PSPhone at E3?

 

Since the release of the PSP there have been rumour everywhere about a potential PSP/Sony Ericsson smart phone but we have never seen anything. While the Sony Ericsson Aino offered remote play it didn’t even begin to touch the gaming aspect of the PSP or PS3. However comments made by the President of Sony Ericsson, Bert Nordberg have sparked new rumours about this long sought after product finally becoming a reality.  Here’s what he said:

We missed the window for high-end and touchscreen devices big time . . .Part of the recovery will be much better design and closer work with our partner Sony… In the past there was no tie-up between us, the PSP platform and Sony, but you can expect to hear much more about that.

What was that he said? Working with Sony, thats a hint if I ever saw one, while he doesn’t confirm or deny the existance of a PSP Phone he does refer directly to a PSP phone, it at least means it’s on their minds. Now he finishes his statement by saying they will be telling us more soon. How soon? We can only speculate, however there are two major events coming up which may be when an announcement is made, GDC and E3. It is unlikely that there will be any announcement at the Games Developers Conference next month, it’s simply too soon. These comments only came out yesterday and to reveal a product just 3 weeks after is very unorthodox. But you never know, sometimes that’s what Sony is. E3 is a safer bet though, it’s arguably one of the biggest annual gaming expos and because it falls in June it will give Sony and Sony Ericsson time to prepare whatever it is they’ve got. Once again I cannot make accurate predictions simply because there isn’t much that I and everyone else knows, especially in regards to where this mystery product is in the development process. Is it ready to manufacture? Or is it only at the concept stage? We just don’t know.

But whenever this product is announced what will it be? Will it be an upgraded Sony Aino, not a PSP Phone but one that does have some PS3 and PSP functionality? Or a fully fledged PSP/Smart phone combo? Some how I think it’s unlikely to be the latter of the two, maybe I’m just being skeptical, let down by all the other hints and rumours left by Sony and the gaming industry but the PSP Phone feels like something that will never happen. I just don’t believe Sony would take such a gamble, they’re just scraping back the money invested in the PS3 and PSP, why risk it all again? I think Sony will be playing it safe for a while yet but you never know, Sony is like your crazy uncle. You’re not sure what he’s going to do next, many times he does something disastrous  but occasionally he pleasantly surprises you with something entertaining.

Bad metaphors aside, here is what I think will happen in a nutshell. They’re will be a small hint at something at GDC. No picture or any other details, maybe a title if we’re lucky. Then at E3 they will make a full announcement. The PSPhone is being developed and we’ll get a couple of pictures as well as some tech specs. It’ll look something like this:

While it’s not the do it all smart phone we hoped for, it does allow you to play PSP Minis stored on you’re PS3 as well as featuring remote play for movies, pictures and other media. On top of that you will be able to access the social functions of the PS3 and PSP. Accessing you’re friends list and being able to use messaging and chat rooms.

So what are your thoughts? Will we be seeing a PSP phone anytime soon? Leave a comment.