After being teased for a good few months now, Sony has officially announced the name, price and function of their new handheld device, previously known as Project Q.
The Sony PlayStation Portal will be the latest device released by Sony, and it’s essentially a mirroring device for your PS5.
Straddled by two halves of a Dual Sense controller, the 8-inch screen will be able to run games at 60fps at a resolution of 1080p. The controller still features adaptive triggers and will have haptic feedback just like your regular Dual Sense controller. While Sony has yet to give out an official launch date, a blog post from Sony does say “later this year”. Previous rumours pointed to November 2023.
What we know so far is that the device will be priced at $199.99, so we should expect to see it at around the R4,500 to R5,000 price range locally. The device will stream games directly from your PS5 via WiFi and only via WiFi, so if you don’t have WiFi, the Portal will be of no use to you. Sony recommends a 15Mbps line for the best overall experience, but a 5Mbps line will suffice. There is no Bluetooth on the device, so your current wireless headsets won’t work with the Portal. Sony has built in what they are calling PlayStation Link, a new wireless protocol [Great, another wireless protocol, have we not learned? oh, they want to sell hardware, that’s right. – Ed]. Their new in-ear buds and headset will feature this technology, and it will be available for 3rd party manufacturers to use. There is, at least, a 3.5mm audio jack for those who prefer their wired sets.
Sadly, the PlayStation Portal will not be able to stream games using Sony’s new cloud gaming services, which was probably the one thing the PlayStation Portal might have had going for it.
I guess its only real use now will be being able to carry on with my games while my wife watches Netflix on the TV. Well, until I eventually fall into the trap of whatever reality TV show she’s got on.