According to a recent leak on Play. com, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play – or the PlayStation Phone, as it is popularly referred to – will likely hit the UK on March 28; and will cost £519.99 SIM-free.

The Xperia Play, unveiled prior to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, last week, was earlier rumored to be released in the UK on March 7; with unlocked-mobiles. com pegging the device at an even heftier £549.98 price-tag.

Despite the fact that there has been no official disclosure about the release date and price-tag of the handset by Sony itself, it is now being widely speculated that the phone – which is currently available for pre-order – will land in the UK late next month.

For the £520 offering, the enthusiastic Xperia Play aficionados who intend pre-ordering the handset Play. com will receive the Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’-running device, equipped with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and 5.1- megapixel camera with auto focus and flash.

While there have been reiterated confirmations from the five bigwig UK mobile network providers - Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Three, and Vodafone – that they will stock the Xperia Play, the present scenario is somewhat disappointing.

Thus far, none of these five carriers have either made any disclosure about the date when they will begin carrying the Xperia Play, or on what price plans they intend offering the much-awaited handset.