It just goes to show, that there can be truth to rumours.

For well over a year a Playstation phone was talked about by salivating gamers and phone geeks, even with 'could this be it?' images being posted up within tech forums.

Sony, wisely, kept tight lipped about it, until earlier this year, when the handset unleashed itself onto the U.S. Market.

Base platform of the Xperia Play (note: not Playstation phone), is Google's wildly rampant Android.

Running the latest release - Gingerbread, and as with all Android systems, cellular manufacturers are able to manipulate the open source OS and 'tweak' it. Usually to the detriment of user experience.

Sadly the Xperia is no different in regards to this.

Myself, being a techy, have owned/tried most cellphone OS's, from the aging Symbian, Windows Mobile, to various versions of Android and of course iOS (iPhone).

Knowing what to expect from Android I skipped through the Xperia's Apps section after browsing the Home Screens (more on that in a bit).

Most notably, the 'My Files' was missing. The phone is shipped with an 8GB microSD card, as the internal memory is teeny at only 400MB, so most installs and of course Apps that you purchase or photos that you take are going to be slapped on the removable SD (which you can freely upgrade to a maximum 32GB).

App Installer is the only way to see some of your SD Card's contents, or by syncing the Xperia to your PC.

This was abit of an inconvenience, as you could only delete, effectively, any unused or no longer needed files or folders via PC synchronisation.

512MB of RAM ensured that there was no lag in gaming or freezing of the phone or App functions.

Two cameras are on the device, with the main rear one being a low 5MP, accompanied with an LED flash. Taking pictures in low light, even with the auto flash, still proved to be disastrous.

The Home Screen is also Xperia themed, but also customizable, so you can put all of your favourite App shortcuts and/or make it look how YOU want to.

Phone functions are at best, standard and include the usual suspects; SMS, MMS, Voice Dial and so forth. I used New Zealand's newest and cheapest GSM provider, 2Degrees on the handset I had to play with and had no issue with any of the above, and Data transactions worked seamlessly, aswell as Video Calling.

But you wouldn't own an Xperia Play just to go down the Android path, well, not on a sole basis anyway.

The Playstation function is where it's at and what makes this a world away from ANY other cellphone on the market.

A slide out controlpad (similar to a slide out QWERTY keyboard on other devices) makes gameplay a cinch.

Featuring the Triangle, X, Circle and Square to the Right and D-Pad to the left will see you in familiar territory, also add to that, touch sensitive circles for the two analogue sticks.

Ironically the game that ships with the phone from SCEE - Crash Bandicoot, does not make use of the Analogues. There are also a couple of freebies from Electronic Arts and Gameloft. These do support the sticks, but not very well, and you'll see yourself resorting back to the D-Pad almost instantly.

The above game development companies, along with a few more are or have already created titles exclusively for this handset.

By touching the 'Get Games' or 'Xperia Play' icons under the App screen you'll find a myriad of titles for purchase.

The controlpad also works with Android games too. Lovely.

Personally I had followed the Xperia Play from the first round of rumours to see how it all panned out and had had it in my hands, absolutely loved it, despite the restrictions imposed on Android functionality and the fact that the Playstation games side of it is totally locked (you cannot add your own ISO's (disc images) from existing games that you may already own), under the devices certified Playstation function.

I'd also like to see this being able to connect to one's PSN account, and be able to play PSOne titles that you may have already purchased from the Online Playstation service.

Another addition that would be beneficial and keep gamers enthralled would be the inception of portability for PSP games, although this could render the PSP redundant and there IS another Playstation Portable console just around the corner, so I guess that we are unlikely to obtain that function.

Similar in shape to the ill fated PSP-Go, the Xperia Play is one awesome handset to have and is bound to give that wow factor to your mates that are still clunking away on older Android devices.

It was a smart move for Sony Ericsson to adopt the Android platform and include a certified Playstation aspect, but they will need to continually keep the flow of PSOne's kazillion back catalogue games going to keep the handset alive.

I'd hate to see this marvel end up being forgotten about much like the last greatest gaming phone, the Nokia N-Gage (shudder).

Be sure to be lining up outside your local cellphone store in late June to acquire the best games phone on the global market.