Sony PlayStation Portable (Asian version)

By Edvarcl Heng
Apr 15, 2005

For the past week, we had in our hands what's probably the most popular gadget after the iPod, judging from the roving eyes and itchy fingers that have been pawing our little black number. For the past few years, Sony has been trying in vain to create the magic bullet in the portable audio arena, a category that Apple has come to dominate with its iPods. So rather than look to upstage the incumbent, the Japanese firm has decided to muscle in on the turf of its homegrown rival, Nintendo, more specifically in the portable gaming console arena.

Editors' note: Sony Singapore has just announced that the offical launch date for the PSP has been postponed till further notice.

Hi There, Gorgeous!
It may be no clamshell nor does it feature a touchpad, but the PSP, Sony's mobile rendition of its hugely successful PlayStation consoles, still looks good enough to ratchet up the challenge points against the Nintendo DS.

	Peekaboo!

Related links: PSP in, DS out? Read our review of the PSP US version PSP? I hate it!

With a 4.3-inch 16:9 aspect ratio, the LCD screen on the PSP is one of its biggest draw factors. Even Creative's Zen Portable Media Center has only a 3.8-inch screen which, when compared with the PSP's, hardly comes close to the clarity and brilliance of the latter's display. However, the large-sized screen also represents a potentially larger scratch-prone area. By the end of the day, our unit was covered with smudges and fingerprints; hence, we recommend stowing the PSP away in the provided slip-on pouch when not in use.

	There's the UMD slot!

Weight-wise at 260g, the PSP did not prove as taxing on our hands during gameplay as we had expected it to. Although the device shares the same horizontal design as the hulking behemoth that was the Sega Game Gear, the PSP is considerably lighter and the two small bulges on the back of the unit serve as ergonomic resting places for our fingers, though not by much. The positioning of the analog stick control could be improved, though; we felt the current location beneath the joypad puts a strain on the left thumb, especially during intense game action like Spiderman's web-swinging chase of the Vulture amidst a jungle of skyscrapers.

Despite our gripes about the analog stick, it earns amidst kudos for its responsiveness aside from the game control buttons which provide a comfortable degree of tactile feedback. The Power On/Off switch also doubled as a hardware Hold switch when we flip it back, a vital feature especially when it is in music playback mode while swinging around in our bag packs.

Miscellaneous buttons like Home, Volume Select and Start are neatly arranged in a line at the bottom of the screen. However, due to their indistinguishable shapes, we found it difficult to know which was which in a non-illuminated environment. It would have been better if the buttons themselves were backlit.

A MiniDisc By Any Other Name
Buying a Sony has always felt a bit like signing a pact with the devil. With the Japanese firm's fixation on proprietary storage formats, the PSP comes with two: The Memory Stick PRO Duo and the Universal Media Disc (UMD). Maybe it's because we are just retro MiniDisc junkies at heart, but the UMD really reminded us of the MD. Or rather, a souped-up Hi-MD. Measuring almost 60mm in diameter for the optical disc itself, the UMD is almost the same size as a conventional MiniDisc.

	Putting it in

Besides the similarity in the groove structure and the odd rattling sound when the disc is spinning (MD users would be very familiar with this), the UMD enclosure on the PSP also bears a remarkable resemblance to an MD player. However, there the similarity ends. Unlike the MD which has a closable window when the disc is not in use, the UMD does not have it, which creates the tendency for the disc to be scratched. The plastic enclosure for the UMD is also flexible to the point of being flimsy.

Movie fans will be disappointed to know that the UMD will be region-coded. That means a movie UMD brought in Japan (Code 2) will not be playable on an Asian PSP (code 3), and vice versa. Though Sony Singapore has not announced it, it is probable that Singapore will be region 3 coded.

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