the mobile phone and gaming magazine www.phonicamagazine.co.uk
Volume 2
Issue3
EDITOR’S LETTER ROLL ON THE SUNNY DAYS Yes, oh yes. Finally the sun is gracing us with its warm embrace. I couldn’t resist an office day at the park, so armed with my iPad 2 (which I stood in the queue from 4:30am for) and my XPERIA Play I decided to take advantage of the 20 degrees of sun rays hi ng the park while I wrote this. With the li le twinge of sunshine everyone seems to be in a happier mood. The iPad 2 is here, NHS reform is on hold and the XPERIA Play is here to entertain. A er a ending Sony Ericsson’s launch of this phone it is evident this phone manufacturer is once again the talk of London town…all for good reasons I must say. By launching the one and only true smartphone with D-Pad integrated controls for gaming Sony Ericsson has created a new category, shaking the industry the same way the Cuper no guys did when the iPhone was first launched. Awesome, isn’t it? Well I’d quit bragging about this device and let you decide a er reading our review of the Play and our feature interviews with Nathan Vau er, Managing Director of Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland and Julian Stocker, Managing Director of Gamelof UK. And if you fancy ge ng an XPERIA Play be sure to enter this issue’s compe on, as we’d be giving one away courtesy the lovely folks at Sony Ericsson! Okay I finish now…back to my tan at Hyde Park. Enjoy reading, Your Editor in Chief
Kevin Leonce
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NEWS SONY ERICSSON SURE KNOWS HOW TO THROW A PARTY! The date had been circled in people’s diaries for months beforehand. Mee ngs were cancelled, dinners postponed and families sent away for the night. All this for the launch party for the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, the first true gaming phone that everyone has been talking about for months. It’s said to be the next best thing in mobile gaming that recent advancement in smartphone technology was preparing us for: the first smartphone with dedicated gaming bu ons. And voila, the XPERIA Play arrived! We had difficulty finding The Old Sor ng Office on To enham Court Road at first, relying on good old faithful Google Maps to send us to the right place. Instead it sent us about five minutes down the road from where we were meant to be. And, as we didn’t know this at the me, we walked around aimlessly for half an hour trying to find the right place. Once we found the building though, there was no confusion. The walls were covered in Sony Ericsson logos! Inside, the place was decorated in an Ancient Chinese theme; with big Chinese symbols everywhere... there were a few things that weren’t what you think of as typically Chinese, like a broken helicopter and surface-to-air missiles!
But we were all there to see the Xperia PLAY, it was the launch party a er all, and this was clear as soon as you walked in. With XPERIA Players mingling amongst the crowd, swamped by clusters of eager persons desperate to get their hands on this gaming smartphone for a demonstra on I managed to get my me with the Play. With the Sony Ericsson team extremely excited and well informed it was a pleasant interac on, engaging in debates while showing off their extensinve knowledge on the XPERIA Play.
“INSIDE, THE PLACE WAS DECORATED IN AN ANCIENT CHINESE THEME; WITH BIG CHINESE SYMBOLS EVERYWHERE...” A well executed launch this event had everything a successful smartphone launch party was made of: a great device, an eager crowd, drinks, food and a good atmosphere backed by great entertainment (thanks to Tinchy Stryder). All in all, despite the trouble finding the place, it was a very good party with a great vibe and an impressive phone…stay tuned for our review! Ma Foley
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NEWS
INQ PHONES BRING FACEBOOK TO LIFE ON TWO NEW SOCIAL MOBILES INQ ANNOUNCES TWO NEW ANDROIDS; THE INQ CLOUD TOUCH AND INQ CLOUD Q INQ Mobile delivered an all-new Facebook mobile experience with two new Android devices, the INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q. Built for people worldwide who use Facebook as their primary means of communica on, they deliver a fully live Facebook experience built around INQ’s Visual Media Feed. The result of close collabora on with Facebook, INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q feature all new apps for Facebook on mobile. The new apps leave behind the mobile paradigm of text based status updates and deliver a rich media feed to the homescreen.
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Frank Meehan, INQ’s CEO, said: “We started the ‘Social Mobile’ category 3 years ago with the Skypephone and INQ1, as we believed integra ng the internet was the future of mobile. Since then, Facebook has evolved from a social network to become an incredibly powerful global communica ons pla orm. Speed and simplicity of access to things you love is our DNA, so our next step is to make it even easier for people to experience the richness of Facebook – all from the homescreen. The power of the Facebook pla orm enables us to make the INQ Cloud Touch a deeply immersive social mobile experience.”
“THE INQ CLOUD TOUCH IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HOW THE NEXT GENERATION OF PHONES WILL BE BUILT.”
“FACEBOOK HAS EVOLVED FROM A SOCIAL NETWORK TO BECOME AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS PLATFORM.” Henri Moissinac, Head of Mobile Business for Facebook said: “The INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q bring Facebook to people with a single touch while they are mobile and demonstrate the power of socially aware devices. INQ has built an innova ve and easy to use set of features that enable people to use common Facebook interac ons such as viewing photos and videos, chat, message, and check-in to their favorite businesses all from the home screen.”
Spo fy CEO and Founder, Daniel Ek, said: “The INQ Cloud Touch is a perfect example of how the next genera on of phones will be built - from the cloud up - and we’re excited to make Spo fy a part of that.” INQ Cloud Touch is available through The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy, soon to be followed by the INQ Cloud Q in Q3 2011.
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PREVIEWS
DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION PUBLISHERS: SQUARE ENIX DEVELOPERS: EIDOS MONTREAL FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3, PC GENRE: ACTION RPG AVAILABLE: AUGUST 2011
BACK TO THE DAWN OF RECREATION.
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PREVIEWS
F.E.A.R. 3 PUBLISHERS: WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE DEVELOPERS: DAY 1 STUDIOS FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3, PC GENRE: FIRST PERSON SHOOTER AVAILABLE: MAY 26TH 2011 phonica magazine uk
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REVIEWS
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COMPETITION
WIN AN
XPERIA PLAY! IN THIS ISSUE ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN AN XPERIA PLAY, COURTESY OF SONY ERICSSON.
THIS GAMING PSP SMARTPHONE COULD BE YOURS! ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR COMPETITION DETAILS! phonica magazine uk
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