January or early February, a shortened version of an advert made for airing during the Super Bowl was leaked on several websites. On February 6, 2011, the device was officially announced with the broadcast of the version of this ad. On February 13, 2011 more details were released by Sony Ericsson. Release The phone was initially announced as having a March 2011 release timeframe. However, the final release date slipped into April 1, 2011, when the device was released in the UK, Ireland and Spain. On April 28, 2011, it was launched in Canada, exclusively to Rogers. The US launch was officially scheduled for Spring 2011, and while a time frame of mid-April was initially given, the device's launch was pushed back to May 26. In Indonesia, the device was launched on XL Axiatta network on July 29, 2011. On September 18, 2011, the Xperia Play 4G was released for AT&T, it features HSPA+ for faster speeds and it comes in a Stealth Blue color. In the US, the Xperia Play was initially available only on the Verizon network, until the release of the Xperia Play 4G on AT&T. In Mexico it was available through Telcel. In the UK, carriers O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and Three have confirmed that they were to stock the handset. In Canada, the device was carried exclusively by Rogers Wireless. Android updates On September 8, 2011, Sony Ericsson confirmed that the Xperia Play, and all Xperia phones released in 2011, would receive an update to Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich". However, on May 25, 2012, it was stated that following beta testing and discussions with developers, the Xperia Play would not receive an update to Android 4.0, citing stability concerns. Emulation and homebrew Since the Xperia Play runs on Android, the device may install apps for playing homebrew games. It is commonly used to run emulators for older game systems such as Atari 2600, MAME, Commodore 64, SNES, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation Portable, and many others. See also List of Android devices N-Gage Sony Tablets References External links Official website Android (operating system) devices Sony Ericsson smartphones Mobile phones introduced in 2011 Slider phones