One thing that certainly deserves mention is the video quality of UMD movies. Though it's doubtful they'll ever become as big as Sony believes they will, their video quality makes you wonder if they won't take off after all. The included "Spiderman 2" UMD boasts stunning clarity and resolution, though it has been cropped from its original aspect ratio to fit (senseless, really, since this is a widescreen display). Audio quality isn't quite DVD quality, but still strong especially with a solid pair of headphones. Movement left to right is captured flawlessly and the same goes for the games.
One sticky point is battery life. At the most, you'll get five hours of gameplay. That seems bad, but this isn't the day of the Game Gear or Atari Lynx. This is a rechargeable battery so there's no need for desperate midnight runs to the store during a power outage. Plenty of accessories make sure everything stays charged as well, even in the car with the usual cigarette lighter adapter (though it's not included).
Sony has a fantastic, powerful, and simple to use piece of hardware here. If you're looking to learn about downloading movies and music to your system, that's an entirely different review. The system can do those functions and that's all that is important. This is a system made to play video games first and foremost, and it seems more equipped to do that than any of the competition. It's going to come down to the software battle and whether or not people are willing to spend more on this than the competition for it.
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Article comments
1 - swingingpuss
Matt, thanks for your detailed review. I was thinking of buying PSP as an anniversary gift for my husband but he is not known to be careful with his electronics. I'm back to square one.
2 - Triniman
In the long run, I can't see this suceeding as a cross-platform device.
People who already have DVDs won't want to buy them again in a new format. And it holds fewer MP3s than the flash-based iPod. It may be a cool gaming machine, but it won't replace the iPod.
3 - Free sony psp
Hey,
Wanted to let you know that they are giving away free Sony PSP. really cool !
http://www.freedesktopfun.com/v/free-sony-psp/7/
Hurry on , there's not much left as they said!
I got mine last week. :)