Rent-to-own News - PlayStation Phone set for preorder this month

The industry's first PlayStation-certified cellphone will become available in stores on May 26 at $199 but will be available for preorder on May 19 at Verizon's web site.

Earlier this year, SonyEricsson announced that Verizon would offer the Sony Ericsson Experia Play smartphone in early spring, according to Twice.

The phone's price requires new two-year contract for a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan starting at $39.99/month and a $29.99/month unlimited smartphone data plan.

The smartphone, based on the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smartphone, will come pre-loaded with seven game titles, including Madden NFL 11, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, The Sims 3, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, and Tetris.

In a change from SonyErcisson's previously announced plans, consumers in the U.S. will be able to download additional games through Verizon's V CAST Apps stores, where more than 50 titles will be available at launch. Previously, SonyEricsson said PlayStation games would be available for download from Google's Android Marketplace and that the smartphone maker would launch toward the end of the year a PlayStation Network store to download richer games.

The phone features slide-out game pad with directional keypad, dual analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation symbol keys: circle, X, square and triangle.

Other features include 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon II processor, Adobe Flash player, 4-inch multi-touch display, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, VGA front-facing camera for still shots and video chatting, HDMI output, HD video capture, Sony Exmor  CMOS sensor for low-light photography, Google Mobile Services, DLNA certification, and mobile hotspot capability to share 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

The phone is Sony Ericsson's first phone for a U.S. CDMA carrier in years. The company left the North American CDMA market in 2003.