Launched in early 2011, the Xperia Play was the world’s first smartphone. It featured: Sony Xperia PLAY Unboxing (Playstation Phone)

For the Xperia Play specifically, Omnius was responsible for extending the lifespan of the device. By making it easy to unlock the bootloader and flash custom ROMs, Omnius enabled developers to port newer versions of Android (like Jelly Bean and KitKat) to the device long after Sony stopped supporting it.

However, for a golden period between 2011 and 2013, Omnius was the gold standard. It was the tool that turned the Xperia Play from a locked-down carrier toy into a truly open gaming handheld for the tech-savvy.

Omnius was not free. While it offered a "Server" version that was cheaper, the "Offline" version (which allowed unlocking without waiting for a server response) was expensive. Users had to be careful; if the process interrupted, credits could be lost. Furthermore, the software required a constant internet connection to verify licenses and credits, which was a point of contention among the open-source purists in the community.

Omnius was a proprietary software application (available for Windows) used for advanced servicing of Sony Ericsson and Sony Mobile devices. Unlike open-source projects, Omnius operated on a paid-credit system. Users would purchase "credits" or "logs" to perform specific high-level operations that were otherwise impossible for the average user.