Sony Playstation Portable

The PSP is finally here. Find out if lives up to the hype

One of the most anticipated gaming devices of the year is finally with us -­ the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP).

The slick design is unmistakably Sony, while the high-quality 4.3in widescreen display makes games, movies and menus look sharp and detailed. Graphics in games are almost comparable to that of a Playstation 2 and it sports a similar control system; you even get an analogue joystick.

Rather than Gameboy-esque game cartridges, the PSP accepts Universal Media Discs (UMDs), which can fit 1.8GB worth of data on them. As well as providing a lot of space for games, it means movies can be compressed down and stuck on a UMD, which leads us nicely onto the PSP’s second main facet ­ multimedia.

There’s no denying the PSP will be adored by gamers; however, it’s also competent at playing digital music (mp3 and atrac), digital photos and movies.

Where movies are concerned, films are now starting to appear on UMDs, which slot into the back. Video can also be loaded onto a Memory Stick (32MB is supplied) and slotted into the side of the PSP. All video has to be converted into mpeg4 using the bundled software.

Other features include 802.11b wireless and an integrated web browser. At first, only Wep security was available but, thanks to a firmware upgrade, the more secure WPA is now supported.

There are some drawbacks. First, the shiny black exterior and glossy screen is easily smudged and prone to fingerprints.

Then there’s the issue of dead pixels. Sony’s stand on this is that a small number of inactive pixels is considered acceptable, but only if ‘under normal viewing and playing circumstances’ they are difficult to detect. Thankfully our unit was free from such anomalies.

Despite these issues, it is still an amazing piece of kit and is sure to fly off the shelves.