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Just ordered the Xperia Play

B

brons2

Member
I just ordered this phone from Verizon to replace my LG Ally. The touchscreen has been intermittently not working on the Ally which is causing me major problems. The Xperia Play was actually the least expensive real Android phone that Verizon had, that is, not something with a small screen or a crappy processor. The gaming is a nice to have, not a has to have. I am interested in playing Quake3 on it. I'm also a fan of the CoD series, if that is available on the phone.

I looked in the Xperia Root forum and it looks like people are having something of a difficult time rooting the phone. I would really like to be able to do this, my phone is my only source of internet at home and I use a custom ROM on the Ally, Velocity 1.1, which offers Wireless Tethering. I would like to again use the default Android Wireless Tether app with the Xperia Play, but if I could just get the thing rooted, I would settle for Barnacle.

Also as others have noted, I would like to uninstall the Verizon crapware. I have quite a few apps on my Ally and I need to make room on the new phone.

Gingerbread 2.3.3 is a bonus, my current phone is on 2.2.2.

Anyway looking forward to receiving the new phone on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Cheers!
 
Verizon version isn't rooted yet.

Theres a couple of ps1 emulators out there. I think for the xplays fpse is better.

Tethering well theres always a way i guess.
 
I had June Fabrics' PDAnet before, I guess I could go back to that if I can't root. Or I could just use the phone more often than the laptop for online usage. The Xperia Play has a much bigger screen than the Ally.
 
Interesting. I also just ordered the Xperia Play, and I am also replacing an Ally :p

I'm finding mixed reviews on the phone. Some people love it, others not so much. I'm evidently pretty easy to please, because if I wasn't so impressed with the Playstation aspects of the Xperia, I'd be well content just to keep my Ally.

Hope we both enjoy the Xperia! ;)
 
I have a rooted, unlocked verizon xperia play and its great. tethering will be done when more custom roms are available
 
The only thing im not happy with the play is the multiplaye gameplay. Some games requiere you to play on wifi only wich to me makes no sense but quake 3 uses the 3g which is great . Mods for the quake 3 play im still tryin to figure out how to do . So far I got the dreamcast maps to work and the mods appear but dont seem to run unless im doing something wrong . Trial an error .
 
Pretty happy with the phone so far. Even with all the Verizon bloatware, it's still faster than my Ally rooted and with custom ROM. Voice quality is excellent for me.

The graphics on the Asphalt 6 game are very good and the controls work well. Didn't expect to use that feature of the phone so much but I can see how it would turn into a major time-waster. :D

I used EasyTether to tether the phone to my laptop, I was intending on using PdaNet but the market would not let me download it, maybe Verizon has some kind of block. Or they just don't like me, I am already at 2.6GB data usage for this month on the old school unlimited plan and there are still 9 days left in the billing cycle :D

Did a Speedtest from my computer, not bad for USB tethering on 3G, got 1.88Mbit down.



So far so good here, no regrets on replacing my Ally. OK, so I miss the physical keyboard a little, and the screen should be shifted up about a quarter of an inch. Minor quibbles really. Nice phone!

Question: it came with 2.3.2 out of the box, should I upgrade to 2.3.3 or not?
 
Verizonz 2.3.2 is a modified version of 2.3.3 so no need to upgrade. Not having a physical keyboard is a major bust. The best thing I found is an app called swift key, give it a try.
 
The battery life on this phone is really good compared to the Ally. I've had it on and playing with Facebook, Google+ and email all day long and I still have 60% battery left. I would have been dead a while ago on the Ally.
 
brons2 said:
The battery life on this phone is really good compared to the Ally. I've had it on and playing with Facebook, Google+ and email all day long and I still have 60% battery left. I would have been dead a while ago on the Ally.
Click to expand...

I was going to make the exact same comment. I was amazed at how much more battery I finished the day with, compared to my Ally. Everything I do on the XP is much smoother and faster than with the Ally, obviously, but I had no idea how slow it really was :D
 
Sprung said:
Interesting. I also just ordered the Xperia Play, and I am also replacing an Ally :p
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Ha, that makes 3 of us, I just orders the Play today. My Ally touchscreen only displays a black screen now, which makes it pretty worthless, although I did enjoy it while I had it.
Had to fight with Verizon to keep my cheapie 150 mb/$15 plan though (just use 3g for navigation and the rare lookup when i'm outside of wireless LAN range. I've, saved plenty of battery with 3g/bluetooth/etc off. Managed to go 7 days without recharging once....)

Looks like ya'll enjoy the Play, so i hope I will too...
 
skipdutch said:
Ha, that makes 3 of us, I just orders the Play today. My Ally touchscreen only displays a black screen now, which makes it pretty worthless, although I did enjoy it while I had it.
Had to fight with Verizon to keep my cheapie 150 mb/$15 plan though (just use 3g for navigation and the rare lookup when i'm outside of wireless LAN range. I've, saved plenty of battery with 3g/bluetooth/etc off. Managed to go 7 days without recharging once....)

Looks like ya'll enjoy the Play, so i hope I will too...
Click to expand...

I didn't have any trouble at all keeping my 150MB plan. They just transferred everything over to my new phone.
 
Sprung said:
I didn't have any trouble at all keeping my 150MB plan. They just transferred everything over to my new phone.
Click to expand...
yeah, it was complicated, I called yesterday to try to transfer to my spare feature phone (which is setup with a different number we don't use), and the Verizone rep verified that I could transfer my existing plan to a new smartphone. However, she told me to do it online to save the rebate hassle, and she would setup the backup feature phone for my use until then. That didn't work, and when I tried to login to order the Play, the 150mb option wasn't presented, and my Ally wasn't listed on my account anymore, just the feature phone that was tied to two different numbers somehow.

So, when I called in today, the rep said there wasn't an option to for the 150mb plan because it had been removed yesterday to add the feature phone. I said I was going to stick with the feature phone then until my contract was up, and she went to talk to her manager and I finally got what I wanted.
Anyway, in the end, I get a knew phone with awesome features, so its all good :)
 
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