The first live images of the forthcoming Playstation Phone manufactured by Sony Ericsson and powered by Android have surfaced.

The preliminary specifications for the device consist of the 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (part of the Scorpion series of chips) 1GB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, the display is between 3.7 to 4.1 inches in diameter with a 16:9 aspect ratio and in a break with tradition, features a microSDHC slot.

The early hardware also features a sliding gamepad with the familiar Playstation layout, with the exception of a multi-touch analog pad between the directional pad and action keys.

The phone is expected to be released with Android Gingerbread along with a new storefront developed in cooperation with Google for the delivery of games to the device in a bid to compete with Apple’s surging position as a gaming platform.

Release timeframes had been previously predicted for Winter of this year in time for the holidays, but a 2011 release is now likely, due to the early state of the Android build being used and the need to launch the new storefront alongside the hardware.