I have to agree. if vita and the phone division merges together they would be a force to be reckoned with.  They could market it as the PS phone, but the thing is that they would have to create their own OS if they dont go with android, and google wont like that so google wont support it, same as it did with windows phones and RT devices.

But if they go with android, they could do marvelous things, but it would be easier to hack and jailbreak those system and people would exploit PSN a lot and get games for free ect...

and how to make a phone have a built in controller is another problem.

There are lots of problems engineers have to resolve in order to make it possible. In terms of power it is most definetely possible, but in terms of ergonomics attractiveness. The OS/UI... There is a lot to consider.

Vita Emulator for PS4. Now all digital PS4 games that don't use the touchpad will see a huge sales increase.

In the meantime PS4 just gained a huge library of games from PSV, PSP, PSX all at once.

We need to stop having "Saving" threads. Nothing reasonable can save the Vita.

Vita is practically dead, nothing is going to save it and Sony isn't going to put any major investments into the device for the rest of it's life cycle.

I'm almost sure that Sony is just riding out the Vita and hoping it manages to get 20 million in sales so it doesn't look like a complete flop.

I honestly think they can get by just fine without direct support from Google. Even in its current state the Vita OS gives very good access to google. If they added flash support and PDF support to the vita it would work perfect for basically everything you ever need to do. PSM already has decent support on a 10M user base, so a 50 to 100M base in the next 3 years would see all kinds of tinkering apps come to the device. It would deffinitly be the ultimate gamers phone at first, but in time it would gain the versatility to take on Android, iOS, and Windows.

As far as Ergonomics, and appeal. I actually think the OG Vita is still one of the most beautiful, eligant, and ergnomic devices I have ever used. Obviously, everyone is not going to want that though, but like you said, if they merged SMC and SCE, then they could just keep refining the Z line phones, as they are amoung the best. They would just need to bring them over to the Vita OS. It would hurt sales at first, but PS Phone should more than pick up for the lost sales on the Z line. As the PSN matures with more mobile apps, they would win back the non gamer crowd in time, and quite easily.

PSVITA needs a better marketing strategy.

Over 350 games are in development. Look here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=969122

Only the most extreme gaming nerd audience would chose a Playstation Phone with custom Sony OS that has zero app support on it over an iPhone or Android phone.

Blackberry and the like can't compete in that field, a Playstation OS would be a non-starter.

As for Vita, it's dead Jim.

Bundling PSVita's with every PS4 might save it...otherwise I'm not seeing much of a turn around. A bit like the Wii U, this late in the game its extremely hard to turn its fortunes around, its in that death spiral of low sales => low investment => lower sales => lower investment => lower sales => withdrawn. The only difference between the Wii U is that Nintendo is still feeding it scraps at the table, whereas Sony has dropped the vita at the pound and drove away.

I would love to know what app support you are refering to. Vita has 100's of little smartphone like apps, and garage developer games on PlayStation Mobile. I handle all of my banking Via the web browser, which allways offers more options than the Android and iOS apps, and is just as quick to get to because the Vita Browser has the best bookmark oragnizer I have used on any mobile device. In all honesty almost everything you can get from Google Play or the App Store can be found on the internet. I am not going to say Vita has as many options, because some things only come as apps, so that would be a lie. But, to say Vita has Zero app support is stretching the truth pretty damn far. 

While I am at this, I would love to know where you get the idea so many people are using their smartphone for so many things. The majority of people I know use it for a select few things, web browsing, social media, texting, and calling. All of that would be on a PlayStation Phone, it would have all of the basic features people use daily, but it would be able to play actual games. I see so many people that used to have a little flip phone plus a DS or PSP that have now went to anroid and iOS, and never got Vita or 3DS. It is not because they prefer the smart phone, it is becuase Sony and Nintendo gave them no choice. Even the least nerdy, most not into games person in the world would rather play something decent, than sit through another terrible game like floppy bird or candy crush. In fact they are probably the crowd that would jump in right behind the gamers, because then they could at least say, "well if you have to have one, might as well be able to enjoy it.".

It's done and dusted with, it came out in 2011 in Japan and 2012 everywhere else and it;s been neglected by Sony a lot since and sold poorly, taking exclusives from one popular handheld is not going to save it, it'd annoy people if anything that have already settled on a 3DS, it's time to accept that Sony just didn't put much effort into their handheld, you don't have a poorly neglected handheld that's doing poor for 2-3 years and suddenly bring it back from the dead, that's not how it works.