I would just love another dedicated Sony portable system. This idea will do though.

leo-j, more than 9 years on VGC and still the avid Sony warrior.

You forgot the "Who Cares"option in your poll.

No way. Maybe a Vita refresh to take on the Switch concept. But even then it wouldn't succeed imo.

Part of what sells a premium phone is its sex appeal and there's nothing sexy about joysticks on your phone, let alone the fact that it would be a nuisance having those sticks dig into your thigh when your phone was put away in the pocket. Your suggestion about a symbiotic android/PlayStation OS though, I like that and feel that that would be the only viable option for Sony in this hypothetical situation (my reasoning being that I don't think Sony would fare well creating a full fledged mobile OS that could actually compete with iOS or Android, created by the two biggest companies in the world)

The only way this concept would work imo, would be having just a standard candy bar slab style phone that is completely touch capacitive, no joysticks or controller buttons - but instead, sold with every phone, is a high end phone "dock" that's essentially the shell of a controller with all the user inputs that your phone sits in the center of. That way you get the best of a cell phone, the best of a handheld, without having to compromise on appearance or functionality. They would also -really- have to nail the fucking marketing.

A Playstation Phone could be really fantastic but it will probably never happen...

You know...  I always wondered why Sony never tried another shot at the Xperia Play idea, I mean, I know it didnt work the first time but still.

I mean, the Xperia Z3 and Z4 are already several times more powerful than the Vita.  And they both can already run PS1 and PSP games via emulation.  How hard can it be to add physical controls?

And they could also work in their on version of emulators to ensure better performance, and to ensure that people download the games directly from their store.

Sometimes you have to step back, and return when you the right thing. Both Sony Microsoft will be back in the mobile market, but they are laying low until they have a competitive ecosystem ready. The mobile duoply will not be unchallenged until the end of time. There is to much money in mobile, and Google and Apple do not cover the entire market. They are both very stale and resting on top of the montain. More competitors will do great things for the market.

As far as the PS4 Pro Phone, yes, it would absolutly be able to run PS4 coded games. X86 wil become competitive in the mobile market. At 7nm Sony and AMD will be able to develop a low power version of the OG PS4 chips for mobile devices, and it will run all PS4 software with ease.

It absolutly has a chance, and it is not that farfetched. The mobile market is stale and stagnant. It absolutly needs more options for form factor and OS. If people had an option outside of Android and iOS tbat brought something new to the market they would be all over it Microsoft messed up with their last push of Windows phone by trying to be a me too OS. Now they know they have to be different, and Surface Phone will be the right product when it launches. The same will be true for Sony whenever they decide to make their move. As long as Sony ties their mobile ecosystem and their home ecosystem together behind one os, chip set, and network they will be a very strong competitor.

Sony doesnt need nvidia. AMD and Sony will be able to develop a chip at 7nm that will be able to run all PS4 games. The mobile gaming device market is massive, and in no way niche. With the right phone/handheld device you are talking about nearly 300 million people. All of the people that bought PSP and DS would be back, and more would follow. The current slab phones are not the be all end all. They are simply the only option at thd moment.

A Vita refresh is to late.If they wanted to do that they needed a 4G Vita phone in 2013. Now they need a new phone based on the PS4 OS, Hardware, and network services, with 100% backing of the entire Sony group. Sony has to kill Xperia and make PlayStation the home of its PC, Console, Laptops, Tablets, Phones, and Hanhelds. They have to build a one Sony ecosystem around a unified hardware design and a single OS.  

Let Sony rule consoles, let Ninty rule handhelds or hybrids or whatever...

Let MS continue to bleed money until the division becomes a PC service and eventually dies to steam...

I think the point is to have a device that is both a handheld gaming console and a smartphone.....

Xperia play flopped because it didn't have the console aspect there.... PlayStation did not support it at all 

Not only would this be too expensive, nobody would buy it. If it isn't easily hackable, PSP2 or Vita 2 will fail just like Vita failed. The only thing that really sold the PSP was how easy it was to pirate it. If it (PSP) really was a huge success based off of how loyal the fanbase was, we'd see much higher numbers for Vita. I didn't know anybody who didn't have a hacked PSP. People that I thought would never hack a device in their life, hacked a PSP...by themselves. It did have a great selection of JRPGS though.

I just don't think it's needed for PSP2 to come out. You want it to be more powerful than the switch but you don't understand that it would also cost more than the switch. People are already complaining that the Switch should cost no more than $300. This device that you've proposed will be well over $300. And that's too much for a handheld... Prices would hardly ever fall without sony taking a loss on it, it'd be a disaster. 3DS had a difficult time garnering the success that it did make. And it had the most popular handheld franchises on it. A PSP2 without Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, etc. wouldn't fly.