Sonys PSP a buyers guide

by editor@text4price.com @ 26 April 2006 - 17:09:09

Buyer’s Guide

The Sony Play Station Portable or psp wasn’t just the contender for best gadget of the year in 2005 - it could be a genuine contender for the best product of all time.

Put simply, the psp is the most important thing to happen in the video game industry since the launch of the original PlayStation.

Not only is it brilliant for games - being the only handheld that can deliver both the immersive experience of Metal Gear Acid and the adrenaline rush of Grand Theft Auto - but it can also play movies from UMD’s Universal Mini Discs, putting the portable world in a spin. The psp also acts as an mp3.

The psp is a triumph of design, and it looks incredible even before you switch it on. Finished in gloss black, the psp does for hand-held gaming what the iPod did for portable music players - it's desirable on an aesthetic level, rather than a purely functional one.

The fascia of the psp is dominated by the 4.3in TFT screen and we have never seen a display like this on a hand-held device before. The screen has a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, making it ideal for watching movies as well as playing games, with a resolution of 480 x 272 and a full 24-bit colour depth.

The screen also incorporates Sony's X-Black coating, so the image is amazingly bright and vivid. The image produced by the psp display is just breathtaking,

The psp fits in your hand comfortably and both the controllers and the buttons fall under your thumbs easily. It's surprisingly light and finding the perfect viewing angle is simple, even with strong ambient light sources. There's a wrist strap among the psp accesories, and although it doesn't look particularly cool, it's worth using, just in case someone knocks it out of your hand.

If there's one problem with the psp's slick black design, it's the fact that it's a magnet for fingerprints and greasy smears. It sometimes feels like the psp just pulls fingerprints out of the atmosphere, because even after you've just wiped it clean, fingerprints will appear before you've even picked it up!

Another way to show off the screen is to transfer digital photos to your MemoryStick. The psp is great for showing slide-shows, and you can view the images in standard 4:3 ratio, with bars down the side, or you can make them fill the whole widescreen.

You don’t even need to bother with a separate mp3 player when you can simply drag and drop tunes onto cheap memory stick cards and listen to them on the psp.

The real tech heads out there are getting stuck into home brewed games and emulators (although watch out for the first psp specific viruses sneaking onto the web)

With built in WiFi for multi player gaming and web surfing, there really is very little this fantastic machine can’t do. In fact while you’re wandering around in wireless territory, we also suggest you take a quick surf and check out the increasing freebie content at www.yourpsp.com.

If only, while out and about and using the internet you could gain access to programmes from you homes TV or DVD play…..well soon, you’ll be able to! That’ll be what Sony plans with its forthcoming locationFree package.

The Sony’s tiny speaker slays its tiny rivals but, like the AV700 we still recommend an upgrade pair of headphones when you invest in accessories or psp parts.

Sony has redefined mobile gaming with the PlayStation Portable and we never imagined that the psp would be this good; this is one product that has to be seen to be believed.

Here are a few of our recommendations for psp accessories and parts

JoyTech Media AMP PSP Speaker System
You want simulated 3D sound? You got it plus a remote for flicking though the boring bits in films and dual headphone sockets

JoyTech Battery Pack

Don’t let your fun be thwarted by running low on juice. This rechargeable supplementary battery pack will double your playing time to between 7-10hrs

Looking for a cheap psp? Check out our best deals here

Filed under: Video Game Consoles

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