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Sony Ericsson Xperia Play at Kmart $199 on Sale from 19th April

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Play at Kmart $199 on Sale from 19th April
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L[Deactivated] on 15/04/2012 - 12:31 files.ozbargain.com.au (5014 clicks)
Last edited 16/04/2012 - 18:44

http://www.kmart.com.au/Catalogue/Catalogue.aspx?CatalogueID…, page 13
photo of item in kmart catalogue
http://upload.ozbargain.com/2012/04/14/8197_xperiaplaysmall.…

the fine print says pre paid phones are network locked, but doesnt go into which carrier (confirmed, its telstra!) thanks ryang;)
could it be unlocked by software easily?

slim pickings for large screen budget android phones that 'may' be upgradeable to android 4.0 in the future
this phone being single core and only 512MB is a bummer, but the slide out game pad is its killer feature

some phone specs
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_play-3608.php
this phone on offer here should be the 850mhz version (thanks oringal)

a different version of this phone (900mhz)in dick's catalogue has 'not recommended for telstra 3G from 31/8/12 or next G'
since that phone is not 850mhz and will be obsolete soon (if used on telstra network) as telstra are phasing out 2100mhz for phones. http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/coverage-networks/ne…

Mobile Mobile Phone Sony Ericsson Android

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closed Comments

  • Twisty on 15/04/2012 - 12:56
    +2

    Is there different versions of this phone?

  • baloo247 on 15/04/2012 - 12:57
    +3

    picture says telstra, and the phone does support 850mhz if you get the right version. could be tempting.

  • ryang on 15/04/2012 - 12:58
    +3

    the fine print says pre paid phones are network locked, but doesnt go into which carrier it is. (assume its optus). could it be unlocked by software easily?

    It's locked to Telstra. As it's a Telstra prepaid phone, as it says in the image you posted.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/04/2012 - 14:11
      +3

      lol yes telstra, I checked before i posted it many times but still missed that very important info.
      mustve edited the post a dozen times for clarity. Ill put it down to first post jitters.

      still interested in what frequency this phone is considering the dse version being incompatible soon.

  • Balls on 15/04/2012 - 13:06
    +1

    cant be unlocked software wise

  • Vader on 15/04/2012 - 13:09
    +2

    Official Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade planned (may require unlocked handset?) http://www.xda-developers.com/android/xperia-play-gets-offic…

  • oringal on 15/04/2012 - 13:41
    +1

    http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/mobile-phones/androi…
    also part of telstra's line up of android phones

  • Fuzor on 15/04/2012 - 13:46
    +2

    unbelievable deal! Can't believe this still havent made it to the front page almost 2 hours…guess its a shitty slow day

    Edit: Just to add guaranteed to have ice cream sandwich and sony playstation store
    http://blogs.sonymobile.com/products/2011/11/15/ice-cream-sa…

    • ozf1 on 17/04/2012 - 22:43

      Thanks for the info re:ICS fuzor, I bought the phone today, ICS should be good, good on sony for officially confirming the update. (I am moving from HTC Touch diamond2(OG RRP when purchased $800+!) HTC never really upgraded anything!.
      Value for money IMO, you can't beat this phone. I nearly bought it on-line last year from techrific. I believe it is still selling for $400.00+(http://www.techrific.com.au/sony-ericsson-xperia-play-androi…)

  • Bugatti on 15/04/2012 - 13:47

    absolutely brilliant

    • dealman on 16/04/2012 - 06:41
      +3

      This is why I love OZ bargain,
      Look at the first ten posts here excluding mine ofcourse….

      Each one has valuable information about the deal. All the Op had to do was link to the deal / or just mention it and the Ozba"robots" get to work and all the important info is up here quicker than any shopping assistant could find out for you.

      Go OzBargain Go!

  • Bugatti on 15/04/2012 - 13:48
    +1

    would you guys buy one for this price?
    I'm not really sure, but i know that this is a brilliant deal
    Fantastic Job!!!!!!!!

  • scrimshaw on 15/04/2012 - 13:53
    +2

    How easy is it to unlock… that's the main question.

    • Shaw on 15/04/2012 - 14:01
      +3

      You need to research your claim son… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history

      • alebox on 15/04/2012 - 14:07

        froyo is frozen yoghurt in case that throws you :P
        they have a pretty easily to follow theme. i personally like donut the most haha

    • PainToad on 15/04/2012 - 14:10
      +20

      Look I hate Android, but please get your facts right. Google do put "thought" into the OS names, they're alphabetical.
      1.5 Cupcake
      1.6 Donut
      2.0 Eclair
      2.2 Froyo
      2.3 Gingerbread
      3.0 Honeycomb
      4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
      5.0 Jelly Bean
      6.0 Key Lime Pie

      • quickling on 15/04/2012 - 14:11

        what is key lime pie?

        • PainToad on 15/04/2012 - 14:22

          When a man and woman love each other very much the man takes his….

        • niknah on 15/04/2012 - 21:14
          +4

          A sweet tart that you can buy in Florida. It's pretty nice. Well known in the US, not here.

        • Telios on 20/04/2012 - 12:38

          Is Delicious

      • Housecat on 15/04/2012 - 14:47
        +31

        Why would you "hate" an OS? Maybe you need a hobby?

      • hfhf on 15/04/2012 - 14:49
        +2

        Not bad, one of the hate post that gets some pluses.

  • sleepyowl on 15/04/2012 - 13:56
    +2

    thinking of getting it just to emulate…

    • Mungulz on 15/04/2012 - 14:43

      dont get too excited, not sure how well it runs N64oid, my dual core at 1.5ghz struggles at times.

      • sleepyowl on 15/04/2012 - 15:18
        +2

        :'(
        my old desire is really dying now gs3 where are you

      • Sage on 15/04/2012 - 15:20

        does PS1 games & minecraft though.

      • Windows7forever on 16/04/2012 - 08:38

        SNES and Genesis will run perfectly. N64 may be iffy.

  • DaTa on 15/04/2012 - 13:59

    How much are games for this thing? or did this idea or platform fail?

    • doperst on 15/04/2012 - 14:21

      This site lists all (or almost all) games optimized for Xperia Play:
      http://xperiaplaygamer.net/
      my games Doptrix and Doptrix Evolution are also there :)

  • Timothy-Mineworker on 15/04/2012 - 14:15
    -2

    i have one can be jailbroken, very little ps1 games, if you dont update the phone, you can convert ur ps1 games to it

  • cmdbash on 15/04/2012 - 14:24

    can this phone be easily unlocked?

  • wildstone on 15/04/2012 - 14:38
    -1

    Just wondering if this is better than psp if buying it solely to play games ?

    • lostn on 15/04/2012 - 14:45

      It doesn't play PSP games I don't think. It just plays Android games but has buttons for controls. But PSP failed largely because of mobile devices. No one wants to carry two handheld devices on them when they can do everything on one.

      Personally I'm not a huge fan of touch screen gaming, so I don't bother with mobile phone gaming at all. This would be a step up, but the games at your disposal are still the same games someone with another Android phone would have. Unless there's some Play exclusive games you can't get. I'm not certain there is, but it's possible.

    • fufufu on 15/04/2012 - 14:48

      No. It only has a selection of PSP game available on the Android Market and since it doesn't have a UMD slot it cannot play PSP games which aren't on it.

    • hfhf on 15/04/2012 - 14:52

      It doesn't play PSP games. Some classic PS1 games are rehashed on the Experia Play, but that's about it. Better off buying a PSP for PSP games. After all, casual touchscreen gaming can't get near the quality of a proper PSP game (eg: GOW, Resistance).

    • lostn on 15/04/2012 - 17:40

      If you're buying it solely to play games, the PSP is cheaper (around $130). I won't argue if it's better or not. The screen on the Play is better than the PSP's, and PSP games typically cost more. But PSP has a bigger library.

      As for as gaming on a mobile phone (for those who also use it as a phone) this is probably the best you can get, if you don't like games with on screen buttons (those are terrible IMO).

      But if you were just buying this device for gaming, consider a 3DS which is around the same price, provided you're willing to pay $50 for a game.

      Or you can import a Vita for around $250-ish and get a better screen and better graphics.

      I personally wouldn't get the XPlay if it was just for gaming. But if I was going to use the phone as well, then why not. It's a great price.

  • yugiyao on 15/04/2012 - 14:41
    +1

    Nice deal:-D

  • netsurfer on 15/04/2012 - 14:55

    At this price, it is a good deal… but…

    This phone has only 400MB internal memory. Unless Sony has some smarts to really push everything to SD card, you will only be able to put limited games / apps on the phone. Even if you use Link2SD + Titanium Backup, it can only put just a few more apps on it.

    Most phones with an Adreno 205 GPU tend to have 1GB to 2GB internal memory. It is a pity this phone isn't one of them (but then again… Acer Liquid Metal isn't one of them either).

    • lostn on 15/04/2012 - 17:43

      You can move installed apps and games to SD card. I do this on my Xperia Ray which has about the same internal memory.

  • highdealer on 15/04/2012 - 15:19

    My Xperia S struggle to run android game like blood and glory, and it has a dual core 1.5 GHz processor with 1 GB ram.
    So i am not so sure about this phone being able to run any quality game with just 1GHz and 512MB ram.
    May be it will be different when they get the upgrade to ICS.
    So if you are going to buy this phone to play game i rather suggest you buy a psp vita.
    However this is a good deal on a PHONE that have potential to have ICS

    • Fasty on 16/04/2012 - 11:37

      That's weird. My lowly HTC Incredible S with single core 1GHz seems to handle it ok. Also I think ICS is over-rated, it's not THAT amazing an upgrade really.

  • scrimshaw on 15/04/2012 - 16:28

    I googled a bit and found Sony's official instructions on how to unlock the bootloader which will unlock the device — at the risk of voiding your warranty.

    • xxxfbsxxx on 15/04/2012 - 16:57

      it unlocks the bootloader so you can apply cook rom but it does not unlock the network lock

      • scrimshaw on 15/04/2012 - 17:54

        Well, damn. That puts a damper on my plans… so the SIM lock is not governed by the bootloader?

        Replacing the ROM does not unlock the phone either, that's what I am guessing. Not as simple as the Acer Liquid Metal a while back.

        • ryang on 15/04/2012 - 18:04

          Nope. Most Android phones can be rooted and flashed with wilful abandon, but still enforce the network lock… Kind of a shame. There are tools out there that will unlock, most for a fee.

  • hj0809 on 15/04/2012 - 18:07

    Apparently this can be network unlocked with various pay services. One of them offering is Davinci team I think for $20 USD. I've used their services to debranding the Sony U1 before without a prob.

  • abc on 15/04/2012 - 18:18
    -1

    Can u download your already purchased PSN content? The xperia's access a "separate" PSN store to the PSP/PS3/PSV do they not?

    Its where $ony falls down compared to Apple's app store. Could this be circumvented by JB?

    • PainToad on 15/04/2012 - 18:52
      +1

      Android phones aren't JB'en, they are rooted

      • dealman on 16/04/2012 - 06:42
        -1

        same thing isn't it man, cut the guy some slack…

    • [Deactivated] on 15/04/2012 - 21:49

      you are correct, and I dont think any psp games work on the experia play.

      this is only good if you want handheld emulation on an android OS and dont want to carry around a psp that does emulation better.

  • MrGareth on 15/04/2012 - 20:09

    Bah I guess it doesn't support the Optus 3G network even if it could be unlocked? Wrong frequency?

    • Fuzor on 15/04/2012 - 21:02

      Well unless you are living in the country then it shouldn't affect you. I thought Optus network in metro areas are only in 2100Mhz (please correct if i'm wrong) if this phone supports so it shouldn't worry you if youre in an urban area

  • ultraskool on 16/04/2012 - 06:53

    Telstra has the most expensive plans and in my experience is one of the hardest carriers to 'unlock'. It's also got it's own range of phones that I'm a bit doubtful about the quality and make of these 'Telstra' phones. Possible a Huawei link there.

    • medium_tight on 16/04/2012 - 10:24
      -6

      is it possoble to use tpg plan? since tpg using telstra line

      • aiyoyo on 16/04/2012 - 10:33
        +6

        tpg use optus not Telstra!

        • medium_tight on 16/04/2012 - 12:43
          -6

          Teltra. i'm sure of it

        • scrimshaw on 16/04/2012 - 14:37
          +1

          Teltra. i'm sure of it

          They use Telstra ADSL hardware, but for mobile networks they resell the Optus network.

          You're getting the 2 confused.

  • Windows7forever on 16/04/2012 - 08:45
    +1

    The most useful function for this phone IMO is to run 16-bit console emulation such as SNES and genesis. Android games are bog standard and work fine on most devices, nothing unique about Xperia. However, The physical buttons are infinitely better than virtual screen buttons and this is the major drawcard. Everything else about it…well it is just a smart phone ultimately.

    • grab_ur_freebies on 16/04/2012 - 13:25

      A +1 for the physical HW buttons. Have an LG P500 which plays SNES 100% speed, but using the touch controls makes it lag & less playable…

  • mutantjohn on 16/04/2012 - 11:50

    You could run game boy games couldn't you?

  • simprosimple on 16/04/2012 - 12:34

    is it really that cheap?? how come i didn't feel like it's a bargain? how to unlock it?

  • kumart75 on 16/04/2012 - 18:30

    Holly cow, this is cheap. This is an awesome phone/PSP device all in one. I hope this is still available because I want a second one for my nephew's birthday coming up.

  • randyzzp on 16/04/2012 - 21:38
    +2

    hey,I already bought from kmart $199, stop talking, get it

    • crfnx on 17/04/2012 - 22:55

      Thanks mate got myself one tonight.

      • bargainhuntaa on 18/04/2012 - 17:42

        Which Kmart did you guys get it from?
        Altona gate had none in stock.

  • syme321 on 17/04/2012 - 00:04

    I'd advise people to go into a phone shop that stocks these and have a play first - I've seen it in Telstra shops. For me the 512M internal memory is a little too low (my pet hate of my Desire - keeps running out of space). Other things I don't like is that the screen is not very bright and the controls feel a bit plasticy. You also have to keep in mind the impact on your battery of playing games.

    Nb I generally like Sony products (I have a PSP, PS1, PS2 & PS3) and really wanted this to work but to me it is just lacking.

    • SYNTAX on 17/04/2012 - 08:05

      (NB: slight topic deviation @syme321)- The Desire can be rooted into the Best (budget) Phone Eva! (IMO) Allowing full use of the Expandable Mem… even upgradeable to ICS! Personal preference is MIUI-AU, but there are plenty to choose from. Suggest looking into it Syme321.

      • ryang on 17/04/2012 - 09:22

        Ehhhhhh.. The original Desire is still pretty limited, however the Desire S is a whole different story.

        PS. I've got both, rooted and many ROMs applied on both.
        PPS. However, the Desire S does have a nasty issue with regard to Market updates and blowing a flash chip …. :/

  • miq on 17/04/2012 - 18:03

    Kmart helensvale has these for 199 right now

  • ergosum on 18/04/2012 - 19:49
    +2

    Just to let you guys know, I bought one and plugged in my woolworths mobile simcard and … it just worked, no unlocking required …
    I did have to fiddle with the internet settings though to get 3g to work (dead easy)

    • hardik1us on 19/04/2012 - 10:12
      +2

      Can someone else confirm this please?

      • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 10:23
        +1

        I have the same request. Sorry to be skeptical, but it is rare to buy a pre-paid phone from Telstra that is unlocked.

        • ergosum on 19/04/2012 - 11:12

          I didn't expect it to work either, I was planning on using one of the unlocking services linked above. The box was still sealed but it did say reserved for staff member XXX on it (dodgy kmart employees) so perhaps the staff member unlocked it remotely? Seems unlikely.

  • casbitton on 19/04/2012 - 11:25
    +1

    Model I picked up was R800A, sadly the bootloader is locked. Oh well, here is hoping Sony officially release ICS soon :).

    • hardik1us on 19/04/2012 - 11:50

      is it network unlocked?

      • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 15:11
        +1

        We have asked the same just above but no one else is confirming @ergosum's claim that his was unlocked. I am keeping the $199 in my pocket unless others confirm. I cant see them being network unlocked tbh.

        • ergosum on 19/04/2012 - 15:30

          it could also be that woolworths mobile simcards are not blacklisted by telstra's locking .. not sure myself.

  • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 16:11

    Seeing as Coles own Kmart, I doubt they will be giving preferentially treatment to their biggest competitors. Secondly, AFAIK, Telstra do not resell their mobile services unlike Optus and AFAIK, Woolworths use the Optus network. You are either a one off lucky buyer, or simply a troll. I suspect the later.

    • ergosum on 19/04/2012 - 17:24
      +2

      See hardik1us below, maybe you should think twice before calling people trolls.

      • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 17:26

        I said 'suspect' :-)

  • hardik1us on 19/04/2012 - 17:01
    +2

    Confirmed works with Optus sim card. Looks like it is unlocked out of the box.

    • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 17:24
      +1

      Can you confirm any specific model / codes on the box that will recognise it (i.e. R800A, R800i)?

      • hardik1us on 19/04/2012 - 17:40
        +1

        It is R800A. I think all phones at kmart are of same model. Also you can't see model number on outer telstra box.It is written over inner sony box.Also to confirm it works with TPG sim card as well.

  • Dhelix on 19/04/2012 - 17:49
    +3

    Got mine as R800A. locked. Doesn't agree with optus sim card.

    • GaelicAU on 19/04/2012 - 18:18

      Anyone else?

  • superalexnguyen on 19/04/2012 - 19:44

    what are the pre installed game in this device? and are the 4 ea promotion games still free to download?

    • TimothyD on 19/04/2012 - 22:07
      +1

      Full game versions of Bruce Lee Dragon, Madden NFL 11, FIFA 10, The Sims 3 and Star Battalion HD
      Also includes a full vverison of Crash Bandicoot for ps1

      Not sure bout the 4 EA promotion games

  • Sydney2K on 19/04/2012 - 19:55

    None in Canberra- went to Tuggeranong and rang up the Belconnen store- neither shop had any units, and didn't have any for some time, or so the shop clerk told me. They are expecting a shipment of phones, but when they couldn't say. :(

  • superalexnguyen on 19/04/2012 - 20:01

    hey to all the people who bought this phone. can you call telstra and see how much it is to unlock . or is it already unlocked?

  • violentpanda on 19/04/2012 - 20:53
    +1

    just bought one from ashfield kmart which has two left.
    it is R800A, but locked with Lycamobile and Three sim card.
    Most important thing is it support 850MHz which support the new telstra 3G after 1/9/12.

    • superalexnguyen on 19/04/2012 - 20:57

      does it work with optus?

      • violentpanda on 19/04/2012 - 20:59

        sry, it doesnt lock three sim card, not sure optus

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