"...I wanted a PS5 in my hand, not a "PS Partial"..."
THE INTRO
After 200 hours of playtime I
can happily say I am in love with this device, but there are a massive
amount of caveats to this statement. Games I have played on the Portal
were a bit of a mixed bag which showed the main limitations to the
device, some were disappointing, but others impressed me.
The first few
games I played were FFVII: Rebirth, Immortals of Aveum, Dave The Diver,
Helldivers 2, Returnal and Animal Well. But the list goes on. I played mostly at home where I have a 100/40mbps
Internet Connection with an ASUS DSL-AX82U AX5400 Dual Band WiFi 6 Modem
Router sitting 15ft from two different PS5 consoles (one in a different
room) and both PS5 are connected via WiFi.
(Diablo IV on the PlayStation Portal)
THE GOOD
Battery life is really good on this device, with a few settings to adjust which can increase it further. While it is super hard for me to give a total length of time for it as every game has a different drain, I expect no less than 3 hours from a single charge. That would be with brightness up, sound/vibration/haptics all on, and lights on. There are options to change to get more life if you are looking for longer sessions.
The screen size at 8" is a good choice, any smaller and I think it would have been too
small for some games requiring accurate movements and/or aiming like a FPS.
Surprisingly, I actually much preferred Animal Well and Dave The Diver, which I
recently reviewed (go check them out...), on the portal! On my 32"
Monitor the image on these pixel art games got stretched a bit so the Portal
really shines here!
The weight and ergonomics are great. All the other handhelds in the market are native devices, so they are unsurprisingly heavier than the Portal (exception being the Switch Lite). The controllers are very close to a normal dualsense except for two main differences. One, the more obvious, is that there is no screen on a normal dualsense... The point being the width apart, which took me some getting used to for the targeting. The second difference is the Portal has higher and smaller sticks than a normal dualsense. This I did not realise at first. But it adds to why it felt different.
(Slightly smaller Portal joysticks)
THE BAD
The first point I must make is that this device requires WIFI/Internet to function. So anyone with sketchy or inconsistent WIFI I recommend skipping this device until that issue is resolved. My internet/WIFI is quite good so in my playtime I have been fortunate to have minimal network issues, but there are three main things that killed my vibe with the Portal.
Firstly, picture this: You get home from working all day, you are a casual gamer, you aren't great with technology, and you have kids all around you and you just want to chillax in your hammock outside and not think about anything but gaming for an hour. You pick up the Portal, lay in your hammock and see that you are not logged into the Portal. Well the process is needlessly convoluted to go from one account to the other. Unlike the PS5 where you press a power button and simply select who to log in. Why is the Portal like this?? Please get this updated Sony!
Secondly, the inability to watch any media. I do not understand this, nor do I want a legal reason to justify it, I just want to be able to watch a quick video if I feel like it. I wanted a PS5 in my hand, not a "PS Partial". I don't expect many people to try to watch Netflix on their Portal but not being a full extension of the PS5 frustrated me.
Thirdly, which is a two partner, is the terrible charging port position; especially for my large hands. What has made this more frustrating is the lack of official stand (or charging station) for this device. Short of buying a 3D printed one off Amazon or some etsy-like store (it's a no from me) there is no stand for the Portal, let alone a charging station. The PSVR2 headset has a stand, why not the Portal? This, I feel, makes it seem as though not even Sony expected the Portal to be as popular as it is but I am holding out hope for a quality charging station in the future. For now, at least there is a screen protector and a carry case for it.
(recessed placement of the charging port)
FINAL THOUGHTS
When the PlayStation Portal was revealed I was open minded and was interested to see how bad the input lag would be and after 200 hours I can safely say that, as long at my internet holds up, it is not a concern for me anymore. Just don't expect to see me playing Call of Duty or XDefiant on my Portal. I have, however, been playing Elden Ring on the portal recently and it is "acceptable". I just do not recommend playing a First Person Shooter online with the portal. I have been playing Metro and I tried a couple of matches on Helldivers 2 and they were fun, but games like that I prefer on a bigger screen. While this device has a very important crux in that it requires a good
internet connection, I do recommend anyone wanting a cheap handheld who
play predominately offline games to give the PlayStation Portal a thought before
pulling the trigger on a native handheld.
TL;DR - If you own a PS5 and love offline games and have a PS5 and are looking for a portable device then definitely consider getting a Portal.
Good internet and you have a PS5? Get it.
Bad internet and you have a PS5? Don't get it.
Good internet no PS5? Can't use it.
Buy a PS Portal here:
https://amzn.to/3KHXH1q
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