shawnft's Full Review: Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) Console
I am, to be quite honest, purposefully behind on electronics. I keep a cell phone in my truck, not on my person. I only recently obtained a vehicle GPS. A few days ago I finished converting my CDs into MP3s, and now need a way to convert my cassettes. I do not use a PDA. I do not have an IPOD. Have I painted the picture?
I needed, well, wanted, did not really need- something small and handy for entertainment when stuck in the middle of nowhere. My children have had the evolving Nintendo Gameboys for the past 5 or so years. They had OK graphics and a few very poor movie / TV show options, and did not do much besides play the games. They are not bad, just not quite what I was looking for.
Then, a friend of mine showed me his PSP. It had tons of photos of his family on it, tons of MP3s, he had movies and TV shows on UMDs, played games with awesome graphics, and could also have movies on his Memory Stick, also, in a pinch, in a wireless area, he could check for an important email. So, in essence, this was sort of a Gameboy, portable DVD viewer, photo album, MP3 player, and blackberry all in one without being large like a laptop.
A PSP would let me have some entertaining games, movies, pictures of the family, and music. Not a bad start for someone not interested in the latest device for each single thing. The screen really does have wonderful graphics, and is larger than most any other hand held devices screen. You need to move up in size to a portable DVD player for a bigger screen. You can find many UMD movies for less than ten dollars. Popular, entertaining games that have been out a few years are about 15 dollars. I avoid new, expensive movies or forty dollar new, big name games.
You can connect to the Internet via wireless. I find it slow and tedious, but a nice feature to have included. I also wish it played more music and video formats. But, when all is said and done, It is a handy little device to offer so many features. If you ever watched Shrek or Cartoon Network videos on your kid's Game Boy, you can only imagine how much nicer this display is.
Now, some things I don't like. It has a great feature where you can watch your movies on a big TV. But you have to buy the proprietary cable. You can even play your games on the big screen if it is a progressive scan TV. But you have to buy an even more expensive proprietary cable. The UMD videos only work on PSPs. Sony has hogged this type of player and it is not used on other things, let alone used widely, or let alone have an available UMD writer. Your headphones with remote control are a proprietary connection and expensive. I cannot figure out how the microphone headphones are supposed to work and no one can hear me when I try them. If you want to hear well in noisy areas, you will need to get background noise canceling ear buds at least.
Ok, the main reason why I got one was that I end up spending times at airports, on planes, or in the middle of nowhere. Something the size of a paperback that I can put in my cargo pocket or take up a small amount of room in a backpack is my only option besides, well, a paperback. Size wise, even with a hard protective case, it works out OK in a backpack. But, you need a little extra space for the cord and headphones. Although you can slip it in a cargo pocket OK, it is quite a stretch for the cargo pocket with the protective case, not even including the cord and headphones.
However, along with all the expensive proprietary connection issues, my other issue is that it has relatively short battery life. The cord takes up a lot of room also. A lot of times I am stuck someplace without power, so after about three hours it turns into a paperweight.
If you find yourself spending LONG hours, in areas where you cannot count on having anything, and have only a small backpack with you, you should get a PSP. This slim and lite version has the latest features such as connect to TV that you do not have on the older version.
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