[E3 2009] PSPgo Shown Off
And we got to play with it. Here's all the goods in one place, from hands-on impressions to specs and price.
Published: June 3, 2009
There was just a bit of trepidation heading into our first hands-on time with the new PSPgo. For one, it kind of looked cheap when we saw the glamour shots. We had a bazillion questions, too. Would it feel good to slide or would it feel ready to break almost instantly? Would the buttons feel right? What about the new placement of the analog nub and the overall shape? Would the games still look good on a slightly smaller screen?
Here's the short version: it's awesome and we want one. Now. In particular, we want the white one that we got a chance to play with for a bit because, well, it looks sexier, like it's all molded from one solid piece of heavy plastic. The slide function feels rock-solid, the shoulder buttons actually feel like real buttons rather than wiggly little bits of Lucite and... well, maybe we should just save more details for later, eh?
Here are the official specs for Sony's new digital download platform:
[PSPgo (PSP-N1000)]
|External Dimensions|
Approx. 128 x 16.5 x 69 mm (width x height x depth) (excludes largest projection)
|Weight|
Approx. 158g / 5.56 oz (including internal battery)
|CPU|
PSP CPU（System clock frequency 1-333 MHz, Main Memory 64MB）
|Display|
3.8 inches (16:9) full-transparent type, TFT drive,
480 x 272 pixel, Approx. 16,770,000 colors displayed
|Sound|
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
|Main Input/Output|
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) (Wi-Fi)
Bluetooth®2.0 (EDR)
High Speed USB (USB2.0)
Memory Stick Micro™(M2™)
Analog Video Out
Microphone
|Main Connectors|
Multi use connector
(DC IN / OUT, USB, Video Output / Input, Sound Input / Output)
Headset / Microphone connector
Memory Stick Micro™(M2™) slot
|Key / Switches|
Directional buttons (up/down/right/left), analog stick,
Action buttons (triangle, circle, cross, square), L/R buttons
START button, SELECT button, PS button
POWER/HOLD switch, WLAN switch
display button, sound button, volume (+/-) buttons
|Power Sources|
Lithium-Ion rechargeable internal battery pack
AC adaptor
USB power supply
|Internal Disc Drive|
16GB (Flash Memory)
|Supported Profile|
PSP (PlayStation Portable) Game
|Access Control|
Region code, parental control
|Wireless Communications|
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) (Wi-Fi)
(Infrastructure mode / Ad hoc mode (connect up to 16 consoles))
Bluetooth®2.0 (EDR)
|Supplied accessories|
AC adaptor
USB cable
CD-ROM（Media Go ver.1.1）
-[Supported Codecs]-
|Video|
Memory Stick Video Format
-MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC)
-H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (AAC)
MPEG4
-MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC)
-H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (CABAC) (AAC)Baseline Profile (AAC)
AVI
-Motion JPEG (Linear PCM)
-Motion JPEG (μ-Law)
|Music|
Memory Stick Audio Format
-ATRAC3
-ATRAC3plus™
MP3
MP3 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer3)
MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC)
WAVE (Linear PCM)
WMA
|Photo|
JPEG (DCF2.0/Exif2.21 compliant)
TIFF
BMP
GIF
PNG
|Launch Price and Dates|
North America | $249.99 - October 1, 2009
Europe/PAL Territories and Asia | €249 - October 1, 2009
Japan | 26,800 yen - November 1, 2009
:TPS Notes:
-There's actually quite a bit of space in this thing;16GB of internal storage, plus a new Memory Stick Micro (aka M2) slot -- sorry kids, your old Memory Stick Duos won't fit, but that's because the M2 was made with far greater capacity in mind for future storage. The units Sony had set up had a good dozen games (both PSP and PS one -- including Metal Gear Solid 1) on 'em and still had plenty of room.
-Yes, it sports a slightly smaller screen, now measuring 3.8 inches (that's half an inch smaller than the old PSP screen, but apparently without the interlacing weirdness of the PSP-3000 from what we could see). Thanks to the new form factor, it didn't seem nearly as bad as we thought it would, even sitting them side-by-side
-The feel in your hands, 40% lighter and 50% smaller than the original PSP-1000 brick, is instantly noticeable, even for those of us that have used the much lighter PSP-3000 for a while now. Though it's light, it doesn't feel cheap in any way. We'd equate it to a nice, expensive cell phone in terms of heft and tacticle feedback.
-Those new buttons? They're a little...weird -- at least at first. Playing Gran Turismo with buttons that have almost no travel (think of it like a cell phone) is crazy at first, but we're purists and rock it digital-style just like Kaz. Eventually, it clicked, and we actually started to -- gasp -- like the feel of the buttons!
-How about that new analog nub? Though it doesn't move nearly as much as the one on the old PSPs (and it feels stiffer, though not as bad as the original nub), the placement is infinitely better. For that matter, just holding the thing is much more akin to gripping a DualShock than the weird sort of portable-ness of the old PSPs. Your fingers wrap around and cradle the whole unit naturally rather than sort of rigidly supporting the brick. It's hard to describe, but you'll know what we mean when you hold it for the first time.
-The slide feels great. In a show of just how resilient the mechanism is, Sony had locked down the units while open, but someone had apparently forced one of 'em closed. Even after we slid it open, the mechanism showed no signs of being messed up despite having had a rather thick piece of metal forced between the "top" and "bottom" parts. It also looks quite nice all closed up, and the volume/mute/video buttons are now on the top. They have a tacky sort of give to them, and they're made of metal, like the surrounding casing of the whole unit.
-It was an... interesting move to make the power, audio and A/V out port the same proprietary plug (and one no doubt at least partially motivated by the desire to get some of that sweet, sweet official cable sales revenue), but the effect is that the whole unit does indeed seem a little more sleek and minimalist. It complements the design -- especially when closed.
-The descriptor "huge cajones" comes to mind when we think about Sony pricing the system at the exact same level as the original. It was ballsy to ask that much when the system first launched -- even a deterrent for some -- and the economic climate has changed considerably since 2004. We can understand the need to make a profit, but as much as we love the system, we won't be getting one until it comes down in price. TPS just doesn't make that kind of scratch, Sony.
Price aside, just a few hours with the system has rekindled our technolust for a new bit of Sony kit; it's simultaneously gotten us excited about the PSP hardware again and made us pine for the ability to stick all (okay, some) of our games on the hard drive and never have to worry about swapping out UMDs ever again. For preview purposes, we'll have to hang onto our PSP-3000, but had we the scratch, the entire office would be getting (white) PSPs on day one. Playing, it seems, really is believing.
Here's the short version: it's awesome and we want one. Now. In particular, we want the white one that we got a chance to play with for a bit because, well, it looks sexier, like it's all molded from one solid piece of heavy plastic. The slide function feels rock-solid, the shoulder buttons actually feel like real buttons rather than wiggly little bits of Lucite and... well, maybe we should just save more details for later, eh?
Here are the official specs for Sony's new digital download platform:
[PSPgo (PSP-N1000)]
|External Dimensions|
Approx. 128 x 16.5 x 69 mm (width x height x depth) (excludes largest projection)
|Weight|
Approx. 158g / 5.56 oz (including internal battery)
|CPU|
PSP CPU（System clock frequency 1-333 MHz, Main Memory 64MB）
|Display|
3.8 inches (16:9) full-transparent type, TFT drive,
480 x 272 pixel, Approx. 16,770,000 colors displayed
|Sound|
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
|Main Input/Output|
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) (Wi-Fi)
Bluetooth®2.0 (EDR)
High Speed USB (USB2.0)
Memory Stick Micro™(M2™)
Analog Video Out
Microphone
|Main Connectors|
Multi use connector
(DC IN / OUT, USB, Video Output / Input, Sound Input / Output)
Headset / Microphone connector
Memory Stick Micro™(M2™) slot
|Key / Switches|
Directional buttons (up/down/right/left), analog stick,
Action buttons (triangle, circle, cross, square), L/R buttons
START button, SELECT button, PS button
POWER/HOLD switch, WLAN switch
display button, sound button, volume (+/-) buttons
|Power Sources|
Lithium-Ion rechargeable internal battery pack
AC adaptor
USB power supply
|Internal Disc Drive|
16GB (Flash Memory)
|Supported Profile|
PSP (PlayStation Portable) Game
|Access Control|
Region code, parental control
|Wireless Communications|
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) (Wi-Fi)
(Infrastructure mode / Ad hoc mode (connect up to 16 consoles))
Bluetooth®2.0 (EDR)
|Supplied accessories|
AC adaptor
USB cable
CD-ROM（Media Go ver.1.1）
-[Supported Codecs]-
|Video|
Memory Stick Video Format
-MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC)
-H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (AAC)
MPEG4
-MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC)
-H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (CABAC) (AAC)Baseline Profile (AAC)
AVI
-Motion JPEG (Linear PCM)
-Motion JPEG (μ-Law)
|Music|
Memory Stick Audio Format
-ATRAC3
-ATRAC3plus™
MP3
MP3 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer3)
MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC)
WAVE (Linear PCM)
WMA
|Photo|
JPEG (DCF2.0/Exif2.21 compliant)
TIFF
BMP
GIF
PNG
|Launch Price and Dates|
North America | $249.99 - October 1, 2009
Europe/PAL Territories and Asia | €249 - October 1, 2009
Japan | 26,800 yen - November 1, 2009
:TPS Notes:
-There's actually quite a bit of space in this thing;16GB of internal storage, plus a new Memory Stick Micro (aka M2) slot -- sorry kids, your old Memory Stick Duos won't fit, but that's because the M2 was made with far greater capacity in mind for future storage. The units Sony had set up had a good dozen games (both PSP and PS one -- including Metal Gear Solid 1) on 'em and still had plenty of room.
-Yes, it sports a slightly smaller screen, now measuring 3.8 inches (that's half an inch smaller than the old PSP screen, but apparently without the interlacing weirdness of the PSP-3000 from what we could see). Thanks to the new form factor, it didn't seem nearly as bad as we thought it would, even sitting them side-by-side
-The feel in your hands, 40% lighter and 50% smaller than the original PSP-1000 brick, is instantly noticeable, even for those of us that have used the much lighter PSP-3000 for a while now. Though it's light, it doesn't feel cheap in any way. We'd equate it to a nice, expensive cell phone in terms of heft and tacticle feedback.
-Those new buttons? They're a little...weird -- at least at first. Playing Gran Turismo with buttons that have almost no travel (think of it like a cell phone) is crazy at first, but we're purists and rock it digital-style just like Kaz. Eventually, it clicked, and we actually started to -- gasp -- like the feel of the buttons!
-How about that new analog nub? Though it doesn't move nearly as much as the one on the old PSPs (and it feels stiffer, though not as bad as the original nub), the placement is infinitely better. For that matter, just holding the thing is much more akin to gripping a DualShock than the weird sort of portable-ness of the old PSPs. Your fingers wrap around and cradle the whole unit naturally rather than sort of rigidly supporting the brick. It's hard to describe, but you'll know what we mean when you hold it for the first time.
-The slide feels great. In a show of just how resilient the mechanism is, Sony had locked down the units while open, but someone had apparently forced one of 'em closed. Even after we slid it open, the mechanism showed no signs of being messed up despite having had a rather thick piece of metal forced between the "top" and "bottom" parts. It also looks quite nice all closed up, and the volume/mute/video buttons are now on the top. They have a tacky sort of give to them, and they're made of metal, like the surrounding casing of the whole unit.
-It was an... interesting move to make the power, audio and A/V out port the same proprietary plug (and one no doubt at least partially motivated by the desire to get some of that sweet, sweet official cable sales revenue), but the effect is that the whole unit does indeed seem a little more sleek and minimalist. It complements the design -- especially when closed.
-The descriptor "huge cajones" comes to mind when we think about Sony pricing the system at the exact same level as the original. It was ballsy to ask that much when the system first launched -- even a deterrent for some -- and the economic climate has changed considerably since 2004. We can understand the need to make a profit, but as much as we love the system, we won't be getting one until it comes down in price. TPS just doesn't make that kind of scratch, Sony.
Price aside, just a few hours with the system has rekindled our technolust for a new bit of Sony kit; it's simultaneously gotten us excited about the PSP hardware again and made us pine for the ability to stick all (okay, some) of our games on the hard drive and never have to worry about swapping out UMDs ever again. For preview purposes, we'll have to hang onto our PSP-3000, but had we the scratch, the entire office would be getting (white) PSPs on day one. Playing, it seems, really is believing.
