PSP VS PlayStation Vita Comparison

6 August 2011

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Posted by:Josh Romero

Our PSP vs PS Vita Comparison will give you a greater idea of what the differences are between the specs of the upcoming next-generation portable, the PlayStation Vita, and Sony’s current-gen handheld, the PlayStation Portable.

The Vita will succeed the PSP, and basically improve upon it in every way. It will be released in North America and in Europe in 2012, and holiday 2011 in Japan. Here is a comparison on the features of each.

PRICE

PS Vita: $250 for Wi-Fi Only Model, $300 for 3G Model via AT&T in the United States (or other cellphone carriers in other territories).
PSP: Currently the PSP is available in two models, the PSP 3000 which cost $130 (and followed up on previous models the PSP-1000, PSP Slim & PSP-Lite/2000) and the PSP Go (which cost $200). The Go plays digitally downloaded games only, while the PSP 3000 plays games on UMD discs as well as downloadable games from the PlayStation Network. The Go cuts down on having to carry games physically with you, but doesn’t support games to rent, borrow from friends, or buy at discount in brick-and-mortar physical stores. There is also no way to transfer a physical UMD PSP game to play it digitally on the PSP Go. Another drawback with Go is that only certain games are available on the PlayStation Store to download. Some UMD games were never released in digital form.

MEDIUM

PS Vita: The Vita plays physical games held on what’s known as a NVG Card, a new proprietary flash card format similar to the Nintendo 3DS Game Cards. These NVG Cards can hold initially between 2GB and 4GB of data, with bigger cards planned for bigger games in the future.
PSP: The original PSP systems (1000, 2000 and 3000) used UMD discs (Universal Media Discs). UMDs hold up to 1.8GB, significantly less than NVG Cards. The PSP-Go meanwhile does NOT include a UMD drive, and games are digital only, as downloaded from the PlayStation Network’s PlayStation Store.

This video shows you some of the features of the PS Vita.

STORAGE

PS Vita: The Vita has a Storage Media Slot that allows you to use memory cards to expand how much media can be held. This includes digitally downloaded games. Interestingly, the Vita does NOT have any internal storage space on the hardware itself. So a hefty multimedia card (like an 8 GB Sony PRO DUO) is required if you want to hold a lot of digital content. Exactly what types of cards the PS Vita accepts hasn’t been revealed yet. However game data and files can be stored on the NVG Game Cards themselves, just like with 3DS games. So that is why the Vita doesn’t need internal memory as much as its predecessor did.
PSP: The PSP accepted Memory Stick PRO Duo or Memory Stick Micro cards, depending on the PSP model. The PSP Go has 14GB of internal storage (since everything is digital), whereas the previous PSP models had between 32 and 64 MegaBytes total internal storage.

SIZE AND DIMENSIONS

PSP - Width: 170 mm Height: 74 mm Depth: 23 mm (original PSP 1000 model)
PS Vita - Width: 182 mm Height: 83.55 mm Depth: 18.6 mm

PS Vita Screensize: 5-inch (130 mm) OLED capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
PSP 3000 Screensize: 4.3 inches
PSP Go Screensize: 3.8 inches

CONTROLS AND BUTTONS

PSP: D-Pad, Analog Nub, X/Square/Circle/Triangle Facebuttons, L and R Shoulder Buttons, Start and Select Buttons, Volume Buttons, PS Menu Button, Screen Brightness Button, Sound Button (cycle through headphone presets). Headphone Jack and Speakers. Video out supported.
PS Vita: The PlayStation Vita features the standard Square, Circle, X and Triangle PlayStation Family Facebuttons. Two Shoulder Buttons (R and L), Two Analog Sticks (not Nubs), a D-Pad and a PS Menu Button, Start Button and Select Button. It also features a Touchscreen that can be used for menu navigation and the like, as well as a Rear Touchpad. Additionally you can tilt the system to control thanks to the built-in Accelerometer and Gyroscope (known as Sixaxis Motion Control). Headphone Jack and Speakers. Video out NOT supported.

WIRELESS AND ONLINE

PSP: Used Wi-Fi IrDA (3000) or Bluetooth (PSP Go). The PSP connects to the PlayStation Network which gives access to Friends Lists and Messaging/Chat features, supports voice-chat, Trophies, and access to the PlayStation Store where you can download PSOne Classics, Digital Comics, Full Retail PSP Games, smaller digital-only PSN Games, PS Minis (micro games), Hollywood movies, TV Shows, music and other video content.
PS Vita: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n or 3G depending on model. Both models support Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. PS Vita makes full use of the PlayStation Network to support all of the PSP’s digital content (PS1 Classics, PSN Games, minis, Digital Comics, Movies, Music, Exclusive Video, Trophies, Friends Lists, etc.) and more.

ALL-NEW VITA FEATURES

The Vita has many features that are all-new and absent from the original PSP. These include a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) which allows it to show you where you are, how to get to real-life places, and what is physically near to you. A Multi-Touch Touchscreen and built-in microphone, two analog sticks, rear Touch Pad, CrossPlay support (so you can play online games WITH PS3 users), SIXAXIS motion controls, and front and rear Cameras that allow for AR Games. AR Games are games that use your real-life surroundings (via the camera) as a backdrop for interacting with computer-generated characters or objects. The Vita also features a new user-interface. Instead of the XMB (CrossMediaBar) it uses a touch-based UI known as the LiveArea.

ONLINE SERVICES

PSP: Could connect to the PlayStation Network.
PS Vita: The PS Vita features a new service called Near, which uses the GPS to show gamers psychically nearby, and allow you to see what games they are playing, compare Trophies, chat, track them, add them to your friends list, etc. While a new feature called “Party” allows local and online friends to join a single chat room, and then voice chat no matter where they are or what game they are playing. So all of you can be playing different games and still voicechat!

Here is the PS Vita reveal from Sony’s E3 2011 Press Conference.

Are you planning on getting the PS Vita?