Just one of the hundreds of trailers available

The story

As any hardcore PS3 gamer will attest, it’s all about the trophies. And the online friends. The more of those the better. Sadly, you can only spend a certain amount of time tinkering with your PS3. The harsh realities of the world demand things like a regular income in order to fund the snaffling of new PS3 titles.

But Sony feels your pain. It knows you want the latest gaming news at your fingertips. It knows you want to keep tabs on your friends online movements 24/7. It knows you’re about more than just games.

So Sony has released, what we call ‘an app for that’. Version 1.0 of its official Playstation app hit the Android Market earlier this week and we’ve given it the thrice over.

The experience

Sony’s boxed clever here with an approximation of its neat XMedia bar that manages to capture the feel of a Sony device quite neatly. You’ve got four options to choose from on the home screen

My PSN
Which gives you access to your online account and thus the ability to spy on your friends recent triumphs and the opportunity to metaphorically count your gold in the shape of your game trophies.

News & Blog
Links you to the official Playstation.Blog and the official PSN news feed for up-to-the-minute PS3, PS2 and PSP info.

Browse all games
Rattle through a comprehensive list of titles on all Playstation plaforms. Watch trailers and get release dates and storyline details.

More than games
Gaming hardware and new service upgrade announcements. Everything from the launch of Move to 4OD hitting the PS3 for the first time ever.

Settings
Really dull. We had a look in there but it was rubbish. The usual language, privacy and terms of use gubbins.

And that’s it. It doesn’t, for example, allow you to remote play games, but that’s no real surprise. Nor does it allow you to share pictures with your PS3. in fact, it doesn’t really do a whole lot at the moment, bar playing the role of a neat conduit from your Android device to the world of Playstation. A Playstation walled garden, if you like.

Sony’s stated it’s already working on new functionality for the next update and we’re fairly sure that it won’t be long until, say, image-sharing is a reality. We think that game-sharing is slightly further over the horizon, but this is a well-designed app that’s a joy to use and will be essential viewing for compulsive PS3ers. The rest of us will find it a welcome diversion for perhaps a few minutes a week but Life of Android definitely sees potential…

The bottom line

Stalk your online friends, gaze in awe at your hard-won trophies and get the latest Playstation news and videos all in one app.

Additional info

Version tested: 1.0 (all Android versions)