Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack
Posted May 5, 2005
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP): A Late Launch Review
Introduction
In the past Nintendo has dominated the portable gaming market with its variations of the Game Boy handheld system (Original, Pocket, Color, Advance, Advance SP, and DS). Many inventive attempts have been made to rival Nintendo's firm grip. In the early days, Sega was a large contender with the Sega Game Gear and the Sega Nomad. There was also the Atari Lynx and Neo Geo Pocket, neither did very well. One recent device was Nokia's N-Gage, which has failed on so many levels. Finally, Sony marks its claim in the portable gaming market.
Like many people, I was very hesitant purchasing the PSP handheld gaming unit. Quite frankly, its very high 249.99 USD MSRP was more than enough reason for me to skip purchasing the unit when it launched in March. The biggest appeal of the PSP is its portability, which is really not something I need. I do not do very much traveling, but if I do, I'm usually driving. So why exactly did I take a dive and buy a PSP? Well, the main reason I decided to splurge was its most obvious features: gaming and media capability. Oddly enough, it was more so due to the media capability than gaming. I have a portable DVD player, which I use extensively. Whether I'm in the kitchen cooking or staying at a friend's, I like to be able to watch movies on the go. However, the unit is somewhat clunky and the appeal of the very portable PSP unit and its ability to display rich full motion video is a great attraction to me. Of course, you might find the PSP attractive because of its many other features.
Looking at the PSP unit in a general perspective, a question is prompted. If at all, what makes the PSP a quality handheld unit? As mentioned the PSP offers several features to its users: gaming, movies, music, photos, and connectivity. These are the five specific topics I'll cover in this review. Of course, before we get to the specific functionality of the PSP, we're going to take a look at some of its generalities like what you get for your money, the PSP unit, the battery life, and a little about UMD. Finally, it is important to note that this review will cover only what is included in the PlayStation Portable Value Pack.
The Package: What do I get for 249.99 USD + tax?
The long form list of contents include the system unit, AC power cord, AC adapter, battery pack, headphones w/ remote, 32MB memory stick Duo, wrist strap, pouch, cloth, and printed materials (user's manual). Finally, if you purchase one of the first million units shipped, you'll get two bonuses. It includes Spider-man 2 UMD, please refer to the separate UMD Video review for specific details about the movie, and a game/music/movie sampler disc.
The game previews include non-playable demos of Wipeout Pure, Ape Escape: On the Loose, World Tour Soccer, NBA, Twisted Metal: Head On, Gretzky NHL, Hot Shots Golf Fore, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, Lumines, Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade, and Ridge Racers. For the movie sampler, there are several trailers included. They are for the movies Stealth, xXx: State of the Union, The Longest Yard, Lords of Dogtown, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Kung Fu Hustle, and Are We There Yet?. Finally, there are several music videos which include Coheed and Cambria "Blood Red Summer", Crossfade "Cold", Kasabian "Club Foot", Omarion "O", Petey Pablo "Vibrate", Silvertide "Ain't Comin' Home", Three Days Grace "Home", and The Zutons "Pressure Point".
Despite all of the "goodies" you get with the Value Pack, you'll probably want to purchase larger capacity memory sticks, a screen protector that can be used during game play, and possibly better headphones. As it stands, the included goodies are good, but not good enough for the hardcore user.
The System Unit: Sleek & Sexy!
The PSP unit is quite small and surprisingly very light. According to the specifications for the PSP unit from PlayStation.com, the unit weighs slightly over half a pound! With the battery it weights 0.62 pounds, which is very light. The unit's dimensions run 6.7x2.9x0.9, which is very small. In the picture above, the PSP unit is displayed next to a PlayStation 2 controller. For some reason, I expected the unit to be slightly bigger and bulkier, which is obviously not the case.
The screen looks gorgeous and offers a brilliant 24-bit bit color display. In English, that means the PSP is capable of displaying over 16 million different colors. The display itself is a 4.3 inches and offers a widescreen picture with an aspect ratio of 16x9. The picture quality and clarity, which we'll discuss in more detail in a later section, look great. Overall it is more than fair to say the PSP has a very sleek and sexy look.
Another important aspect to consider about the unit is how it feels? This consideration was one of my biggest fears with the PSP. I was afraid using the PSP would feel clumsy and fortunately, this is not the case. The PSP, for lack of better words, fits like a glove. However, getting used to the analog control pad can take some time getting used to. It is a very non-standard control, which feels clunky at first. Gradually, you will get used to it and then wonder how you ever got around without it. Something I did find very annoying was the input system. For instance, when setting your network configuration a screen pops up that looks and functions a lot like an input system on a cellular telephone. If you want to enter in the "2", you have to cycle through "a", "b", "c", "A", "B", and "C" before you arriving at "2". While not a big deal, I find it slightly more taxing than using an onscreen QWERTY keyboard.
The Battery
Exactly how well does the battery fair for the PSP is a pretty big question that you as a consumer and user may have. In order to find out exactly what kind of battery life the PSP has, I decided to run two tests. The first test looked at how long the PSP unit could last on a fully charged battery playing UMD videos. The second test focused on how long I could play a game before running out of juice. In addition to see how long I could watch a UMD video or play games for continuously, I was interested in seeing how well the PSP was able to estimate how much battery life it had remaining.
|
UMD Video |
Gaming |
||||
|
Hours Passed |
|
Est. Time Left |
Hours Passed |
|
Est. Time Left |
|
1 |
84% |
3:16 |
1 |
87% |
3:43 |
|
2 |
61% |
2:24 |
2 |
65% |
2:33 |
|
3 |
37% |
1:22 |
3 |
40% |
1:54 |
|
4 |
13% |
0:20 |
4 |
15% |
0:29 |
|
~4.25 |
0% |
0:00 |
~4.25 |
0% |
0:00 |
|
Total Time |
4 hours 22 minutes |
Total Time |
4 hours 27 minutes |
||
The table above represents the results of the two tests I conducted. First I tested how long the PSP could handle continuous UMD video playback. Watching Spider-man 2 UMD several times over and over again, I was able to get 4 hours and 22 minutes of continuous play. I also found that the estimated time left was not always very accurate, but it did manage to get close. The indicator seemed to correctly report the remaining time within a few minutes. For the second test, I played Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Remix until the juice ran out. I was able to get 4 hours and 27 minutes of continuous play from a fully charged battery. Overall, the battery handles both UMD Video playback and gaming well, offering approximately 4.25 hours of use for both major uses.
Universal Media Disc (UMD)
UMD is a proprietary optical medium, a mini-DVD if you will, used by the PSP unit. The UMD format has a storage capacity of 1.8 gigabytes. Currently, the UMD format is used for gaming and full motion video. In the near future, UMD will be used as a platform for audio. The notion of UMD is noble, however at the same time it introduces several headaches for consumers. By far, the biggest compliant is that UMD is a proprietary format. In other words, if you buy a UMD movie, you can only watch it on your PSP. For some, this is a very big issue, because who wants to buy a movie on DVD and UMD? However, that aside, UMD proposes a novel medium for portable gaming.
Gameplay:
Since the fun background information has been covered, it's time to start really talking about the PSP. The five key components of the PSP include functionality in addition to gaming, which are the following:
It should be obvious that gaming is the most fundamental selling point of the PSP. This portable gaming unit has a variety of games from different developers and genres being released, which even includes portable versions of your favorite games from Grand Theft Auto to Dynasty Warriors to Tiger Woods PGA Tour and so on. For a full list of currently available games, please visit Amazon.com or DVD Empire.
I mentioned this earlier, but my favorite feature of the PSP is its ability to play UMD videos. For me it provides a usable alternative to my portable DVD player. The PSP and UMD are much more convenient. The high quality and clarity of the video also add to making this a key selling point. Of course, if the video was on a larger screen it would look like crap. Needless to say, it can be fun to watch movies on the go using the PSP. For a full list of currently available UMD videos, please visit Amazon.com or DVD Empire.
Some will argue including the capability to play digital music gives the PSP enough weight to contend with stand alone MP3 players. While this is true, it is not a great comparison. In my opinion, the experience and usability of a standalone MP3 player device does not compare with using the PSP. The PSP, while sleek and sexy, is still fairly big and delicate compared to most MP3 players, whether hard drive based or flash memory. There is a significant difference. Another factor to consider is cost. In order to really get your use out of the PSP as a MP3 player, you'll need to shell out the cash for larger memory stick. In the end, you're looking at spending a lot of money. Still, if you're willing to buy a larger capacity memory card, the PSP can be useful as a MP3 player on the go. The interface is fairly straightforward and easy to use.
The PSP has built-in functionality that allows it to read JPEG image files from a Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Duo Pro. You can transfer the images directly to the memory card or through a USB connection with your computer. The display size is 480x272 pixels and as such, can display images of that size. Larger images are resized proportionally to fit the screen. If you want, you can digitally zoom and/or rotate the images. There Photo browser also supports a slide show function and thumbnail navigation.
This final key feature to the PSP is pretty big. At this current point, it is not being used to its full advantage by games released on or around the system's launch date. The first connectivity option is support for USB2.0. Using a mini-B to standard-A USB cable, the PSP can at as a mass storage device for your home computer. What that means is the memory stick reader on the PSP will be used as a removable disk drive. Next, the PSP offers infrared capability, although I'm not really sure what it is intended for. It could be used for line of sight multiplayer gaming or data transfers. However, the support for IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN negates the need for infrared technology. The support for WLAN allows the PSP with the ability to surf the internet (not currently supported by Sony), connect to home networks, online gaming, and game sharing. Game sharing is probably the most interesting feature from the connectivity options. It allows for PSP units to connect and play games together. What makes it special is that only one copy of the game is needed. Multiplayer copies are transferred to other PSP units. However, none of these neat features are supported yet. In the near future these options should be available for users.
Finally, while not listed or covered in this review, the PSP also has the ability to do more than advertise. If you look in the right places, you can figure out how to load your own custom videos and use the wireless connection to surf the internet! In actuality, the PSP can do a lot more than intended. But again, I won't cover or discuss in this review how to "get your bang for your buck" with the PSP. If it is something you are really interested, try a Google search.
Graphics:
In previous sections, this issue has been addressed ever so slightly. The 4.3 inch widescreen LCD monitor is simply beautiful. The clarity is great and provides an extremely gratifying image by richly producing 24-bit images. Whether playing a game, watching a movie, or looking at a 24-bit image, you'll be impressed. While the LCD monitor on the PSP is great looking, it is not perfect. I found glare was a slight issue under some circumstances. Outside on a bright sunny day or indoors in a well lit room, glare is noticeable. Fortunately, it does not completely destroy the experience. Most comparably, the glare is a lot like what I experience with my PDA. Generally, you can tilt the device or move to an area out of direct view of the light source and the glare can be avoided.
Audio:
The PSP supports stereo sound and unfortunately, it doesn't sound very good. Hopefully not a surprise, the speakers built into the PSP unit are very small and offer little in terms of the listening experience. Whether you are listening to your favorite MP3, playing a game, or watching a UMD video, the built-in speakers offer very little. The audio quality can be best described as very flat and plain. There is no bass or richness. Of course, you can use a high quality pair of headphones and have a much better experience.
Conclusion:
You might hate me for this, but I really cannot tell you if the PSP is worth 249.99 USD + tax. The truth is the application and use of the PSP will vary greatly by user. So, for me to say "go buy the PSP because it is great!" is not very helpful. But what I can tell you is why I think the PSP is great. The combined features of gaming and movies on the go provide the most excitement for me as a user. I also feel the features provided by the data connectivity are very novel. Overall, I think the potential uses of the PSP are great enough that I was willing to shell out the cash for it. While I never think it will ever be able to replace my console systems, DVDs (or DVD player), or MP3 player, there's still enough functionality for the really geeky tech users (and hardcore gamers) to enjoy.
All photographs representing screenshots from PSP LCD monitor and related images were taken using 3.2 MP digital camera. The replication and quality of the screen shots are not true representations of the picture/video quality. In fact, the actual LCD is substantially sharper and clearer. As well, the aspect ratios in the screen shots are not true representations. Some images may be cropped and slightly irregular. However, the provided images are intended to only provide a rough example of what picture/video quality.