Sony Ericsson rolls out three new Xperia Android phones

Hours before the official start of Mobile World Congress 2011, Sony Ericsson has shown off a range of new Xperia Android smartphones, including the first to have PlayStation certification.

The Xperia Play has a slide-out game pad using the traditional PlayStation controls. Meanwhile, two less gaming-oriented devices are the Xperia Pro, a business-focused handset, and the multimedia-centric Xperia Neo.

The Play is based on the Gingerbread (version 2.3) distribution of Android, while Sony Ericsson said the other two would "launch on the latest version of the Android platform" — at the moment, this is Gingerbread.

Both the Pro and Neo have Sony Ericsson's 'Reality Display', suited to multimedia playback, and both have HDMI-out for high-definition link-ups to television sets. The Pro uses a technology called 'Type & Send', which the company says eliminates the need to open a dedicated app for a certain type of message.

The Xperia Pro also comes with Office Suite Pro pre-loaded, and will be rolled out towards the end of the second quarter of this year. The Xperia Neo is due at the end of the first quarter, as is the Xperia Play.