Had we never played with the Xperia Arc, we would have been really worried about this, but the Arc has shown us that the overlay can be a lot less troublesome now it's been 'unhooked' from the Android OS.
This means Sony Ericsson can create updates more quickly, and the lag that was present in the X10 may have been reduced significantly.
We're not sure whether we'll ever warm to the 'Splines' method of showing off Twitter and Facebook updates, but we are in love with the 'pinch widgets view', where pinching the screen will show off all the active widgets running and let you jump straight to them.
We're not sure we'll actually ever use the functionality, but it still looks pretty cool and will likely be very handy for a few people.
The rest of the OS is simple Android with a smattering of Sony Ericsson functionality thrown in to the mix - for instance, the messaging keyboard has been upgraded to be a lot more accurate in our early tests, and this should mimic both the Xperia Arc and Google Nexus S in being a lot more intuitive.
The Music Player has been given the same update as before from Sony Ericsson, except in this case the MediaScape overlay has been dialled back to give you only the widget offering, rather than the full-blown experience.
This is good, as it means users will be able to use and view their music a lot more simply than before, but will also still be able to access the same YouTube listings and the like via the infinity button to enhance the media experience.
As we mentioned above, we were unable to test out the screen resolution or see if the Bravia engine was present and working correctly, but we imagine that that large, hi-res screen will be able to pump out the video with the best of the them - and thankfully there's a MicroSD card slot on offer too, making it much easier to hot swap content.
There are still a few elements we couldn't properly test on our device, with things like the internet and call quality not available for test - however, we were told there will be a secondary noise cancelling microphone under the hood, so at least we can console ourselves with improved voice quality.
Let's be clear: as with all our hands-on reviews here at TechRadar, we're still awaiting a few tweaks and updates before the final UK release date is confirmed, so we won't be passing final judgement until we get the finished review unit - which this very much is not.
However, there are a number of things that we hope will be sorted before the final release: the home screen orientation needs to be able to go landscape for one.
Another nice feature would the shoulder keys acting as a camera shutter, making it easy to use the function without having to activate it on the screen.
And of course, let's get some games on board as well - but we reckon that one just MIGHT be sorted in the next few weeks.
We'll be at Mobile World Congress 2011 and will be front and centre when this phone is announced at Sunday's press conference - and stay tuned for our full Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review as soon as we can get our hands on a final model.
This means Sony Ericsson can create updates more quickly, and the lag that was present in the X10 may have been reduced significantly.
We're not sure whether we'll ever warm to the 'Splines' method of showing off Twitter and Facebook updates, but we are in love with the 'pinch widgets view', where pinching the screen will show off all the active widgets running and let you jump straight to them.
We're not sure we'll actually ever use the functionality, but it still looks pretty cool and will likely be very handy for a few people.
The rest of the OS is simple Android with a smattering of Sony Ericsson functionality thrown in to the mix - for instance, the messaging keyboard has been upgraded to be a lot more accurate in our early tests, and this should mimic both the Xperia Arc and Google Nexus S in being a lot more intuitive.
The Music Player has been given the same update as before from Sony Ericsson, except in this case the MediaScape overlay has been dialled back to give you only the widget offering, rather than the full-blown experience.
This is good, as it means users will be able to use and view their music a lot more simply than before, but will also still be able to access the same YouTube listings and the like via the infinity button to enhance the media experience.
As we mentioned above, we were unable to test out the screen resolution or see if the Bravia engine was present and working correctly, but we imagine that that large, hi-res screen will be able to pump out the video with the best of the them - and thankfully there's a MicroSD card slot on offer too, making it much easier to hot swap content.
There are still a few elements we couldn't properly test on our device, with things like the internet and call quality not available for test - however, we were told there will be a secondary noise cancelling microphone under the hood, so at least we can console ourselves with improved voice quality.
Let's be clear: as with all our hands-on reviews here at TechRadar, we're still awaiting a few tweaks and updates before the final UK release date is confirmed, so we won't be passing final judgement until we get the finished review unit - which this very much is not.
However, there are a number of things that we hope will be sorted before the final release: the home screen orientation needs to be able to go landscape for one.
Another nice feature would the shoulder keys acting as a camera shutter, making it easy to use the function without having to activate it on the screen.
And of course, let's get some games on board as well - but we reckon that one just MIGHT be sorted in the next few weeks.
We'll be at Mobile World Congress 2011 and will be front and centre when this phone is announced at Sunday's press conference - and stay tuned for our full Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review as soon as we can get our hands on a final model.
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