OG saves unreleased "PSP Phone 2" (Xperia Play 2)

A week ago we launched a fundraiser for an unreleased PlayStation console, Today we're proud to announce we have saved one of two unreleased Xperia Play 2 phones, also codenamed the "PSP Phone" until PlayStation didn't give it's full blessings so it became the Xperia Play (also known as the Zeus in development).

Things didn't go all the plan, the reshipper in Hong Kong told us DHL wouldn't insure it if below 5KG which seemed stupid, so we paid another £55 postage on top of the £170 we already paid. Then we found out they switched to UPS, and UPS let us change the date to last Friday 13th, as all Friday 13th's go, it was a disaster and no unreleased PSP phone arrived, the tracking updated Sunday and on Monday morning we got a lovely invoice from UPS for £270 it still said out for delivery, but nothing.

Today, Tuesday 17th of May it finally was out for delivery yay!

However, when UPS arrived they claimed I hadn't paid the invoice/customs charges.. when we had. I showed him the invoice, he said it wasn't real, so I showed him the UPS app and refreshed it showing paid.. he still refused to accept I'd paid. He then phoned a manager and after 10 minutes biting my nails the lady on the phone confirmed I had indeed paid.

I ran inside, unboxed, and tried to turn her on, but she was flat. I tried charging, but it it wouldn't charge and upon trying for almost 8 hours.. we only got it to turn on twice and it lasted around 30 seconds before shutting down.



We decided to open, and this was an ordeal as the screws are glued under the keypad (two bumps on the left/right bottom). But we got in, and finally discovered it had a prototype battery which appears to be fully dead. We're trying to locate one but being a prototype makes it tricky, so we may have to pay a company to modify one of similar type to fit this.


Is this the end of the story? not at all, we intend to restore this unreleased device and have it's nand dumped and released for people to poke around with in time.

If you see the following battery on your travels, please do let us know!



A huge thank you goes to all donators, supporters and people that shared this fundraiser, we couldn't have raised £2000 in 9 hours without you all.

Until next time!

 

Just wanted to let you know that you have a fair bit of leeway when it comes to the battery. From the picture it looks like the battery has a connected flat ribbon cable that may go to a proprietary socket. If you have another battery of similar proportions (provided that you care about being able to fit it in the body of the Xperia Play2), you can detach the circuit controller from the battery that is dead and solder in a different battery as long as you connect the + and - terminals correctly. Everything else that connects to the battery controller is between the phone and the controller. Charging is still strictly based on the battery's voltage. So you have everything you need, just hook up a different battery that has the older style + and - marked terminal pads.

Case in point: I was able to revive my Moto Z Play which had a bloated battery by soldering in an older LG battery that came from my G3. No issues at all and on the controller, the welded pads were marked negative and positive. Just connect + to + and - to -.

 

Yeah it should be possible to make a diy battery for this. It would mean cracking open the dead battery though, possibly wrecking the battery casing in the process though (are the batteries for both units exactly the same?).
You might even be able to make a battery that is superior to the original

 

Another issue with retrofitting a new battery into the existing circuit is a lot of those circuit's, especially when sony is involved, are a lot more than just a BMC and a ribbon

 

Playstation Phones...now that could have been something back in the days

 

Sounds like it's battery dissection time. I am doing the same on an old japanese phone as it also has a battery made of unobtanium. This picture shows after the cut, but taped back together with the old bulging battery still in it. Just waiting for a replacement battery to arrive in the mail, it should fit within the dimensions I need. Once I put the new battery in and tape up shut (and not try to pry with my thumb to show what's going on in the pic), it's going to look almost as good as new. Not that you really see it, but I do see value in having an original battery "shell" still there, with the proper branding, and a hilariously old 2003 date on it. It's the best we can do sometimes.. I can't wait to actually get this done, I want to see this working in practice before I get my hopes too far up. I just don't see why it won't work, especially after looking inside the battery.

 

why cant you just use a bench psu and apply 3.7v

 

A week ago we launched a fundraiser for an unreleased PlayStation console, Today we're proud to announce we have saved one of two unreleased Xperia Play 2 phones, also codenamed the "PSP Phone" until PlayStation didn't give it's full blessings so it became the Xperia Play (also known as the Zeus in development).

Things didn't go all the plan, the reshipper in Hong Kong told us DHL wouldn't insure it if below 5KG which seemed stupid, so we paid another £55 postage on top of the £170 we already paid. Then we found out they switched to UPS, and UPS let us change the date to last Friday 13th, as all Friday 13th's go, it was a disaster and no unreleased PSP phone arrived, the tracking updated Sunday and on Monday morning we got a lovely invoice from UPS for £270 it still said out for delivery, but nothing.

Today, Tuesday 17th of May it finally was out for delivery yay!

However, when UPS arrived they claimed I hadn't paid the invoice/customs charges.. when we had. I showed him the invoice, he said it wasn't real, so I showed him the UPS app and refreshed it showing paid.. he still refused to accept I'd paid. He then phoned a manager and after 10 minutes biting my nails the lady on the phone confirmed I had indeed paid.

I ran inside, unboxed, and tried to turn her on, but she was flat. I tried charging, but it it wouldn't charge and upon trying for almost 8 hours.. we only got it to turn on twice and it lasted around 30 seconds before shutting down.

View attachment 14058

We decided to open, and this was an ordeal as the screws are glued under the keypad (two bumps on the left/right bottom). But we got in, and finally discovered it had a prototype battery which appears to be fully dead. We're trying to locate one but being a prototype makes it tricky, so we may have to pay a company to modify one of similar type to fit this.


Is this the end of the story? not at all, we intend to restore this unreleased device and have it's nand dumped and released for people to poke around with in time.

If you see the following battery on your travels, please do let us know!

View attachment 14059

A huge thank you goes to all donators, supporters and people that shared this fundraiser, we couldn't have raised £2000 in 9 hours without you all.

Until next time!


View attachment 14057

so where was this purchased? idle fish? id totally buy the other one if anyone knows where it is

 

so you said there is one of 2 plays where is the other one still on idlefish?

 

so you said there is one of 2 plays where is the other one still on idlefish?

There was only one for sale, the other is owned by a private collector who isn't selling sadly.

 

Super awesome to be apart of this

 

This swap ended up working really well for anyone wondering how it turned out. The phone works great and can actually take pictures again without killing the battery after one picture. All the battery info and charging functions worked without a hitch. Not even one fire! It's awesome to know this can be a viable option for keeping old battery powered electronics alive, and it's not even that hard to do.