Vodafone starts pre-orders for Xperia Play

Not the worst offer in the world but I wonder how many gamers will really be buying this given that the NGP will be coming out later this year.
Anyone planning on buying it?

I suspect they won’t be queueing out the door for it on launch day, but – strangely tempting, especially having seen the scary new ads.

Oh, and o2 have the white version exclusively – which looks a lot nicer (for about the first week I guess)

seriously what is it with phone companies and 35 a month that quite alot for what is just a phone (all phones at 35 i’m talking about)

@3
It’s because you don’t pay for the phone at all – so the cost which would normally be £400-odd is included in the contract cost and spread over the contract time period.

still seems way too steep

The ads are quite funny. Its like they have their own Kevin Butler for XPlay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYGiqG2Tfd4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8kiGSY6jqc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKnr8gdoxI8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU4QuP–FnU

@3 Over here, a lot of people I know don’t even own a house phone. Their mobile is their bill phone, and they use a wireless USB modem (or in some cases their phone as a wifi hotspot) for their PC internet access.

And considering that’s about the same price as an average home line, *and* you get an impressive smartphone for next to nothing as part of the package, that’s pretty good value for money.

@5
That £35 includes 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 750Mb worth of mobile downloads a month too.

(Assuming package is the same as say their HTC Desire HD £35 a month package)

Thats £840 overall
unlimited text,900 mins. 750MB of data
Vg247 comes up to about 5MB so i could view this site 150 times in a month. thats just for a benchmark im not actually here THAT much

Seems like a decent plan overall, especially since im in the market for a new phone and i was definitely going with android over iphone.
Im wondering how this will shape up as a normal phone though rather then a gaming device. The newest version of android though so im assuming its pretty good.

Anybody had a play with one of these? How is the touch screen?
also does anybody know if i can get a plan where they will not let me go over my usage? so the bill actually comes to £35 every month?

@9, dunno how Vodafone work it, but basic web browsing doesn’t contribute to your data usage on T-Mobile.

I really want this phone but at 35quid a month i might as well get iphone4/5 ffs

@10, so what does it count for?

@12, Downloads.
@11, If you really want the phone, what makes you think an iPhone would be better at that price?

I have an Ipod touch as a mobile media centre it does everything i need it too good and fast, and I have my old SE k750i as my phone as my Samasung Jet died on me, so SE to me are good phones if my old one still works, but I know Apple products do the job effectively

@11, really? On a £35 a month contract you’re probably looking at an extra £150 or so upfront payment on top for an iphone4 itself, no matter what network/store you look at.

I was going to get iphone4 as I’m in the market for a smartphone, but if I can get this as a free upgrade on a similar cost to what I’m already paying for my old phone it’s a no-brainer.

Pick it up day one. I’ll tell you what it’s like.