How would I change the Xperia Play. Opinions from a hater.

As it is, the Xperia Play is junk, 'playful' junk if you must.
There is no way one could possibly sugarcoat the Xperia Play's imminent demise. The product and concept in itself was looking to face an uphill battle already, however the lackluster end product pretty much sealed the deal. I don't want to appear to quick to judge though, the Xperia Play still could win an audience of gaming enthusiast who have a complete disregard to the Play's limitations, but a brief analysis will conclude that the Play won't make it. Instead of ranting about how much the Xperia Play would fail though, I figured I would channel these thoughts to more construction tasks, like pretending I was Sony Ericsson and the things I would do to make the Xperia Play a more appealing product.

I just thought that I would add that this brief analysis will be based on reviews of the handset that I have read as obviously I have not been able to get my hands on one (and will probably never).

Displays are normally one of Sony/Sony Ericsson's strong areas with experience from the Bravia line and a legacy dating back to the first Trinitrons. However reviews are telling how phenomenally disappointing the display really is for a phone of this caliber. What's more disappointing is how phenomenally awesome the Xperia Arc's screen is in comparison, so now we know it's not a case of not knowing, they simply didn't try.

• First improvement. Better Display. 

The display as far as I'm concerned is actually one of the smaller of the Play's library of issues. People say rather naively that sex sells, but the simple fact of the matter is that the Xperia Play isn't sexy. Oh shiny, shiny, glossy, glossy - I think someone forgot to tell Sony Ericsson that glossy coverings are actually less attractive than the fingerprints all over them. Additionally, making the edges of the design shiny is fine and all, but when you're using materials like plastic to attempt to simulate a high-profile shining metal aesthetic not only does it come out looking cheap, but the futile attempt is embarrassing. The game-pad isn't the most attractive thing in the world and also adds quite a lot of fat to the device, but then again there isn't much that can be done since the game-pad is the only thing that keeps the device a step (forward or backward) from its competitors. Overall my thoughts on the devices aesthetics are simply my opinions, nevertheless I still hate it. Mind you some people, perhaps even yourself will like the design. But I loathe it with the wrath of anthrax and atomic bombs.

• Second improvement. Give it a goddamn face-lift.

Referring back to improvement number 2, I noted that the game-pad added quite a substantial amount of fatness to the product. Being me, I would delightfully trash the game-pad completely, however that would render the existence of the Xperia Play utterly pointless, which in my brutal honesty is actually preferable. However the point of this post was to discuss ways to improve the Xperia Play, not get rid of it, which I have already written about, to no avail. The game-pad is simply too one purpose to remain useful, I'm sure most users would actually get more productivity from having a QWERTY board there instead.  Having said that, it would be extremely useful to replace the game-pad with a touch screen, so essentially the Xperia Play would be a dual touch-screen phone. The slide out display could be used as a QWERTY, game-pad, secondary screen or used for other applications. Possibilities are endless, and the Xperia Play would not just be the gamers phone.

• Third improvement. Replace that ghastly game-pad with a touch-screen, and give the device real potential.

That pretty much sums it up, my brief analysis on how I would almost completely alter the Xperia Play. I may have skimped out on a couple of small things like the quality of the camera and Android skinning, but these things only really matter to geeks and techies. This is not an insult to average consumers, as I am an average consumer myself, but all that really matters to us is usability and design. The intermediates like camera quality and inside specifications aren't huge selling points. There's a limit to how good a smartphone camera can be until it doesn't really matter anymore. Also, in regards to Android skinning most everyday consumers really have not the slightest clue nor care of how good or bad the Sony Ericsson skin is in comparison to the default Google Android theme. On the other hand, I'm sure some of the things that I mentioned don't matter to you or some people either, it's a spherical world. If you agree or disagree with what I have to say I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to comment. At that, catch ya'nother time