Pros: Large, high-quality screen & graphics, many useful functions, relatively inexpensive considering the features, PS3 connectivity.
Cons: Can be confusing for some, weak web browser, games, accessories & memory can get expensive.
The Bottom Line: A great feature-packed gadget for gamers and people who are out and about often, but it's somewhat complicated at times so it's not for younger children.
s68x's Full Review: Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) Console
The original PSP was released in May of 2005 and was a big success, selling over 31 million worldwide. The PSP features more mature games rather than family and child-oriented games the DS does as well as much better graphics, which many have said are PS2 quality. However, some complained about problems such as UMDs popping out, the thickness and weight, the loading times, and so on. Sony addressed these problems with the PSP-2000, more commonly known as the PSP Slim & Lite or just PSP Slim. This new redesign of the PSP, released in September of 2007, is 33% lighter and 19% thinner than the original PSP. It also doubles the internal RAM (32MB to 64MB), moves the speakers up above the buttons, and changed the UMD loading system completely.
The standard PSP comes in a black and orange box about the size of a small cereal box, with the PSP displayed in a window near the top. Opening the heat-sealed plastic that the PSP and the included wall charger, 1200 mAh battery pack and printed manuals is a pain, however, and took me over 5 minutes, a knife and some scratches on my fingers just to get the PSP out. The PSP is surprisingly light, depending on what you're used to, even with the battery in. My battery came with about a 50% charge but let me go through the quick initial setup, getting my home network set up on it, and let me try out some of the features for a little while.
Something to remember is that the basic PSP (in the black and orange box) does not come with a memory card or USB cable and must be purchased seperately, and you really can't do much without one. You can pick up a 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for about $35 and a card reader (if you've not already got one) for about $8-10. The USB cable is around $15 I believe, and offers more functionality, such as the ability to charge the battery over USB (albeit slowly, taking about 5 hours to fully charge) and transfer games & demos from the PlayStation Store. However, specialty bundles such as the Daxter or God Of War bundle do include their respective games, a video disc, and a 1GB memory card, as well as a differently colored PSP (the standard is black).
The PSP, unfortunately, cannot play PlayStation or PlayStation 2 game discs, as they are much too big to stick in the slot, instead using UMDs, or Universal Media Discs. These are 1.8GB discs that can be used only in the PSP and can feature either movies, music or games, and can also include updated firmware. However, you can purchase select PlayStation titles from the PlayStation Store for around $5-6 each and transfer them to your PSP.
The PSP features about 15 buttons total, which include the transparent L and R buttons on top, X, circle, triangle and square buttons on the right, directional buttons and a small analog stick under them on the left, and along the bottom, from left to right, the home button, volume control, screen and audio control, and start and select buttons. The headphone and video out port (yes, you can hook up your PSP to your TV and watch movies on almost any TV, and games on a progressive scan TV) are on the bottom left and the yellow charger port on the right.
When you first turn the PSP on, it will ask you for things like the time & date, language, nickname, etc. then take you to the main screen where you can then format your memory stick for use with the PSP.
The home screen has Sony's trademark XMB (XrossMediaBar) laid out on the screen, which includes, in order, Settings, Photo, Music, Video, Game and Network. The categories are horizontally displayed, while the options under that category are laid out vertically. It's a simple, clean, easy to use interface, and it's no wonder it won the Best Use of Personal Media Display Emmy.
Settings allows you to change and customize the PSP to what you like, such as photo slideshow speed, theme, sound, power save, and more, and also lets you check for firmware updates and enter USB connection mode if you've connected it to your PC with a USB cable.
Photo displays the photos and albums (folders) you've placed on your Memory Stick and includes various options such as the ability to view a slideshow, which you can play music during, rotation, zooming, as well as the option to set a photo as your wallpaper and send the photo to another PSP user. One small complaint I have is that creating sub-folders within an album will render the whole folder unusable, displaying only "Unsupported Data". Also under this catagory is the "Camera" option, where you can take pictures if you've purchased the PSP camera.
Music plays MP3, ATRAC and AAC audio files you've put on your Memory Stick or off a UMD. You can choose from various options here as well such as shuffling and repeating and a few visualizers. The sound quality on the speakers is not fantastic, however it sounds great with headphones, especially if you choose the correct equalizer setting.
Video can play a limited amount of video formats, but does it pretty well. You can make folders for videos can you can photos here. Videos and movies look great on the 4.3" screen which has a pixel density of about 120 PPI (better than the DS and most TVs/cell phones). You can do everything you'd expect with a standard video player such as fast forward/reverse, repeat, etc. also do a scene search, which displays frames from selectable intervals to find a scene you want to see again but can't remember where it was. The newest firmware allows you to speed up and slow down the play speed of videos as well.
Unfortunately, I've not been able to try out any UMD games. I know most want to know about gameplay, loading times, graphics and such, but sadly, I spent all my money on the PSP and memory card and had none left over for a game. Kind of ironic having a game console and no games...
The network features are also great. As of the latest firmware, a web browser, RSS reader, internet radio player and Skype (yep, if you get yourself a $30 headset, you've got a PSPhone) are included, as well as the option to connect to your PS3 or LocationFree player.
The web browser is mediocre, unfortunately. It is based on NetFront, which is a browser originally developed for cell phones and PDAs, and as such it is rather slow and has problems rendering complex websites such as Yahoo!, CNN, DeviantArt, and most customizable homepages (NetVibes, iGoogle, etc.) However, most mobile versions of sites work flawlessly and load very quickly. So while not a replacement for a desktop browser by any means, it's great for checking for checking e-mail, weather, news, and so on when you're out. I myself recommend http://google.com/m/products which lists Google's best products in their mobile form like Gmail, Maps, News, Calendar and more that all work nicely with the PSP browser.
The RSS channel allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds found on websites or import an OPML file. They're checked and updated each time you establish a WiFi connection with the PSP. You can also save and view the content offline, which includes podcasts!
I haven't been able to try out Skype that much either without a headset, but signing in presented me with almost as many options as the desktop version, such as the ability to change my name, picture, contacts, a dialpad for calling phone numbers and blocked contact manager. I called the test call to see how it worked, and the call came through great with minimal noise and distortion. Even the standard Skype sounds are played for things like sign-on, calls and hanging up.
Nor have I been able to try Remote Play since I don't own a PS3. Sorry about all the lack of information on select features, but I'm not all that wealthy...
Another thing I wanted to mention was that the PSP, when I first held it, felt very fragile. It's made almost completely out of plastic (supposedly to reduce the weight) but surprisingly when I accidentally pulled it off my 3 or so foot high desk by the power cord onto my wood floors, it left absolutely no scratches or scuffs whatsoever, and worked like nothing had ever happened.
Overall, the PSP is great if you're a gamer and enjoy good graphics and multiplayer gameplay. The included music, video and photo features are also nice to have if you're not in the mood for games, and the RSS reader, web browser and Skype is useful when you're out and need to look up something or check your e-mail, catch up on the latest news or talk to a friend for cheap at a WiFi hotspot if you're without a cell phone (Skype advertises $3 a month for unlimited US & Canadian calls!). I wouldn't recommend this to small children however due to the nature of the games and complexity of use, rather the Nintendo DS would probably be more appropriate.
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