I want one! (Sony PSP)

Member Name: timmah10

Product:	Sony PSP
Date:	26/02/06 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: +++

Disadvantages: ---

Well first of all i will admit that i do not own a psp, however i feel that will not stop me from writing a review, as i use one most days and have had loans of a flatmates for an extended period of time.
(Please see the comments section as this will be explained)

My reason for joining dooyoo is simple, i really really want a psp, being a poor student with no job i doubt this is likely to happen anytime soon, unless i can earn lots of 3p's on this sight to get enough money to buy one. by reading this review you have helped me in this task so i thank you.

So all we know so far is that i want one real bad, but what abou the specs?

Display:
The screen displays 16.77 million colours and can handle both 4:3 and 16.9 aspect ratios. It is 480 x 272 pixels and has adjustable brightness. This allows for both energy effiency by decreasing the brightness and also allows you to set the brightness to the optimum level for your gaming environment to prevent annoying mirro effect on screen. The screen is really high quality and also suitable for viewing movies, the one problem i do have with it is that it becomes greasy during play, luckilly a cloth is provided with the package. The image quality is great and looks far nicer than on a large screen, and i hear the japanese one has an even better screen. One of the preowned machines my friend rob bought had a dead pixel in it, this was not noticeable during gameplay and i have not known this happen to anyone else so i would not class this as a major concern.

Performance:
A ps2 has the following specifications:
(CPU: 128-bit "Emotion Engine" (300MHz)
RAM: 32MB
Colors: 16.7 million)

Now when we compare this to the psp we can see just how powerfull this little box is, it has a 333mhz processor, thats 33mhz faster than the ps2. It matches the ps2 like for like with 32Mb of ram and colours! yet its only a fraction of the size and less than half the wieght! So even if we don't actually know what the specs mean we can still see that it is faster than the ps2, whats more due to having a smaller screen it actually looks a lot better.


Functionality:
The psp is not only a games console, it also hosts a variety of other features, mp3 playback so you can listen to your music either via the onboard speaker or the headphones provided, UMD movie disc playback so you can watch movies on the go whilst saving space, Bluetooth connection so you can hook up to other players or your pc, internet browsing the wifi- although typing can be annoying and this is slower than your standard pc and you can also look at photos stored on your memory card/ use the connectivity to send and recieve them.

Battery life:
Many reports are now saying that the psp has short battery life, in my experience a typical charge will give between 5-6 hours of normal gameplay, also the device can be used whilst charging. Extra batteries can be purchased also so you can use them on long journeys. Using the speakers loudly during games and mp3 playback will reduce life so i would recommend headphones. Screen brightness too is adjustable so if your battery does get low this is a way to extend it. As with all batteries it will decrease in effieciency with age although i have not known this happen to one yet.

Controlls:
Based loosly around the standard playstation setup there is triangle, sqaure, X, O, a directional pad, one analogue controll, and two shoulder buttons. I find these controls easy to use but this may be due to having used previous consoles. The analogue control is flat and inobtrusive but it did take some getting used to since i prefer the Dpad. There is also a pinball game that allows you to use the game deck vertically rather than horizontally, showing the versatility of the controlls. Unlike the origional PS1 the buttons are not too hard to press or too clicky so you wont get blisters from them easily, and the analogue stick is not made of rubber so it will not fall apart like the consoles.

Navigation:
Due to the PSP's multimedia capabilities it must have some form of navigation screen. On the psp this is achieved by bringing you to a menu screen when you push the home button, this screen will be a different colour depending on the month of the year it is and will have the following icons in order form left to right:
Settings
Pictures
movie
game
Theese icons are fairly self explanatory and easy to navigate you are able to click on any of them and it will do that function, or you can scroll to settings and then up or down to choose an option.
The picture viewing function is quite cool i suppose but at the same time it has no camera and so is not massively useful. When you are highlighting either the movie or the game icon a small picture of either the movie or game will appear which is awesome so you know whats in the drive without having to open it.

Gameplay:
I do not really think here is the place for talking too much about the psp games so if i were you i would read some reviews of games in the game section. I will however say that there are some great games out there, especially lumines. Many of the games availabe are fast paced driving or action games, mostly spin offs from the Ps2, but there are also a whole bunch of travelly puzzle games so something for everyone really. The games have been designed with the PsP controlls in mind and as such they are usually perfectly suited to the game deck, some even have an option to change the layout of the controlls or to turn analogue on or off.

Extras:
Games and movies come on sony discs which are protected by a hard plastic reinforcement. they seem very unlikely to become scratched or damaged and i have not known this happen. I imagine stamping on one would possibly break it and as of yet i have not been able to test the effects of water. Movies and games range in price from under £10 on ebay to around £40 tops. Memory cards are also available and there is no limit to how many you can use with one psp, a 1gig sony one costs around £50 whilst a sandisk one is £35 and there is no difference between them other than the brand name. I find the memory cards a good idea, but a little more onboard wouldnt have gone amiss, they are rather expensive and easy to loose so you wouldnt want to take too many out with you.

Hacks and cracks:
Theese are only available for the older versions of the PsP operating system so if you are buying a PsP with the intent of playing copied games or running homebrew then this is going to be a problem as you will more than likely not get an old version. At present there is only an upgrader to allow your PsP the latest functionality but i believe after a while somebody will write a downgrader to do the trick.

Conclusion:

Now available for around £175.00 i think they are well worth a buy if you are into gaming on the go. Home users may prefer to wait for the ps3 or get an xbox 360. It is light at around 200g and fairly robust although i would recommend buying a carry case to protect the screen as it will become scratched otherwise. I however really really want one and i am counting on making lots of money on this sight to pay for it, i hope i suceed and i hope my attitude shows how much of a wonderful product this is.

Thankyou for reading

(please see comments section)

Summary: I really want one!