Hands on with the PSVita

Nipped down to my local GAME today as all their stores currently have the Vita on show, here's what I thought:

Design:

It's a nicely designed bit of kit to be honest, far better than the PSP, the buttons are solid wiith a nice feel rather than the somewhat soft face buttons of the PSP, all function very well and seem to be layed out in the most suitable way. That being said there are a couple of quite significant flaws. First up the "Start" and "Select" buttons are right below the "X" button and in a mad dash it can be quite easy to press them, they also seem to be overly small and laid back into the housing which I found a tad odd. The biggest design issue though is the analogue sticks, They are TINY and incredibly loose, big tumbs had better not apply they are also laid out towards the bottom of the machine meaning that playing an FPS for example and using the shoulder buttons for triggers is going to become uncomfortable very quickly.

Overall it's a vast improvement over the PSP but it's shape and size can still make it uncomfortable for long periods.

The OS:

Sony have done away with the XMB for the Vita, instead opting for more of a smartphone look and feel and in my opinion this is a great choice. from the moment the machine boots up your familiar with it. adopting multiple screens and moveable icons just like a smartphone, it's quick, intuitive and above all customisable to your own tastes, I didn't really get a chance to check the menus etc but what I did see seemed just as smooth and reliable as the rest.

Overall: Much improved over the XMB, anyone with a smartphone will feel right at home here.

The Apps:

I only got to see the music player and internet browser, the music player is pretty typical to be honest, using the touch screen to control all functions, it seemed pretty decent. The browser however is not evem a tiny improvement on the PS3 or PSP's it's still slow and cumbersome and has a hard time loading some pages.

Overall: Not much of an improvement here but I would expect things to get better with updates.

The Games/Screen:

I tried out 2 games FIFA and Ridge Racer and it's here that some issues begin to arise. First off I tried FIFA and although I am admittedly rubbish at it the small characters on screen make it that much harder, coupled with a very loose analogue stick and it became quite a disaster, The close up shots of the players looked nice though although I began noticing a faint fuzz to the screen, This became very apparent while playing Ridge Racer, the game itself is fantastic marrying old school Ridge Racer tracks with the gameplay from the PSP games is exhilarating and makes for alot of fun, the menus are touch controled and frankly gorgeous, however. I think Sony must be using a cheap screen because all games seem to look fuzzy, some obviously worse than others but anything that moves quick becomes very fuzzy and hard to focus on, it's almost (but not quite) akin to looking at a 3D TV without the glasses.

Overall: Something doesn't quite work here, Sony may need to look at a better screen.


Verdict: It's a nice bit of kit but unless Sony can improve the quality of the screen I wouldn't fork out for it when you can get all the other functions on a cheaper smartphone.

As much as I love technology and gadgets, I just cant see myself wanting to get one of these.

already got rid of my psp in preperation for this.

a word of warning folks when reading toms review, just bear in mind that hes a wee bit retarded

Andy wrote:already got rid of my psp in preperation for this.

a word of warning folks when reading toms review, just bear in mind that hes a wee bit retarded

Ahaha cheeky bastard, this is by no means a review I'd need alot longer with it before giving it a proper thumbs up or down

Got mine on order loved the psp love the ps3 so this was a no brained for me.

I wouldnt mind one but it will be a while before I take a proper look as I will wait for the game catalogue to build and for a price drop. I do fancy Wipeout 2048 though

^^ Agree mate, with a price drop I would happily pick one up as the software issues can be easily fixed

I also should have mentioned the price point, it's shockingly high in comparison the the £79 it costs to make each unit!

Price would have to come down a hell of a lot before i consider this. Apart from the PSP GO,3DS and the NEO GEO pocket i've owned every handheld since the Gamboy was released.

Actually i've still got the 2 screen Donkey Kong 'game & watch' which,imo,is the greatest handheld game ever.

in all fairness the 3ds is quite tempting with the current load of games. they actually look very good.

I traded my psp in to get my xbox, havnt looked back!