Xperia PLAY was Google’s hero phone, before being dropped for Nexus S

An interesting article over at Android Community claims that the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY was at one time going to be the next Google phone (with stock Android). The author claims that it subsequently fell “out of grace” with Google, allowing Samsung to jump in and claim the mantra with their Nexus S smartphone.

This is one of the reasons that Sony Ericsson will be one of the first manufacturers to launch hardware with Android 2.3, as they had access to months of prior testing. Their source claims that the Xperia PLAY was tested for reliability by both Verizon and AT&T since November 2010 and was planning a Q1 2011 launch. The Xperia PLAY will hit that deadline regardless, as it is set to launch on 31 March 2011 (at least in the UK) and Sony Ericsson is betting on it heavily, planning the largest marketing campaign it has ever overseen for the UK market.

Tagged as: Android, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Sony Ericsson, Xperia PLAY