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First Sony PSP Pictures Revealed

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the and-it-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.

iamhassi writes "Pictures of the PSP concept design have shown up on The Register. I'm impressed: when I first heard the screen was 4.5" I was afraid the device would be unusually large compared to the GBA with its 2.9" screen. Obviously those worries were unfounded." Update: 11/06 15:28 GMT by S : A section-specific post from yesterday provided the concept pictures from a different source.

13 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. daddypants seems to be broken.... by sweeney37 · · Score: 2, Informative

    just so there's no confusion this is the same story, with the same pictures that was run on Tuesday

    Mike

    1. Re:daddypants seems to be broken.... by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 2, Informative

      Note the use of mini-discs. The load times are going to be on par with what you see from the Gamecube, which is not much at all.

      Beyond what the previous poster stated, Nintendo has occasionally stated that they try to work around the load times to make them appear much smaller than they actually are (ie pop up something for you to look at like an animation/FMV rather than just a loading screen). Not to mention that the GC discs are written from the outside edge of the disc rather than the inside to make more of the information available at higher speeds (since most optical drives read faster at the outside edge of the disc).

      Mini-discs actually cause more problems with loading times than they help, since there isn't as much of a distance between the outside and inside edges of the disc, so you have to spin the disc faster to get the same read-times from the outside edge of a smaller disc that you would get from the outside edge of a normal-sized DVD or CD. The only exception, of course, is that you can't put as much data on a smaller disc, so you can't have as much data to load (though, of course, no current console has enough RAM to buffer an entire GC disc anyway).

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    2. Re:daddypants seems to be broken.... by roystgnr · · Score: 2, Informative

      I always recall that old demonstration in my physics class, consisting of a bike wheel mounted on an axle with handles. You spin up the wheel, then try to turn it, and you HAVE TO DO SIGNIFICANT WORK to change the axis of rotation.

      You emphasized the wrong words there. I would have said that YOU have to do significant work. The bike wheel, on the other hand, keeps on spinning quite rapidly even with no further work input.

  2. Re:DAMN YOU SONY! by chrismcdirty · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't worry until next year's holiday. It's not supposed to come out until late 2004.

    --
    It's like sex, except I'm having it!
  3. Re:Scale? by Transient0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    yeah, but when you know that the screen is supposed to have a 4.5 inch diagonal, you can do some simple extrapolation for yourself.

    --
    lysergically yours
  4. Re:Uh.. battery life? by tuffy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Reportedly, the PSP uses rechargable batteries and gets 3-6 hours per charge. That means it'll need recharging twice as often as a GBA-SP with the side lights on. That's not a good sign for the PSP, but it isn't surprising given all the hardware involved.

    --

    Ita erat quando hic adveni.

  5. Some other pictures by I_l00P · · Score: 3, Informative

    This link has some pics that soh the psp side by side with the GBA.... http://www.outerspace.com.br/news/2003/novembro/06 a.asp

    1. Re:Some other pictures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hyperlink, anyone?

  6. Re:Scale? by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Informative

    Using the screen as a guide (4.5"), the actual system comes out to about 6" by 3" if my 20 second measurements are of any use.

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
  7. Sony gives Microsoft the finger by Ridgelift · · Score: 4, Informative

    It will support MP3, AAC and Sony's own ATRAC3 sound formats.

    Anyone notice the lack of WMA support? Obviously Sony is out to compete hard against Microsoft (who recently dropped to #3 in the console wars. Sony's still #1). And with the PS3 slated to include Linux support, maybe the PSP will be hackable too.

    --
    Ruby on Rails Screencast
  8. Re:Uh.. battery life? by tuffy · · Score: 2, Informative
    Reportedly? Reported where?

    Reported on IGN among other places.

    --

    Ita erat quando hic adveni.

  9. more photos by i4u · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.i4u.com/article799.html

  10. Handheld Market could be hotting up soon by graveyardjohn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Although the GP32 is now not getting a launch in Europe, it still has a nice following, with a ton of emus available for it. And who needs to pay again for a copy of Super Mario 3 when you can use the rom on an emu for a handheld machine which is already available?

    Besides, the Zodiac Tapwave (info about the system) looks likely to be the next hackable, multi-purpose handheld...