This post will be about general things - appearance, specs, etc.
- things
Text input is painful. Partly because there is no touch sensitive screen (which I am not a fan enough... will get to this) and of course there is no keyboard like some internet tablet. It works like a phone but unlike a phone you don't have direct access to all those buttons. Worse yet if you're using some non-English language because you keep having to switch between languages and input size (half or full size). The only thing you can do is to get used to it but there's definitely a limit to this - there is no learning mechanism or efficient input like T9 either. Furthermore, you can't see the screen where you're typing while you're typing. This gets annoying in something like instant messengers, which are slightly shady anyway.
- Conspicuousness. Even though it's a WiFi device and you might be "following lecture notes" online, it's still a game system and looks like a game device. Watch out in small lectures and seminars. I try to suppress the physical button pushing sound, but then you will die in some combat in some game.
- Optional devices. Besides the built-in functions like photos, music, video, games, and network, there are many devices that allow expansion. These include: TV-tuner (1-seg... Japan only?), camera, microphone (for Skype and other software), and GPS (am I forgetting anything?). The bad part is that you have to buy them all separately, but I guess if you're like me and don't really need them it's not a big deal. If these things were built-in however, I may have some use for them, but it would probably become highly overpriced like some Apple products ehem... in the meanwhile, I'll just stare at the non-functional menu options for these devices that come with each firmware upgrade.
- Accessories. This kind of goes with the above. If you want a remote control for your music, you need to buy one (although normal headphones will work just fine, just not the play/pause forward/back functionality). Same goes for TV output. It's a cool idea to be able to output the screen to a TV, but again you have to have the right cable and the right TV to do it.
- Multitasking? The only multitasking you can do is listening to music while looking at your photographs, I believe. I don't think being able to do anything else while watching a video or playing a game would be any useful, but maybe web-browsing while listening to music might be. I don't know if it could handle that with 64mb of RAM though...
- Color variation. Like the Nintendo DS but unlike other high-ended devices, the new PSP offers 8 different colors (as of 02.2008 in Japan) with the special edition red and new mint green. Well, for those of us who prefer monotone anyway or may be in countries where only a few is offered, it's not really a plus. In fact, when I stalked the SonyStyle website to buy my piano black one, the black was sold out in 3 hours, then the silver and white within a day or so, then the rest of the colors.
- No built-in memory. Everything gets saved on a memory stick, and if you don't have one, well, you need to get one to do anything cool. These are somewhat pricy and it's much more convenient to get one high capacity stick than to have to switch between multiple. As a reference for a pretty good deal, I got a 4gb SanDisk MS pro duo for $35+tax.
- No touch sensitive screen. This probably adds to the annoyance in text input, but browsing is actually pretty easy thanks to the analog stick, so this is definitely in the gray area for me. I hate touch screens because it leaves gross marks everywhere, and because I have these nails that protrude even if I cut them. Basically I have no use for touch screens anyway.
- Battery life. According to my research and experience it can handle 4-5 hours of game play, but things like music can go for 10 hours or so, which is plenty for someone just carrying it around for a day.
- Nice screen. amazing 4.3" widescreen (480x272). I prefer having one large screen for aesthetical reasons as well as usability.
- Appearance. In my personal opinion, it beats most portable devices in its looks. This is only a personal opinion, I repeat.
- Amazing graphics. Once you play a few games/demos with 3D graphics, I think it's quite obvious that it's far superior than the Nintendo DS (note: only seen in stores/commercials). As a general consensus I hear that the quality is between a PS2 and a PS3.
- Stereo speakers/Audio. I'm not an expert on sound, but I do care about sound quality a lot. This is definitely not a downgrade from my Sony mp3 player, and with decent stereo speakers sometimes I take the weight off my computer in listening to music. If you google this you'll find that the majority find the PSP sound quality much better than the iPod. Then again I hear that's also not a good standard, but I won't get into this especially since I don't own Apple products these days.
- Functions. It's main purpose is of course gaming. I find myself using the music and internet browser almost everyday, you can watch videos, and with instant messaging coming out soon, it's a reasonable all-round device. This again is also a matter of preference; I happen to have broken my Sony mp3 player a few months ago due to stupid reasons that won't be mentioned here. With firmware updates, new functions are added, like the internet radio and instant messenger. It was mentioned before, but you can even watch TV, do voice-over-ip chat, install GPS, or take pictures with separately sold devices.
Network. I won't go into too much detail just yet, but it's supposedly flash-enabled and javascript ok. Very important for me is that Gmail works, and you can download tons of trial games from the official PSP website with decent speed. I must have about 40 trial games now... some are playable, some are lame, but it's enough to have a little fun.
- Expandable memory. As long as you have the right memory sticks, there's no limit to how much stuff you can have. Theoretically the limit is 32gb (unconfirmed).
- Price. Well it's half the price of an iPod touch, slightly more expensive than Nintendo DS. But you can listen to music, browse the web (the DS makes you buy a browser software), watch movies, and most importantly, play games. Like any popular devices at the moment, it doesn't depreciate much. This is definitely a matter of preference.
- Global. Apparently games now are not restricted to region, but not movies. This might require some testing but I'm pretty sure most games are compatible between the U.S. and Japan. Whether or not you find the X and O button switches very annoying is a different question.
- Hackable. Sony probably isn't too happy about this seeing that most hacked programs require a downgrade in firmware. But if you know what you're doing, you can remotely connect to your computer, run emulations (gameboy, N64, even DS), etc. Read all about it here as a starter.
- edit: USB rechargeable. With a commonly available micro-USB cable.
Well I might've touched on more detail than I would've liked, but I will definitely make sure to talk about specifics in different functions like music, videos, games, and network later. Back (?) to work for now.
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