Gen 2 PSP Introduces Improvements, Capabilities that Appeal to All Techno Geeks

On countless occasions I have been subjected to airport purgatory during a layover with nothing more engaging to do than watch the rehashed news reel, having already exhaustively played through my MP3 collection. No one should have to fear this situation if they have Sony's newly revised PSP (Play Station Portable) in hand.

Consistent with the industry-wide trend of producing do-it-all electronic devices, Sony's second-generation PSP not only plays games, but also shares capabilities with its PDA and computer cousins: namely it is Wi-Fi capable, plays movies and music and can display pictures, among other new features. This review will take a look at the new PSP and how well it performs each of these functions.

One wonders what the codename PSP-2000 stands for – hopefully not the release date since this new version found its way to stores in September. The 189 gram PSP is available for $169.99 for the Core Pack, or $199.99 for the newer entertainment packages which include a game, as well as a 1GB memory card. It is available in such imaginative colors as "Piano Black", "Ice Silver", and "Star wars Ceramic White".

Out of the Box

As mentioned above, the PSP comes with a game, a 12-volt DC charger (useful in the car), an AC charger and a 1 GB memory card. You can also charge the PSP with a USB cable, but not with the one included in the game pack which is a data-only cable plugs into the mini USB port on top of the unit. The USB charging cable will run you anywhere from $5 to $10.

The included accessories allow you to experience most of the multimedia experiences straight out of the box. Before we get into that though, a word on ergonomics. The PSP is light! So light it could be mistaken as a store “dummy” model. It’s approximately 1/3 lighter than the previous generation, which is remarkable given that the weight loss program included a healthy trimming of battery weight, yet with the same amount of play time.

Measuring 6.7 in (W) x 2.9 in (H) x .9 in (D), the PSP fits comfortably into an adult’s hands and allows the thumbs and fore-fingers to fall naturally where the controls lay. Sony would have been well-advised to rotate the primary controls (a four-way key pad on the left-hand side, and four buttons on the right-hand side) a few degrees off the longitudinal access so that the thumbs, and by extension, wrists, fall more naturally during game play.

The screen is prominent and pleasant to behold – and that’s just when it’s off! When powered on it is bright, crisp and clear. At times, because of its close proximity to the keys I find myself having to wipe of finger smudges. Although I treat it tenderly and wouldn’t expect there to be any damage, so far it has been scratch-resistant.

The On/Off switch is tucked neatly on the side out of the way of regular use, and because it’s spring-loaded, you won’t accidentally shut the unit off or turn it on.

Other notable superficial items include a button at the top to turn the Wi-Fi receiver On/Off (ostensibly to conserve battery life, and provide security). A standard size headphone jack is built into the bottom, and Sony’s read-only Universal Media Disks (which as one might suspect can contain games, movies, or music) are loaded through a spring-loaded door that is manually opened on the back. Memory Stick flash memory cards are loaded through a slot on the left side. A small light flashes when the unit is accessing a wireless network (using the IEEE 802.11b standard), and it is accompanied by a power indicator light as well. Two small speaker holes near the top allow provide a surprisingly interactive game experience.

When you turn on the PSP it presents a six-category menu:

Settings
Photo
Music
Video
Game
Network

Each of these menus has sub-menus that allow you to change and customize various settings. Scrolling through the menus and selecting the item is as simple as using the directional keys and hitting the “X” button to select, and the “O” button to go back. The menus can provide very detailed information, such as battery life remaining with a time estimate, or the software version, for example. The menu consistently displays the date, time and a battery icon in the upper right-hand corner.

Game Play

My game play has included a wide variety of genres, from racing to first person challenges, like Wipeout Pure, Need for Speed, Burnout – Legends, Starwars Battlefront II and SOCOM – U.S. Navy Seals, Fireteam Bravo.

I won’t go into depth on each game, but suffice to say that graphics are rendered smoothly and with astonishing detail. Many of these games are engineered for consoles which have more expansive controllers, so no doubt it was a challenge for software developers to simplify the games for the portable version. The result is a number of multi-button combinations to achieve certain maneuvers, and many menus. The inconvenience factor is trumped by the portability, hands down.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about game play is the loading time. It can take anywhere from a few seconds to more than half a minute to load a game, or even a sequence within a game. This is due mostly to the speed which the PSP is able to retrieve information from the UMD. A simple solution is to create a disk image of the game and load it onto an internal flash media card. By removing the need for a motor to spin a CD, it can also enhance battery life.

Anyone who has played video games knows that as the hands manipulate buttons on the controller, our bodies unconsciously move the controller – up, down, left, right, tilting – we react to what’s going on in the game. The same thing happens when playing the PSP, and while not an indictment of design, or a flaw of the system, you may find that all the sudden you can’t see the screen as well because you just dodged a cone in a racing game.

If you have friends who have a PSP, you’re in luck. You can wirelessly compete against opponents via the built-in Wi-Fi card, or even connect to servers to play against strangers, if you don’t have friends.

Web Browsing

On to the more sedate activities one can engage in with the PSP. Mobile web browsing is one of the most practical applications of a hand-held electronic gadget. Unfortunately, attempts to incorporate it into phones and many PDAs leave us with impression that this technology has a long way to come, unless we’re going to haul around a laptop. Perhaps one of the best examples of a good web browser is Apple’s iPhone. It certainly isn’t fair to compare the PSP to the iPhone because the interfaces are different, but the PSP does make web browsing more practical than many other devices. Use of a touch screen or stylus would be a tremendous improvement.

Sometimes pages are rendered in interesting and unusual ways. However, more often than not, they load just as you would see them on a regular computer screen. Using the navigation buttons you can access favorites, refresh a page and do all the things you expect to do using a regular web browser. Three display modes allow you to control how a page is manifested: Normal, Just-Fit and Smart-Fit, the later which reorders page content so that page width matches screen width.

Navigating a page can be done two ways. Pressing the “square” button freezes the four-way key pad and lets you browse up and down, left and right on a page, much like using the “page up” and “page down” keys on your keyboard. Or, you can use the analog controller to move the pointer, much like a touchpad or mouse, and activate links by hitting the “X” button.

Data input is where using the PSP feels much like reverting to the stone age days of texting on a cell phone. Entering a URL or typing brings up a text entry screen where you use the direction keys to navigate between buttons with multiple letter/number combinations on them – basically a cell phone keypad. Hitting the “X” button once gives you the first character, twice the second and so on. Mercifully, software writers also included web-specific language shortcuts, like “www”, or “.com”, or “.edu” to speed things up.

Unless you are a texting guru, you’ll probably be sufficiently challenged to type out your user ID and password just to sign into e-mail. Forget about chatting. However, once used to the system, input speeds up drastically. Most people using the web browser won’t be writing any works of literature and will be happily engaged reading.

Media

The PSP plays all sorts of media, including almost one dozen video formats, music, and naturally, anything off Sony’s proprietary UMD. You can purchase countless TV episodes, cartoons, and movies in UMD format, but the more enterprising will probably rip their own DVDs, and create a file to load onto the PSP. I tested this with an underwater video I took while SCUBA diving and the PSP replayed it with remarkable clarity, even though it went through compression. The PSP does not play video at the standard 640 x 480 resolution with its current firmware (PSP 3.60). However, it does have a video-out capability by means of a component cable, but it only works with progressive scan TVs or monitors.

The question of course is how to get other media onto the internal memory card. I have found that this is best accomplished on my MAC by using a $20.00 program called iPSP. It rips, reformats, and then syncs the video (and any other media) to the PSP using the USB 2.0 port.

Pro Media Director v1.1.1.1 is the PC-based software application included with the PSP game pack that allows you to sync game profiles, music, video and photos from your computer. It is a no-frills application. A simple preferences panel allows you to set resolution, bit rate and audio bit rate for video compression.

In addition to video, the PSP will play audio files, like the popular MP3 and AAC format. The music player is replete with accompanying graphics and all the standard controls one might find on any such program.

Another interesting, and tremendously practical capability of the PSP lies in its ability to view PDF files. I can think of myriad applications where this could be useful, if not for the very simple reason that it increases the amount and type of information you can access on the PSP, in addition to the entertainment features.

Finally, the PSP will display photos, as do PDAs, phones and just about every other electronic gadget. They render clearly on the large screen, but the interface to advance from photo to photo, and crop and zoom and so forth is a bit clunky.

If all these functionalities weren’t enough, someone has cracked the software architecture and a “homebrew” community has developed. Homebrew has opened up an additional world of opportunity for PSP users, from the ability to “dump” information from a UMD onto a memory stick, to new applications and games. Many dedicated websites exist for homebrew enthusiasts.

Accessories & Additional Capabilities

Two separate accessories receiving a lot of attention (though not yet released in the U.S. at the time of this writing) are a GPS receiver and a camera, both of which that mount on the top of the PSP unit. The camera is – no kidding – marketed as the “Chotto Shot”. I’m guessing something was lost in translation.

The PSP supposedly supports the ability to download and view photos with taken on stand alone digital cameras, but I have been unable to find a list of cameras it is compatible with. Selecting the Camera option on the PSP menu simply displays this baffling message: “Connect a camera that is compatible with the PSP system to the USB connector”.

Conclusion

In the proverbial nutshell, for a modest $169, the PSP represents a remarkably capable, well-packaged gaming system that goes above and beyond the expectations of the user. From purely the gaming perspective, it delivers a fun, interactive experience that is both simple, and yet offers tremendous complexity for more involved games. Beyond that, it acts brilliantly as a media player, delivering smooth, sharp video and images on a wonderfully large and bright screen. Finally, it trumps the competition with the Ace of being able to connect to the web via Wi-Fi. All this, in a neat, light, handsome package. I can’t imagine ever having to deal with another boring layover – that is… until my battery runs out.