might still be functional, other manufacturers like Apple have had mass market success with even simpler touch-screen interfaces. Sony Ericsson's device is reported to run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread which gets the job done, but doesn't pop visually (see PSP Phone spy photos here)

Where the Sony Ericsson PSP phone is likely to succeed is in the quality of its titles. Every gamer knows that control schemes are paramount, and its hard to design a really deep experience using only touch controls. The Sony PSP Phone is a slider phone packing a PSP styled gamepad underneath a large touchscreen display. the device appears to feature dual analog controls, which will leave every other mobile gaming platform in the dust. The final question that we need answered is, will this phone be backwards compatible with the existing PSP games library? If so, it is likely to become the undisputed champion of mobile gaming, at least until Nintendo announce a DS branded phone.