Is The PlayStation Portal Handheld As Bad As People Say

In this episode, we unbox and test out the PlayStation Portal handheld accessory for the PlayStation 5 from Sony.

Key Specs:
Display Size: 8in LCD
Resolution: 1080P
Refresh Rate: 60HZ
Bluetooth: No
WiFi Compatibility: WiFi 5 2.4GHz & 5GHz
Battery: 4370mAh

Much like how every company seemed to be going after the Nintendo Wii in that generation of hardware, this generation it seems like everybody is trying to capture the lightning in a bottle that the Nintendo Switch has done.For years people have been expecting a follow-up to the PlayStation Vita from Sony, and in the summer of 2023, they announced a new handheld. Well not really. What they released was a streaming device compatible with the PlayStation 5 called the PlayStation Portal.

The overall look and design of the PlayStation Portal feels slapdash and a half-ass. It looks as though Sony took a DualSense controller, cut it in half, added an 8-in 1080p display, and called it a day. The Portal has no onboard storage of its own, it cannot play any games natively on itself and requires an always-on internet connection. A Vita 2 this is not.

For $200 you get the system, a USB-C cable, and an instruction slip sheet. There's no case included, no screen protector, nothing. After opening & testing the PlayStation DualSense edge controller I was really expecting a case with this, however, Sony definitely cheaped out here.

Going from the box to playing was a painful experience from a time standpoint. It took me over half an hour to download and install all of the day one, or latest day, patches and firmware upgrades for the system. That was crazy, & I have fiber internet. Once all the updates were installed I was ready to go ahead and sign into the system which was fairly easy to do.

It became clearly evident to me quickly was that this is designed for people who have a PlayStation Plus membership. The emphasis on digital gaming is transparent here. I don't own many digital-only games on the PlayStation any longer as those purchases have not always come forward from generation of console to generation of console. The first game I tested was AEW Fight Forever. Upon loading the game I instantly noticed that the frame rate just seemed off. It didn't feel like it was laggy or that there was a whole lot of latency to it, it just didn't look right, it didn't feel right. That being said I was able to have a couple of successful matches without any issue.

From here, I moved on to several other games I own on my system. Gran Turismo 7 ran beautifully on the system, to be honest with you. I never had any connection issues, I never had really any issues at all. While only a 1080p display, I have to admit the colors looked gorgeous, it was vibrant, and I half wonder if the issues I ran into on Fight Forever warrant inherent to the game versus anything to do with the system.

I did spend some time playing the original Spider-Man, and that also looked and played beautifully. I was able to zoom around the skies of New York without any issue, button presses felt good, this was not the hellish experience I'd heard others had had.

To finish my testing I took the Portal to the office and connected it via my cellular hotspot. I do have 5G ultra-wideband service at the office and found that I could connect to my phone without any major issues. I fired up Ratchet and Clank a Rift Apart for this test, and while there were a few times I got the warning that my network connectivity was slow it never disconnected during gameplay.

As Sony has done for generations, there is no support for standard Bluetooth headphones. They want you to buy THEIR earbuds, and that's really anti-consumer. I hope that someone comes out with an adapter at some point, and I may look into other unofficial solutions down the road.

Why it RoX:
- PlayStation 5 gameplay on the go
- Beautiful display
- Rumble is awesome
- Works great with digital titles

What could be improved
- No native gameplay options
- Requires constant internet connection
- If you want to play a disc-based game you really have to plan ahead
- No included screen protector, case, or AC adapter
- Not compatible with Bluetooth Headphones

Should you buy one?
I have to admit I was more impressed with the Portal than I thought that I would be. I actually enjoyed my time playing this and I can see it possibly getting more gameplay. The thing is I no longer have my PlayStation Plus subscription, Sony priced me out of the market. As such and as someone who doesn't have the opportunity to play games on the go, the use case for me is rather low. I also did not appreciate the fact that Sony did not include a case, screen protector, or AC adapter, and their lack of Bluetooth support sucks. I will say that I did not experience the game-breaking delay and the lag feared, so that makes me hopeful that Sony has addressed this in recent firmware updates. At $200 I see this as a novelty, one that is easy to pass up.

#PlayStation #Portal #VideoGames