Sony apparently hasn’t learned anything from the success of the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. Or from their own portable systems like Vita and PSP, for that matter. PlayStation Portal (yes, technically it’s another PSP) is a $200 portable system that can only Stream games from your PlayStation 5. There are no built-in apps, you can’t stream anything locally, and there’s no connection to Sony’s cloud game streaming service. It’s purely a streaming window on your PS5, hence the name.
Consequently, it is also a device that lives and dies by the quality of its Internet connection. While it’s primarily designed for home gaming, you can technically connect to any Wi-Fi connection to play remotely when traveling. But that’s only possible if that connection and your home internet can be maintained, and if your PS5 doesn’t crash or crash. If something in that chain fails, you’ll be left with an ugly $200 doorstop.
That’s the main problem with the PlayStation Portal: its disadvantages are so obvious that it’s not clear why anyone should purchase one. You could, for example, spend $100 on a Backbone controller to stream games from your phone. Or you can use any existing gamepad to access the PS Remote app on a phone, tabletop, Mac, or Windows PC. There are so many better ways to access games on the go that the PlayStation Portal already seems outdated before its launch.
Even its design looks messy: it’s like Sony cut out a DualSense controller and stuck a basic 8-inch tablet in the middle. Instead of the DualSense’s central touchpad, you can tap and swipe on the Portal’s screen (a process that was never as easy as I wanted). On the plus side, the Portal includes the satisfying tactile feel of the DualSense, and its sci-fi-style black-and-white casing looks right at home next to the PlayStation 5.
Holding PlayStation Portal is like holding an oversized DualSense controller. My hands and fingers were perfectly comfortable, but the 8-inch screen throws off the balance. I also couldn’t help but notice how fragile the bottom corners of the screen were. It really looks like a tablet, with thick bezels and a relatively slim profile. But unlike the Switch, Steam Deck, or even PlayStation Vita, there’s nothing to protect the bottom of the Portal’s screen from a hard drop or being crushed inside a backpack. (Sony doesn’t sell its own Portal case, but you can find it some from third parties.)
I’m sure the controller arms would offer some protection for many drops, but I couldn’t help but treat the system with kid gloves during my testing. I didn’t let my 5-year-old daughter handle it during my review, although I’m comfortable letting her hold a Switch. Maybe this is just my dad’s paranoid brain talking, but the Portal screen is practically begging to be damaged; It’s like buying her son an overpriced doll and knowing that he will lose a limb in a day.
Setting up PlayStation Portal involves linking it to your PlayStation 5 from the console or the PlayStation app. For some reason, my phone (an iPhone 15 Pro Max) had a hard time making out the QR code on the Portal screen, so I entered the pairing code manually. Once that was clear, I sat back and waited for Portal to connect to my PS5. And wait. And I hope.
Thirty seconds later, I received a message saying I needed to activate my PS5’s Remote Play feature, something I could have sworn I did when checking the system. The only problem? I was curled up in bed, hoping to get something portable. spider man 2 time before falling asleep. Instead of walking down two flights of stairs to get to the PS5 in my basement, I decided to wait until morning. I admit, this was mostly my fault, but it would have been nice to activate Remote Play from the PlayStation app.
When I got up, I immediately turned on the function of my PS5 and proceeded to prepare breakfast. While my kids were eating pancakes, I turned on PS Portal and tried to connect to my PS5; Once again, I waited. About a minute later, I finally heard a successful system chime and was presented with the home screen of my PlayStation 5. But when I tried to get a game of Pickguard Running, all I saw was a sea of video compression artifacts. The game’s normally fluid controls felt like mud. I gave up after five minutes of frustration.
This is where I have to reiterate that your experience with PlayStation Portal comes down to your home internet setup. Sony recommends having a connection of at least 5 Mbps and suggests 15 Mbps for better quality. But raw Internet speed is only one factor: You should also consider the age and network technology of your router, as well as Wi-Fi reception throughout your home. For the best experience possible, you’ll want a modern router (or better yet, a mesh setup) that can shower your home with full wireless bars, as well as a direct Ethernet connection for your PS5. (Sony doesn’t say whether PS Portal supports Wi-Fi 6, but it’s a technology worth investing in if you have an older router.)
What’s confusing, though, is that I have a pretty good internet connection throughout my house. I’m using AT&T gigabit service with a modern Wi-Fi 6 gateway on my first floor and there is a mesh extension for my office in the basement. I typically see full wireless reception on my main floor, with speeds between 600 and 800 Mbps on most devices. So why was PlayStation Portal having such a difficult time? I have no idea. My PS5, which is in the basement, is not connected via Ethernet. But I also see 500Mbps speeds there, so it didn’t seem necessary. During breakfast, I was sitting about 20 unobstructed feet from my router, so there wasn’t much physical interference either.
When I moved into my living room later that day, which is also where my router is located, Portal was able to connect to my PS5 in about 15 seconds. I turned spider man 2 and I crossed my fingers. For some reason, she carried herself very well and I was able to play for an hour with my daughter snuggled up next to me. That was the first time I could see the potential of this. My daughter and I have played a lot together, but only with portable systems that we can use together in bed or on the couch. It would take a lot more effort to get her to the home theater in my basement and, frankly, she’d probably get bored there.
There we were, strolling the streets of New York City like Peter Parker and Miles Morales, and it seemed magical. spider man 2 It seemed to be running at 60fps in Portal in performance mode, and was perfectly fine. Colors certainly didn’t pop like they do on my Switch OLED, and it couldn’t compare to Steam Deck’s new 90Hz HDR OLED display, but it was still decently immersive without many video artifacts. The controls felt as responsive as those of the DualSense, and its haptic noise felt powerful and nuanced (certainly more so than the Switch or Steam Deck).
Going up to my room later that day (one floor above the router, two floors above the basement), we were able to log another 30 minutes on spider man 2 with only occasional hiccups. Fortunately, the game automatically paused in those cases, similar to what you’d see if your DualSense controller ran out of power during normal gameplay. Every time we went offline, I couldn’t help but look at the Switch OLED and the Steam Deck, portable devices that can actually play offline games without breaking a sweat.
During a recent grocery shopping trip, I took the Portal along just to test the limits of its remote connectivity. To my surprise, I was able to connect it to my phone (using Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network) and run spider man 2 very good. The game seemed a lot less clear than when I was at home, naturally, but I could still make out enough to explore the city and do some side quests.
So sure, the Portal is not entirely Useless while traveling, but you’re risking a lot if it’s your only portable gaming option. You still couldn’t use it on a plane (even if the Internet were fast enough, network latency would be abysmal) and hotel Wi-Fi is notoriously unreliable. In the meantime, you could play Tears of the Kingdom on the switch or Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam Deck without problems. (Power is a concern, but airplanes typically have power outlets and both systems can be charged with portable battery packs.)
When I returned home, my daughter was excited to see more of Mile’s story on spider man 2. But for some reason, Portal refused to connect to my PS5 while we were sitting in bed, even though it worked fine there the night before. We didn’t have enough time to run downstairs and restart the PS5, so we resorted to playing Dave the diver on Steam Deck instead.
I can’t stand hardware I can’t trust, and the PlayStation Portal is among the most fickle devices I’ve encountered. Even if you have a great home network setup, it’s hard to predict how well it will work. That’s a shame, as battery life is among the best we’ve seen for a portable system, lasting between seven and eight hours of gameplay. (The only positive side of being a streaming-only device? It’s basically just decoding the incoming video.)
There are other annoyances as well, such as the Portal’s complete lack of Bluetooth support; only stream games over Wi-Fi. You can plug in a $200 pair of Sony Pulse Explore headphones, but that’s your only wireless option. Otherwise, you’ll have to plug wired headphones into the bottom of the Portal or deal with the system’s anemic speakers. Sony probably wanted to keep the Portal’s price down, but losing Bluetooth feels like the Sony of yore forcing people to buy their proprietary Memory Sticks, instead of using SD cards like everyone else.
Despite its many drawbacks, I’m sure some PlayStation fans will jump on Portal. Engadget executive editor Aaron Souppouris and deputy editor Nathan Ingraham were intrigued by playing games on the couch while watching something else on their TVs. And based on my time using it, I can see the Portal’s limited appeal, but not for $200.
As someone who really loved the PlayStation Vita, it’s disappointing to see Sony offer a minimal portable system. I’m not expecting the Vita 2, but at least giving us true cloud gaming.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-portal-review-a-baffling-handheld-for-no-one-but-sony-diehards-201558485.html?src=rss
