MWC 2011 Live: Sony Ericsson Event Brings Xperia Play, Neo, Pro & Arc; All Took the Stage

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We were on location today in Barcelona at the Opium Mar where Sony Ericsson had a very special Android event. The company unveiled four new Android handsets today, if we count the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, which was actually launched at CES 2011.

Nevertheless we attended the presentation and marked down the most important details of this first MWC event. Right from the start President and CEO Bert Nordberg confirmed the Xperia line is a core part of Sony Ericsson’s reinvented mobile lineup. Sony Ericsson didn’t do so well during the last years, but once it started selling the Xperia phones things turned around. Right now we’re looking at 10 million Xperia phones sold and at an impressive 1.1 Euros “turnaround”.

That meant we were going to see a bunch of new devices on stage, most of them Xperia Android devices. And we were not wrong. After the Xperia Arc, which was launched back at CES, we saw the Neo, the Pro and the much-expected Xperia Play get official.

You’ll notice that Sony Ericsson, in partnership with Sony, naturally, is very interested in making modern Android smartphones on-the-go entertainment devices whether we’re talking about games, videos or movies. These new Xperia handsets will come with HDMI support, the Bravia Mobile Engine, or Exmor R support for mobile.

The Xperia Arc was the first to hit the stage, and we were looking at a 4.2-inch Reality Display (you really got to love this display pet name) device ready to rock our worlds with Gingerbread action and, most importantly, to ship in March.

Next up was the Xperia Neo, which we expected to show up in Spain. We’re looking at a chunkier Android handset still capable to offer the same entertainment features we mentioned: HD Video, HDMI support, 8-megapixel camera and Exmor R for mobile. Sony Ericsson demoed the Neo on stage and showed us a multitasking solution for widgets (pinch the screen to view and select the one you want to use) and a new Folders feature which works pretty much as you expect it to: select apps and drop them one on top of the other. The phone worked well when bound to that Sony big-screen TV as we were shown pictures and videos to prove the handset is up for more entertainment than we anticipated. And, once you plug it in, you can start using your TV remote control to go through those videos and pictures.

Following the Neo we were offered the Xperia Pro, the ultimate entertainment smartphone but also the ultimate messaging Android device. Sporting a QWERTY slide-out keyboard on top of the same entertainment features we already mentioned, the Pro wants to be a pro messaging device. Sony Ericsson demoed its messaging capabilities on stage and revealed in the process a new user interface for email. You can split the display and preview each message while your inbox is still available on the left hand side. The phone’s keyboard is supposed to be pretty smart too as it will help you reply faster to incoming mails since it’ll basically know that’s what you want to do once you slide it out.

But once we got these three new Xperia babies out of the way, on came the star of the show, the Xperia Play, the phone we’ve expected for years and years to be made. The PlayStation Phone has been officially unveiled today, and while it’s called the Xperia Play, it’s still the first handset in the world to be PlayStation certified, and Sony Ericsson made sure we know that. No specs and features have been mentioned on stage, but Sony Ericsson did mention quite a few times how important mobile entertainment is.

The Xperia line has come a long way, and the Xperia Play might be one of the best Sony Ericsson handsets yet, but will it be a must-have handset? Sony’s Kazuo Hirai was also welcomed on stage to talk more about the PlayStation Suite, and the PlayStation Certified License program. Why you ask? Well because it just so happens that the Xperia Play is going to be the first PlayStation-certified handset in the world, and most likely not the last.

The PlayStation Play will be launched in March, and gamers should be happy to hear it will come preloaded with legendary original PlayStation content. 50 titles will be available at launch from publishers like Glu, EA, Gameloft, Digital Chocolate, Digital Legends, Fish Labs or Digital Legends. But more developers will probably want to develop games for the Xperia Play should it become a best-seller device.

Speaking about the launch of the Xperia Play we heard the phone is coming out this March. So just in a few weeks gaming aficionados will be able to get themselves a mobile PlayStation fix. Games from the Android market or previous PlayStation One titles are going to be available in the future, so gaming on the go on the Play already seems pretty interesting, But can it beat the iOS-games out there?

The good news for those Verizon customers that didn’t purchase the iPhone 4 or aren’t planning to get the HTC Thunderbolt either is that they’ll be able to get the Play from Verizon too, which is, so far, the only U.S. carrier getting the phone.

What about you, folks? What Xperia handset impressed you today? We’ll be back with more Xperia news as we took each handset on a hands-on ride for you so stay close!