Specs for Sony PSP Handheld

doctor_no writes "Sony has announced the specs for its upcoming handheld gaming device, the PSP, at their PlayStation Meeting 2003. Most interesting is that this device promises Playstation 2 level graphics, a compact 1.8GB media, Wireless 802.11, USB 2.0, 7.1 channel Audio, and a 24bit 16x9 screen TFT LCD screen. Sony has called this device the 'Walkman for the 21st Century', and plans to allow the user to enjoy movies and music for the device, along with games. Full specs can be found at ZDNet Japan. The PSP will debut at next year's E3."

Re:Most important spec:

[azadism]

Specs in english here [ign.com]

More details

[momerath2003]

Here is an article where this is all more clearly explained (and no Shift-JIS encoding, either):

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/430/430939p1.html

IGN has a nice write-up as well

[Randar the Lava Liza]

Check out the IGN article [ign.com] on the specs as well.

The device looks great, but how in the world will you power it all? Plus by including all the original buttons (although only one analog stick) this isn't going to be small by any means. This seems to be sized more like a micro laptop than anything else. However, using all the original controls lets them make it PSOne port friendly. In an ideal world you'd be able to rip PSOne cd's to this new format disc and just play them directly, but no way Sony would give up that much money in licensing.

Serious audio though, which hopefully will spur Nintendo to finally add dedicated audio hardware to future GBA's.

Impressive stats, we'll have to see how much they can deliver. But, hey, if they build a great portable with the same sort of size as my GBA SP, with a 10 hour battery, backlit screen, etc., I'd be glad to get one.

Re:PSP, also known as....

[CheeseMonkey]

Uhhhhh.... the screen isn't 16 by 9 inches! That's just the aspect ratio. Saying that it's 16x9 widescreen doesn't give any indication of the actual size of the screen - it could be a watch face for all we know.

Re:my dear lord....

[heli0]

" if the PSP really has a 16x9 screen and is large enough"

The screen resolution is 480x272.
http://www.playstationportable.info/imag es/playsta tionportable1.jpg

For comparison the GBA resolution is 240x160.

The one slide they were missing: battery life.

Re:Why should anyone believe them?

[Monkelectric]

Yea, because realistic weather has always been a challenge for game designers ... please, stop being a Sony fanboy. Sony's claims about the PS3 are *rediculous*.

Re:my dear lord....

[Ominous Coward]

I'm looking at my iPod now. It's quite a marvel of engineering, but it doesn't have buttons, but a touch-pad, making for less depth required for the controls, while my game controller better have real buttons. Also, no removable media drive, black and white LCD, and much less processing power than a PS2. I'm also not sure it's quite as durable as a GBA, though I accidentally dropped it once and it's fine.

I'm not saying the thing's gonna be a huge monster, but the PSP is gonna have to make compromises between size, durability, and price. I'm not sure that at this point, all three are possible to a marketable degree, but maybe in the 1.5 years it takes to get this going, it might be.

Re:my dear lord....

[Latent IT]

Yes, I know Sony (like a million other handheld CD player manufacturers) added a buffer. Did you even read my post?

Hurray, another zealot!

Did you read *his* post? Since you most clearly either did not, or failed to understand it, allow me to help - First, please read up on G-Protection [sony.com.ph]. Second, realize that if this device can deal with more than three laser-skipping impacts each second like their CD players, that it will be more than sufficient to deal with anything you would care to play a video game through.

Does "riding in a bumpy car" somehow generate more impacts than jogging? Well, no, it doesn't. So, what is your point, exactly?

Re:PSP, also known as....

[mahdi13]

I needed to jump on this one also...
16:9 which is the wide screen ratio (TV is 4:1 or something like that, I'm too lazy to look it up)

They mention in one of the slides it's a ~4.5" display (about 2x the Gameboy's display)

And more, it uses a Li-ion battery that is rechargable. Also simular to the GameBoy Advanced SE, so figure with more display it will have a shorter life...maybe 4-6 hours?
At least the thing will be backlighted
http://www.playstationportable.info/images/playsta tionportable1.jpg

Re:Sony will cripple with DRM

[kneecarrot]

You may be right, however, "supporting" MP3 may just be a nice way of saying "we'll give you a way to apply our DRM to your MP3 so that it will work on our device". That's exactly what happened with the MiniDisc marketing literature. Go here (click on "Why NET MD" and then on "Supports Multiple Audio Formats"): http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/e n/imagesProducts/FlashDemo/flash.html And, of course, they don't actually mean native support. Very sneaky.

Re:Sure, whatever

[Snowspinner]

Actually, Triton Labs, the folks that brought you the first backlit GBA solution, are allegedly at work on a Bluetooth link cable that will get rid of the cables too...

Re:Peanut Gallery

[devnull17]

PS2's do have their share of mechanical problems. I've had two of them fail on me, and I've heard many similar stories from friends. There's a glitch that can cause the console to scrape the surface of PS2 CD's (the blue-bottom ones) and render them utterly useless. The DVD drive is prone to serious issues as well--you've never gotten the dreaded "Disc Read Error" from your PS2? This would almost be understandable if Sony didn't charge $120 to take your console apart and clean it. (If you take it apart, they won't service it for any amount of money.)

It's worth noting that I had a PSX for years and never had any problems with it.

Sony's become the typical 80% market share fat cat. They don't care about your problems, and they have no incentive to--they already dominate the market.