PlayStation Vita takes handheld gaming to a new level

Overview

The PS Vita is the most powerful, dazzling and impressive handheld games console ever built.
It packs not one but two quad-core processors, a sparkling 5-inch touchscreen OLED display, dual analogue stick controls and games that go way beyond what any other portable device is currently capable of.
That includes the Nintendo 3DS, which may wield 3D optics as its trump card, but nonetheless simply cannot compete with the Vita in terms of graphical fidelity. What the PlayStation Vita offers is more akin to a home console experience on the move, and that puts it in an elite class of one.
Of course, whether or not there is a big market for such a device is an interesting question, and we're in the process of getting some early answers. A sluggish start in Japan has been followed by some less-than-stellar sales figures in the first weeks of its UK and US launch. It doesn't come as much of a surprise.
After all, it's a luxury item launching post-Christmas into a Western world ravaged by financial floundering, and further hindered by Sony's desperate need to make money at a time when the strength of the Yen makes exported Japanese products very expensive.

Take a look at PS Vita gameplay footage, the new interface and touch controls in our video:

But we'll get to that a little later, and as far as this PlayStation Vita review goes, we're looking at the product as a stand alone piece of hardware, how it stacks up against the competition and whether or not it offers value for money.
The basics
In many ways, despite the new name, the PlayStation Vita is another revision of the Sony PSP legacy with plenty of much needed evolution on top.
The same basic form factor returns and it doesn't look too different from its predecessors. But this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. A beast among men. A veritable fire-breathing monster compared to those long-dead PSPs in the sky.

The curvy oval shape returns, and measures 7.2-inches from end to end. So it's the biggest Sony handheld ever, with a height of 3.3-inches and a thickness of 0.73.
Sony's reasoning has clearly been: if we're going to make the world's most powerful handheld console, we might as well make it the best it can possibly be. That involves packing industry-leading visuals, hence the 5-inch OLED screen which on its own is as big as the entire PSP Go console was.
We think the enlarged size is a worthwhile compromise, and this Wi-Fi only model weighs in at just 260g which is 20g lighter than the original, smaller PSP 1000. So when you pick it up you'll react to its apparent lightness.
On the table
The front of the console is a smorgasbord of hardware delights.
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, a 0.3MP front-facing camera and the Start and Select buttons you're most likely very familiar with already.

On the top side of the Vita are left and right shoulder buttons - there are no trigger buttons like you'd find on a PS3 Dualshock controller. Between the shoulders you'll find the on/off button, volume controls, the PS Vita Card slot (which we'll discuss in a moment) and a terminal to plug in any number of as-yet non-existent peripherals.

The base of the console houses the proprietary USB connector for charging and connecting to PS3 etc, as well as the headphone/microphone adapter and the Memory Card slot.

And finally, the rear of the PS Vita is home to the brand-new rear Touch Pad, a rear 0.3MP camera and a microphone.

Price
At launch the PS Vita will set back UK gamers around £209.99 (RRP £229.99), while the 3G version will launch a little later for £259.99 (£279.99). At the time of writing, the cheapest deal for the PS Vita is £197 at ASDA, while Amazon have matched that price.
There are bundle deals if you shop around, and these include different combinations of PC Sivta with memory cards and games.

Features

The PlayStation Vita's immense power is provided by the 32-bit Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU - the same beating heart you'll find in many other devices including the iPad 2. Graphical grunt is thus supplied by the A9's defacto GPU of choice, the similarly quad core PowerVR Series5XT SGXMP+ chip.
That makes the Vita more graphically capable than the iPhone 4 or the iPad 2, despite its far more modest price point.
Memory is provided by 512MB RAM and 128MB VRAM for the GPU. There were rumours prior to launch that Sony was attempting to slash that memory allocation to 256MB in order to save money, but it's a good thing it's been left in.

That's because the Vita is able to hold even a game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss in stasis while you return to the Vita menus and change some settings etc. As soon as you want to return to the game, it resumes instantaneously, even if you put the console to sleep and leave it alone for 48 hours.
It's the same seamless experience you get with Sony's other games console, the PS3 which itself only has 256MB RAM.
Screen
Of course, the big stand-out feature of the Vita is that incredible screen. It's a real stunner, and discards with LCD tech to jump straight into bed with sexier, brighter and more efficient OLED.
It's a winning feature, and it packs a qHD resolution of 640x960. That doesn't make it the sharpest screen in the business - the iPhone 4S' retina display has a pixel density of 326ppi, while the Vita rocks up with just 220ppi - but it's plenty enough to make Vita's games resonate with graphical beauty beyond anything else on any other portable device.

It's a capacitive touchscreen jobby too, which means you use gestures on the screen to navigate the PS Vita's brand new interface, instead of using the D-Pad, and most games make heavy use of that touch input too.
Underneath the screen you've also got three-axis accelerometer and gyroscopes, meaning you can control many of your games simply by moving the device in your hand.
This enables you to aim simply by moving the device around - great for games like Uncharted, though if you're sitting down you might need a swivel chair or things start to get tricky!

No internal storage
As we mentioned on the previous page, one criminal drawback is the lack of internal storage. For this, Sony really needs to take a long, hard look at itself because it's really not a very clever move. Talk about a put-off.
So in addition to the console, you'll have to fork out for one of Sony's proprietary Vita memory cards, essentially a proprietary stick similar in shape but smaller than an SD card.

When you buy games, they'll come on their own cartridge-style cards with storage space for saves and updates so if you're only gaming it's less of a concern.
The device has two ports, one for the generic memory card and one for game cartridges. So if you want to take music, pictures or videos with you, or if you want to download digital-only games from the Sony Entertainment Network, you'll have to pay extra for the Vita storage cards. There are a range of sizes planned from 2-16GB and you probably won't like the prices.
As of launch day, Amazon UK is selling the 4GB card for £15, 8GB for £28 and 16GB for £40.
We'd recommend holding off buying one in case prices come down a little - ideally you'd be much better off with the 16GB model but £40 is simply too much to pay in our eyes (it has to be said, at the time of writing, Amazon UK is offering a deal whereby you can get an 8GB Vita card for free when buying the console).
Connection-wise both models come with standard Bluetooth and WiFi connections while the 3G model also includes, well a 3G connection.
In the EU the 3G service is provided by Vodaphone, and the £279 price tag includes a free 4GB memory card, a PAYG SIM card which when topped up with £5 will get you a free downloadable game - WipEout 2048 - and 250 MB of data lasting up to 30 days with full Vodafone 3G connectivity.
The PlayStation Vita 3G will also be available at other high street and online retailers with the option to top up £5 and get the WipEout 2048 game free of charge.