Design and Appearance

It's another year and that means another console, the PS vita is currently the most advanced handheld console on the market today. The vita is an upgraded version of the PSP and at first glance this looks very similar like you would expect it to. The vita is a lot bigger and bulkier than the PSP but it strangely doesn't feel enormous and it's surprisingly lightweight. The casing is curvy which makes it fit better in your palms and feel comfier, vita measures 7.2 inches across which makes this the biggest handheld yet. The screen itself if 5 inches so this takes up most of the space, it's in the middle so it leaves 1.2 inches either side of the screen for the other controls. To the left of the screen you'll find the classic Sony D-Pad, a left analogue stick, a left speaker and the PS Home button. To the right you'll find your classic PlayStation triangle, circle, square and X buttons, as well as a right analogue stick, right speaker along with the start and select button. On the top of the vita are the left and right buttons along with the on/off button and volume control. On the back is the camera and touchpad. On the bottom of the console is there charger port, a port to connect to a PS3, a headphone port and a memory card slot. The buttons to the front to me feel a little cramped and too close together but it is something you start to adjust to. On the back there are two wide finger grooves to hold onto your vita so you don't drop it. When holding it you can tell that it's made of a sturdy plastic and doesn't really cheap so you know it's been made well.

Controls
On the right side you have the D pad and the left analogue stick; these are of course for you to move around in games whether it's a driving game or a platform game, this is what you use to move but every game is different and you can always check on the controls of the game to see which ones are which and what they're for. On the right side you have your shapes buttons; these like most games will either first something or allow you to do a specific move like jump. The select and start button is underneath this and this is the only uncomfortable thing about the controls, I often found I would press one by accident or they would just get in the way especially when I was getting annoyed at a game, perhaps if they made the screen slightly smaller it would leave more room for comfortable buttons and space to move around.

Screen

The screen measures 5 inches wide and takes up the majority of the space on the vita, this is handy and annoying at the same time. Handy because it means we can see more of a picture in the game and is useful when taking pictures because it makes them clearer and again it's annoying because it doesn't leave much room for the buttons. However it is without a doubt the best screen on a handheld console yet. The screen has a resolution of 960x544, the screen enhances darker areas in games, videos and pictures making them more visible, crisp, sharp and vibrant. The screen is also touch screen which is one of the main features of the vita but because of this I found I had to keep wiping the smudges off often, not because my hands are dirty, but just because that's what happens.

Start up and set up.

The on/off button is located on top of the vita, once it's turned on the "set up wizard" screen will come up where you sort out the location, time and date and also you can put in your playstation account details if you have them or join up if you do, I don't and I'm not interested in any addition features I could get if I joined I simply want to play the games that I buy. Once you've done all the set up you get an option to play a mini game called "welcome park" which is a tutorial type game and will come in handy to help you use the vita. Next the touch screen option will come up similar to a phone's app display in little bubble forms. Just tap on the app you wish to open or on the app menu just run your finger up and down to scroll through the apps. If you have an Iphone or another touch screen phone you'll be able to figure this out in no time but for someone like me who has a blackberry, touch screen with apps annoys me because it takes too long to get used to, the apps don't open instantly I found they was delayed by a few seconds so perhaps on sony's new handheld after this they will weak that a little bit so it's faster.

Games

Games are available in both cartridge and download form which is helpful to everyone because not everyone likes to download them, because this does not have an internal memory you need to buy a memory card yourself so I prefer the cartridges rather than downloads because I don't have a memory card yet. I only have the batman arkham city game because someone bought me it along with the vita, I found that the graphics were nowhere near as good as the PS3 but the quality was still brilliant, the screen kept up with all movements without any delays or any laggings if you're doing a lot of fast things at once.


Verdict

I could ramble on about other features it has but I haven't explored this much because I simply don't like playing on it so I haven't explored it much. I only have the one game because the PS VITA games are around £40 and I would rather pay £40 for a ps3 game than a vita game because they have more to offer. The graphics of the games are brilliant and almost life like on some games I've seen. Another bad point about this is that it has no internal memory so you don't have a choice but to buy a memory card and I don't dare look at how much they will be either. This was around £280 so I am told. (I never bought me it) I would recommend this to a love of handheld consoles but personally I'll stick with my game boy colour and the retro classics.