Sony's new PSP an instant hit

I wasn't using Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) for long before I'd made up my mind that it's the best bit of consumer technology to be released this year. It's a stylish, useful device that's priced within reach of the masses.

Kids and adults will love it. Everyone you show it to wants to touch it and look at its screen. Only Apple has been able to come up with devices that have such pleasing aesthetics.

First and foremost the PSP is a gaming machine that delivers graphics as good as you'll get out of the PlayStation 2 console. That alone would satisfy a legion of gamers. But Sony is going much further, making the PSP suitable for watching movies, listening to music, displaying photos and surfing the web. It has its limitations, but the PSP is the start of something new and big in personal technology.

Its best feature is its high-resolution, 480 by 272-pixel and 16.77-million-colours widescreen display. It's just big enough to allow you to comfortably watch a full-length movie or play a game. For watching movies, which are played off Sony's UMD (Universal Media Disc) media, you'll experience DVD-quality video.

Games also come on UMD discs, which slot into a drive in the back. The good news is the disc-loading lag is no worse than with the PS2.

Gaming is a pleasure on the PSP. It's a more immersive and personal experience, especially when you're playing fast-paced racing games such as Ridge Racer and Need for Speed. There's a good range of new titles selling for $90, while movies will set you back $20 to $30.

The familiar PS2 controls surround the screen, including a cleverly designed analogue controller that can also be used as a mouse for web surfing. Speakers on the front provide decent sound, though you're better off using the supplied headphones or plugging in a pair of your own.

A clear menu system lets you navigate the PSP's other functions. There's a simple media player for playing music and video clips.

Firmware version 2.0 is an essential addition to the PSP and can be obtained free as an internet download or by connecting to Sony's server via a wireless network.

It adds web surfing capability to the PSP and a range of new music and video file formats, giving you greater flexibility for playback.

Connecting to your computer via a USB cable, the PSP appears as a storage device in Windows Explorer. It's simply a matter of dragging music files and pictures onto the PSP's storage card, which is displayed as a drive.

Battery power is impressive, enough to watch at least a couple of movies or play games for four to five hours. Battery life reduces substantially when you use the wireless networking function to play multiplayer games with other PSP owners, or access the internet.

The web browser is a welcome addition and good for general browsing, although some sites are too big to load into the PSP's memory.

The PSP's one big drawback is its limited memory. The 32-megabyte storage card that comes standard will do little more than hold your saved games and a few songs.

I have a number of Sony memory sticks, none of which is compatible with the PSP, an irritating side-effect of Sony's use of proprietary formats.

If you want to listen to music on the PSP, display your own pictures or watch video clips, you'll need to buy a bigger card.

A 512MB Memory Stick Duo Pro card will cost $150, and 1GB card around $230. That's half the price of the PSP again.

You get the feeling that the PSP is an impressive work in progress.

Further updates will add new features, and we've probably only seen a fraction of what this device is capable of.

Sony PSP

Price: $429 (value pack).

Pros: Impressive screen; slick game play; Wi-Fi enabled.

Cons: Need to invest in a bigger memory card.

Herald rating: 8/10