Sony Playstation Vita (PSVita)

On the seventh birthday of Sony’s portable lineup (First PSP launched in 2004), it has come up with it’s first dedicated disk-less portable gaming console. This is again a total gaming device without the gimmick of phone functionality or recently hyped 3D screen.

The device comes in a glossy piano black with a form factor similar to its predecessors, though it is far lighter weighing merely 279 gm. The screen is a OLED 5″ capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 960 x 544 and superb viewing angles. The device features another touchscreen at the back .

PSVita has controls evenly distributed at either side of the screen and matches almost button-to-button in functionality with previous models. The left side D-pad is slightly smaller than its predecessors or the dual-shock controller. The primary analog stick resides under the D-pad and is slightly raised for better feel than the stickier versions in PSP. A new PlayStation button helps to get back to the homescreen whenever pressed. A screenshot can be generated by using this button in tandem with the start button. The right side houses the trademark button set, start & select buttons and a new analog stick. Along the top edge there is a new Vita-Labeled cover that holds the proprietary game cards whereas the one on the right features an accessory port. Next to the covers there are volume controls and power buttons. The left edge comes with a cover for SIM card essentially for 3G connectivity and the base features the new game memory storage slot.

Sony PSVita is no slow wagon. It is powered by a quad-core processor ARM Cortex A9 with additional GPU and 512MB of memory (128MB VRAM extra). Games when played on this device takes time to load but once loaded provides superior performance in speed as well as graphics compared to its predecessors. Due to availability of stereo speakers, the sound quality is much better & crisper with rich noise projection. The UI of this device acts smoothly while multitasking. Closing of apps involves diagonal swipe that is executed with a cool flipping animation. Horizontal swipe can be used to flip through applications.

PSVita doesn’t allow the battery to be removed as was the case in PSP Go. The battery gives a mere 3 hr playtime which is below par. It takes almost one and a half hour to recharge to full. Also USB charging is very slow compared to the ones with power cable. PSVita comes with an average rear-facing camera which boasts using augmented reality for gaming, though it is far below respectable limit to be used as a decent camera.

The web-browser is resource heavy and locks down during gameplay keeping only the music, friend list and twitter, readily active. The rendering of pages on the browser is far slower than anyone can imagine. Scrolling through pages goes in parts discarding the elements of the pages already viewed that makes it even more slower to scroll back to the original point. The PlayStation app store is not well provisioned with adequate apps that makes this device a bit dumber than need to be. There is no confirmation from Sony’s side that if they will allow third party developers to build apps for this device. The only way to get the content on this device is by drag and drop from PC or PS3 while missing the crucial native Mac support.

PSVita 3G will be available in US at a price tag of $350 with a 4GB memory card & a copy of Little Deviants whereas PSVita WiFi will be available in Canada for $299. The closest competitor for this device is 3DS by Nintendo which is available at a reasonable price of $165. Also, the PSVita doesn’t support multiple PSN accounts that might be a deal breaker for many.