Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) Slim & Lite > Reviews (31)

PSP STORY

The original PSP was a great idea. It was to be the best portable gaming and entertainment system available and had no real competition. Although the nintendo DS managed to win the race to launch their system with its amazing touch screen capability and also great idea for a games console months before the PSP, the PSP had no trouble selling when it hit stores. When it was released it sold out of stores and generated massive queues at midnight for people wanting to be the first to own one. The PSP quickly became very popular and continued selling out of stores until just after the xmas period.
The PSP could play games which used graphics to rival the original Playstation system and in many cases the graphics were actually better. You could also buy UMD movies so you could watch your favourite films on the move. It was also an MP3 player and could play PSP MPEG4 video clips and you could also store you images onto the PSP. As well as All this it could also be used as a mass storage device on your PC and could also be used to surf the internet through a wireless setup or through HotSpot areas.

Since the PS3 has been realeased you now have the ability to transfer your old PS1 games to your PSP to relive all your favourite games from years ago such as Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy 7, Croc and more.

It is legal for you to do this, so long as you own the PS1 game and this actually makes a great feature to the PSP but you will need to buy a massive memory card of say minimum 2GB for some games. (Final fantasy 7 actually requires you to have a 4GB minimum to save the game to memory stick as it is three discs long!)

If you do not own a PS3 it is still possible for you to transfer PS1 games to your PSP through using ISO files and having a "Custome firmware" installed on your PSP.
And although it is illegal for you to do this, many people have managed to add custom firmwear to their PSP's to allow them to Mod games and use ISO files downloaded from the internet.

PSP Lite / Slim FEATURES

The PSP slim can do everything that the original PSP could do and more. The PSP slim is a great deal lighter and more compact than the original PSP although size was hardly a problem with the original.

Whereas the Original PSP used a Spring loaded UMD slot the PSP Slim uses a sort of slide down case. This is possibly because the spring mechanism of the original PSP was slightly fragile and actually had the tendancy to launch your games if you were not careful.

The best feature of the PSP Slim is probably the fact that it has an AV connector which means you can now hook your PSP Slim up to your TV to play your games, Watch your DVDs or look at your images and videos you have saved to the Memory card.

The Memory card slot has also been changed. The original PSP used a piece of rubber attached to a plastic top for the memory card slot. The PSP slim uses a sliding drawer mechanism to allow easier access to the memory card slot and to prevent the problem i have with my PSP where the rubber has worn away and snapped.

The PSP Slim can now charge through its USB slot which takes around 4 - 5 hours to fully charge. The AC charger will still take around 2 - 3 hours to fully charge the battery.

The games selection for the PSP is stilll not all that great and although many new games are in development and are still being made for it, most games are too complex for the PSP controls to handle. For example in first person shooter games you would usually use one analogue stick to move and one to control where you aim/look. Since the PSP only has one analogue stick this makes the game more difficult to play. Usually you will use the analogue stick to move your player and when you wish to look or aim you will have to hold a button such as L / R. This means that you cannot walk and aim at the same time and can really take the edge off of some games. The only games that really work well on the psp are strategic or simple games such as the sims.

If you own or have access to a wireless router you psp can surf the internet. This is a free application and only requires that you have access to the wirless router. This internet browser is actually quite fun for a while but with all of it's limitations and slow loading times it may soon get old. Basically the PSP can only be used for basic web browsing and cannot be used to play games and all the other things you mite expect.

The PSP front cover is made from a plastic that attracts finger prints and scratches and you will find that you are forever cleaning the screen and if you are not careful you will be squinting through the scratched screen to see the game of video you are watching!

The PSP also uses an update option which allows you to search for the newest firmware available for your PSP. This is updated usually at least once every three months and the applications available at each download can increase your PSP's fun lifespan that little bit more. Some of the updates have included: Ability to connect the PSP camera to the PSP, RSS channels and feeds, newer themes, ability to download and play demos and more.

Overall the PSP is a great little entertainment system with many great features. However with the limited amount of titles that are any good you may soon find youself not using it as much as you had hoped. Saying that the PSP can be livened up quite a bit with custom applications and firm ware if you so chose and know the ways how!
Since the PSP is now considered and oldish console it is now possible to pick one up quite cheaply (around 40-70) and if you can manage this I say go for it!