Sony has finally given its Project Q portable a new name: the PlayStation Portal.
The upcoming handheld system will be able to connect to your PS5 over a Wi-Fi connection in order to remotely play any games installed on your console.
It’s important to note that this is not a Nintendo Switch rival or a successor to the PSP, as it’s not able to run games natively or install games directly to the portable. Your only option is to stream games via a PS5, making it a pointless purchase for those without Sony’s latest console.
We’ve compiled this guide to round up everything you need to know about the PlayStation Portal, so keep scrolling down for a full breakdown.
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Pricing and release date
Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will cost £199.99/$199.99/€219.99.
That’s pretty steep for a device that doesn’t have any powerful specs inside, relying on the strength of your Wi-Fi connection when it comes to performance.
But with the DualSense controller built into the device, including all of the key features such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, you are at least getting an experience that a smartphone and tablet can’t replicate.
There’s no release date for the PlayStation Portal just yet, but Sony says it will soon provide more details on when pre-orders go live.
Specs
The PlayStation Portal doesn’t have a powerful chip inside, and so is incapable of running games natively – you’ll need to stream them via the PS5 instead.
That means the screen is the most important aspect here instead, and Sony has opted for a large 8-inch LCD panel with a 1080p resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. Some may well be disappointed that Sony has decided against using a more vivid OLED screen, but that would have upped the cost even further.
When looking at the PlayStation Portal, it looks like someone has snapped a DualSense controller in half and superglued each segment to either side. Remarkably, these controller pads pack in the technology as the proper DualSense controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.
A 3.5mm headphone jack is built into the PlayStation Portal, allowing you to hook up wired headphones. Controversially, there’s no Bluetooth connection included here. If you want to use wireless headphones, you’ll instead have to buy a headset with Sony’s new proprietary PlayStation Link wireless audio technology. That’s currently only available on headphones such as the upcoming Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore headphones.
There’s no word from Sony about battery life just yet, but CNET claims Sony is targeting the same stamina as the DualSense controller, which should be somewhere between 7 to 9 hours.
