Summary
PlayStation Portal review.. On paper, the PlayStation Portal seems to be an excellent concept since it enables you to play your PlayStation 5 anywhere as long as you have a reliable and consistent Wi-Fi connection. Unfortunately, when you put that theory into practice in the real world, it disintegrates very instantly. The notion of a flawless, lag-free experience is no longer valid.
My 300Mbps/300Mbps wireless network had latency difficulties, and I was unable to stream material from services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube owing to DRM constraints. As a result, the Portal was unable to provide an experience that was pleasurable or one that I would feel comfortable recommending to others.
PlayStation Portal review
In my experience, the Full HD resolution of its 8-inch LCD screen, which may seem great for a few seconds at a time, was often packed with visual glitches and stuttering. However, the screen’s resolution is still rather impressive. As a result of the delay, the audio playback became choppy, which resulted in some of the most emotionally moving moments from games such as God of War: Ragnarok, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Horizon Forbidden West being transformed into video clips that are worthy of being shared on social media. Nevertheless, in defense of Sony, our second review sample, which was used by my colleague in the United Kingdom, performed far better, exhibiting significantly less stuttering and a notably lower latency.
In a nutshell, this is the problem: it is a device that is dependent not only on the speed of the network to which you are connected, but also on the distance between you and the router, as well as the configuration of your house or apartment. If my experience is anything like the one you’ll have, I’m not convinced that Sony’s game-streaming-only portable device is a suitable answer to what I consider to be a very narrow issue. However, the PlayStation Portal will most likely deliver on its promise of providing a latency-free experience for certain consumers.
A REVIEW OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTAL, Including the Price and Launch Date
On November 15, the PlayStation Portal will be available for purchase at a price of $199.99 or £199.99. This price would be almost twice as much as the Backbone One PlayStation Edition Mobile Gaming Controller iPhone, which was released in July of 2022. The portable device and a charging cable that connects USB-C to USB-C are included in the package.
In this regard, it is important to remind out that this device does not come with a dock as the Nintendo Switch does, and in order to use it, you must already be in possession of a PlayStation 5 console. Because of this aspect alone, you will be spending around $500 on the PlayStation 5 if you do not already have one, in addition to the $199 that you will be spending on this gadget.
A REVIEW OF THE PLAYSTATION FOR PORTALS: DESIGN
If you already have a phone that is capable of remote play utilizing a Bluetooth controller, whether it is the Backbone One or another device, then why would you even consider purchasing a PlayStation Portal? Taking into consideration the price, you already have a phone that has this capability.
Indeed, the PlayStation Portal makes perfect sense when seen from a purely design perspective: In comparison to using a regular Bluetooth controller, which would not have these features, it has a Full HD screen that is bigger than the ones on even the greatest smartphones. Additionally, it has subtle touches such as triggers that provide haptic feedback, which makes it seem more like you are playing your PlayStation 5 than anything else.
When you hold the PlayStation Portal, it feels just like you are holding a controller for the PlayStation 5 while also holding a tablet in between your hands. Switching between it and a controller for the PlayStation 5 does not involve any rewiring of your brain since all of the buttons are situated in the same location and they all feel precisely the same when you push them. The control sticks on the DualSense controller are the same ones that come with the Sense Controllers that come with the PSVR2, thus it is important to note that they are somewhat smaller than the control sticks on a standard DualSense controller.
Despite the fact that it is little praise, it is wonderful that Sony truly followed through on matching the Portal to the DualSense practically one-to-one. This is especially true when one considers the number of terrible MFi controllers that are now available on the market.
Evaluation on the Performance of the Playstation Portal
Performance is going to vary depending on your connection speed (both upload and download rates), as well as other factors such as the distance between your console and your Wi-Fi router, whether or not you run your PlayStation 5 through a hardwired connection, and how far you intend to sit away from the wireless router when you use the PlayStation Portal. It is because of this that I am unable to make any kind of accurate prediction on the nature of your individual experience.
I can tell you, however, that my experience was less than ideal, despite the fact that I had a connection that was 300 Mbps both upstream and downstream. The gameplay was choppy the most of the time, and the few instances in which it wasn’t choppy didn’t really impress me.
For the purpose of putting the Portal through its paces, I played a game that was visually demanding (Horizon Forbidden West) as well as an independent game that was not as resource-intensive but needed precise timing to function (Spelunky 2).
The latency in Spelunky 2 made it seem like it was almost difficult to complete a level, despite the fact that it had a far lower visually intense gameplay experience than Horizon. Quite frequently, the delay would force me to miss an important leap or timing an attack a second too late, which would either result in a loss of heart or a total wipe out of my character. When it comes to games in which time is of the utmost importance, the use of the Portal is going to dramatically increase the difficulty.
While playing Horizon: Forbidden West, I encountered the same kinds of challenges. Even while the game does not need a high level of accuracy in terms of time, the game’s artifacting was rather severe when it came to just exploring the area. Occasionally, the resolution would decrease to such a low level that the closed captioning that I had activated in order to have a better understanding of the characters would become unreadable.
I was able to increase the download rates to the PlayStation 5 after spending some time adjusting the settings on my network. The end result was an experience that was far more consistent, despite the fact that it would still be problematic due to input latency and frequent glitches. It demonstrates that if you are determined to make the PlayStation Portal operate on your network, it is absolutely possible to do so; but, it is possible that it will not work for you straight out of the box.
In light of this, I would not argue that the wifi rates of 5Mbps or 15Mbps that Sony recommends for “an improved connection” are true. In order to have a steady experience, it is quite possible that you will need to double or even quadruple that amount of time, and even then, it will entirely depend on how far away you are from your wireless access point.
A DISCUSSION OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTAL: FEATURES
In spite of its streamlined appearance, the PlayStation Portal does not come with a great deal of functions; in fact, it is rather basic in this regard.
A built-in microphone that can be utilized in the same manner as the microphone on a DualShock controller is the sole significant function that the Portal has. This is the only positive aspect of the Portal’s features. With the introduction of delay, this would, in principle, make it possible for you to engage in voice chats with your pals; however, I am uncertain about how fantastic the sound quality would be.
My opinion is that the most glaring fault is the fact that the Portal is unable to access video material from streaming services due to problems with digital rights management (DRM). If you attempt to utilize Netflix on the Portal, you will be presented with a notification stating that it is unable to play material which is accessed using Remote Play. In the same vein, YouTube and the other streaming sites that I explored are not different.
It would at least be possible for you to view material if it came with its own version of the PlayStation platform, even if it was a simplified version of the original. Here, however, that is not the case.
Support for Bluetooth is another significant problem in this context, since the PlayStation Portal will enable you to utilize certain headphones for the PlayStation 5, such as the upcoming Pulse Elite Headset, but it will not support your typical Bluetooth headphones. On the Portal, however, there is a 3.5mm connector that allows you to immediately put in a set of headphones that are generally considered to be standard.
The fact that it would have been possible to actually download games to the system and play them locally would have been a significant upgrade; but, Sony did not intend for this portable to have that capability, much to the dismay of PS Vita fans like me. Instead, a constant stream of Remote Play is being played.
BATTERY LIFE SECTION OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTAL REVIEW
According to Sony, the PlayStation Portal has a battery life of around four hours, which I found to be somewhat of an optimistic estimate. In most cases, I was only able to get around three hours of use out of a single charge, despite the fact that I had the brightness and volume dialed up to somewhat higher than usual.
You can charge your device using the USB-C connection that is supplied, and it should take you well under an hour to have it fully charged.
THE VERDICT on the PLAYSTATION PORTAL
A lot of people are going to disagree on the PlayStation Portal. On the other hand, there are players who will consider this to be nothing more than a $200 paperweight, while others will have a reasonably easy experience. In my experience, the latter was the case throughout the approximately dozen hours that I spent testing the gadget. Nevertheless, I am aware that other reviewers, including our very own Rory Mellon, had far more positive experiences on their own personal networks.
On the other hand, due to the fact that it is such a hit-or-miss gadget and there is no built-in hard disk option to save and play games locally, you are at the mercy of any wireless network that you want to utilize the PlayStation Portal with. Some of them will be great, but the most of them will not be. Furthermore, as a result of this, it is difficult to provide a favorable assessment of it.
Concerning the PlayStation Portal, it is simple to pose the question “what if?” If there were a few things that it could have done better, such as adding storage space for local games, it would have been much simpler to suggest. The PlayStation Portal, on the other hand, is exactly what you see when you use it. In addition to the fact that you already possess a PlayStation 5 and often do not have access to the television that it is linked to, it is a gadget that is dependent on your network connection for its entire existence. If that is something that works for you, then the PlayStation Portal is something that you should consider trying out. However, if I were you, I would save my money and get a full-fledged gaming portable as opposed to the Steam Deck OLED or the Nintendo Switch.
Despite this, the PlayStation Portal has seen an unexpected surge in popularity among gamers ever since it was introduced, and even now, six months after its release, it is exceedingly difficult to locate in stock. With the help of this remote play gadget, we are experiencing a significant PS5 restock flashback. Check out our guide to where you can get a PlayStation Portal for the most recent information if you are interested in trying to get your hands on Portal.
