Play r800a vs r800at - might have found a difference

R800a will be SIM/Network locked to Rogers and will likely have a Rogers boot screen. Unlocking companies say they can unlock it for use on AT&T though it may need the APN settings configured correctly to use 3G on AT&T.

Also, R800at will probably take forever to be officially released

There isn't a variant model number for the off-contract full price option for Rogers (which could have been a wildcard for unlocking) so I guarantee all North American Xperia Plays will be SIM locked to their respective carriers and therefore not eligible for the official bootloader unlock (there may be other ways but I don't know). It makes no sense for them to do otherwise since the carriers are using contracts to subsidize the phone to make more money in the long run. It does make sense for the international model (R800i) to be SIM unlocked in key markets since it covers most of the rest of the world other than North America and that is a much bigger market with many variables.

Somebody will have to ultimately connect to a Rogers Xperia Play R800a model and see if fastboot will run on it since the "at" model won't be available anytime soon. At least not before the CDMA Verizon model which has yet to even be announced. I just wouldn't be surprised if it won't run...

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/which-phones

I have a AT&T Xperia Play R800a

I tried to contact Engadget to show off some pictures of the AT&T boot and bloatware but they never responded yet to my e-mail.

I traded my iphone 4 16GB + Cash on top and met up with a guy in Fremont CA earlier today and he was willing to take my offer since he was a big Apple Fan. He already owned a Droid X from Verizon and Apple Ipad and had no use for it. At first I thought it was a R800i UK model but after seeing the phone description in the settings I was shocked!

If any you guys want some information about the phone i'll be happy to snap some photos of it.

Warudakumi said:

I tried to contact Engadget to show off some pictures of the AT&T boot and bloatware but they never responded yet to my e-mail.

I traded my iphone 4 16GB + Cash on top and met up with a guy in Fremont CA earlier today and he was willing to take my offer since he was a big Apple Fan. He already owned a Droid X from Verizon and Apple Ipad and had no use for it. At first I thought it was a R800i UK model but after seeing the phone description in the settings I was shocked!

If any you guys want some information about the phone i'll be happy to snap some photos of it.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I'm a little confused? So you have a R800a with AT&T boot and bloatware that's not a R800at? Or did I misread that? In any case, I would be interested in seeing what they did to it.

Also, I suspect that it's locked to prevent the install of 3rd party apps. If so, have you been able to use ADB to install apps? I know Sony Ericsson has a program with USB drivers for the X10, but I don't know if it'll work with the Play or not.

MechaBouncer said:

I'm a little confused? So you have a R800a with AT&T boot and bloatware that's not a R800at? Or did I misread that? In any case, I would be interested in seeing what they did to it.

Also, I suspect that it's locked to prevent the install of 3rd party apps. If so, have you been able to use ADB to install apps? I know Sony Ericsson has a program with USB drivers for the X10, but I don't know if it'll work with the Play or not.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Nope I have an authentic AT&T R800at model. I made another thread with pictures linked to my photobucket account. I don't have enough posts to post pictures directly at the moment. I didn't believe it myself when the guy showed me the phone. There are lots of scammers on craigslist with the iphone etc. where people are buying "dummy phones" and packaging them like they are legit.

He didn't seem to want to tell me where he got it but he was dressed pretty professional so maybe he knows somebody that works with AT&T? I'm just scared to update the software on the phone in fear it might lockup or something. I'll post more pictures later when I get off work.

If there is anything else you wanted to see, please feel free to ask. I'm still new to the android scene but i'm quickly learning. I have a Galaxy Tab and a 3G Vibrant with the awesome FFC mod I learned from this site. I finally joined the darkside and i'm enjoying this phone. If I didn't come up on this find I might be one of those Fanboys anxiously waiting for a Iphone5 with probably barely any new features to justify it being cool anymore.

This is what I'll upload later

More better pictures of the homescreen icons etc.
Phone Properties Screen
More boot pictures