Posts tagged PSP

If the evolution of the original PSP ‘phat’ to the PSP-2000 ’slim and lite’ was a small step, this is a shuffle. From the box, the PSP-3000 looks the same, but there are two key component changes – Sony has sourced a new LCD panel with a less reflective surface and a wider colour gamut and added a microphone. Both updates are welcome improvements, but it’s very much the same PSP we know and love. Sony launched the PlayStation Portable in 2004, so you’d expect a few tweaks since then. PlayStation 2 bares little resemblance now to its mark one version, so we can probably expect more subtle changes. And given the rate at which LCD panels in particular are developing, it’s not surprising that Sony has found an upgrade. The new screen is exactly the same size and resolution (420 x 272) as before, but it’s noticeably less reflective. You still can’t play in direct sunlight, but in normal light, the new screen picks up far less reflections than its glassy predecessor. It’s no scientific breakthrough on its own – a decent screen protector has a similar effect – but combined with the improved colour range and the new kid really does look better and despite the rumours, it’s no heavier on battery use. With Wipeout Pure running side by side on the last two generations of PSP, it’s possible to see the difference in the brighter primary colours of the anti-gravity craft as they scream around the track and when you take them outside, it’s the older model that’s plagued by reflections. And at the risk of sounding like a Persil ad, the new screen achieves whiter whites too. And the microphone? The tiny hole below the screen for the mic seems like an obvious addition that suddenly turns your PSP into a free Skype phone. It’s reasonable quality too, so our only complaint is that it should have come sooner and saved us all the expense of adding a Go!Cam. Aside from now being able to output a video signal to regular interlaced display devices and not just progressive scanning screens, the only other changes to the new model are cosmetic. The Home button has become a PSP button and the Sony branding has shifted from the right to the left. We couldn’t really have expected anything too radical so soon after the Slim and Lite release, but there are plenty of features that PSP fans have been asking for. Number one is an internal hard drive to replace the UMD drive. Just think of the extra storage capacity! You could have all your games and movies pre-loaded instead of carting around all those plastic discs. Number two would be an integral camera. We’ve got the mic now, so a cam would make PSP a great little free video conferencing device. There’s also a rather obvious space beneath the right hand buttons for a second analogue joystick.