Eh, sure. But for hours-long chunks of downtime, I’d rather have a dedicated device with a real controller and a deeper library than is available on phones (as well as not running down the battery on the device I also need for communication).
But sure, maybe this will wind up being successful – It just seems like a very narrow use case and I struggle to see a compelling value proposition for it compared to either existing portable systems or streaming your PS5 games to a phone or tablet you already have (or can buy cheaply and then do a lot more with it).
It’s that old Japanese conglomerate logic. They just can’t open up standards when they think they can force some small percentage of people to buy them using proprietary standards.
I mean Apple has lots of proprietary standards, but they do it not because they’re a massive Asian conglomerate using 1980s cyberpunk logic, but because they’re a$$holes. This is a niche product pushing another niche product that will both be obsolete and orphaned in 10 years.
It’s worth mentioning there have been conflicting reports from the different outlets that went hands on. One claims bluetooth audio IS supported, in addition to the new PS Link stuff and the headphone jack. Others have disagreed on if the battery life is known.
Good video, though if I am to understand correctly comments from upthread, the Playstation Portal DOES have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so his example of a new iPhone not supporting bluetooth and not having a headphone jack doesn’t work, right? It’s still terrible, but not AS terrible.
there is so much about this that is dumb, or potentially bad, but I still kind of want one? There’s definitely been times where I want to play a game, but the kids are watching a show, and I don’t want to do either of the following:
Pair my controller to my tiny phone and stream from there
Lug out my laptop and stream from there
The only thing really making me hesitant is that I haven’t had great luck with the connection quality of Remote Play. Unless this ends up working substantially better (and I have no reason to think it will), I’m not sure the quality is worth the cost.
Possibly, though I usually play right next to the router.
Maybe it’s more accurate to say "Usually it works fine enough, but sometimes it just craps out and gets really bad, and that happens frequently enough - or for a long enough duration - to bug me.
I mean, you could buy a Steam Deck, which can also remote play. And play steam games, and play epic game store games, and stream Xbox games, and gamepass streaming etc etc.
I guess it being 200$ makes it cheaper than most android tablets you would actually want, and the form factor looks o.k.
Lack of bluetooth is insane though. At least they have a 3.5 mm jack.
I want to give Sony the benefit of the doubt here, but it’s hard for me to imagine why I would opt for this versus, say, using Remote Play on my Steam Deck.
You’re not wrong, perse, but just as a fun exercise - what if I said I don’t feel like tinkering with getting Remote Play working on a Steam Deck?
In my experience, any time someone says “it’s quick and easy to do X” when tinkering with game hardware, it is in no way my own personal definition of quick or easy
I mean, if that is worth 200$ for you, and using wired headphones or buying 200$ sony “playstation link compatible” headphones
Go for it.
Personally, I don’t like buying hardware that is a “Uni-tasker” I like to be able to buy something with multiple use cases. So it doesn’t end up collecting dust in a year or so.
You could also buy a Logitech G Cloud for $250ish and have all the capabilities of this Sony Handheld plus the ability to play mobile games, emulation up to Gamecube, stream Steam, Xbox & Sony games. If screen size isn’t as important there are a ton of good lesser known handhelds that also can do everything this Sony one does + more.
