While nothing's set in stone just yet, Sonic Ericsson could be on to something - namely, a PSP phone. A Phone PSP, gleaned from the recent patent you see thumbnailed to the right of this article. This could be the confirmation we've all been waiting for after rumors of it circulated the intarwebs a couple of months ago.

We're really not sure what to call it as the patent doesn't even give the actual gadget a name, but any way you slice it it's something that can probably take the cellphone gaming world by storm. Perhaps even turn the tables on Nintendo's iron grip on the handheld market.

If there's one thing you could cite that had always been holding cellphone gaming back, it's the controls. A numerical keypad simply cannot substitute reliably as a keypad, and would only result in cramped fingers and wrists.

However, if you look closely at the blueprints, you'll see that Sony Ericsson's pretty much taken care of that. A screen you'll be able to rotate is present so there are two sets of buttons on either end of the gadget, emulating the layout of Sony's handheld.

As for games, Sony doesn't even need to worry about that. If it IS actually a PSP and a cellphone in one, all the company has to do is make the phone compatible to standard PSP games, and you'll have a lineup that's going to be pretty hard to compete with.

In any case, updates about the PSP phone as we get them, so keep it locked right here for any and all developments!