DailyTech - PSP Slim Has More RAM, up to 10 Hour Battery Life

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Gadgets PSP Slim Has More RAM, up to 10 Hour Battery Life
Marcus Yam (Blog) - July 13, 2007 9:20 AM

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35 comment(s) - last by PrinceGaz.. on Jul 17 at 4:31 AM

New PSP and old PSP thickness compared (Source: Joystiq)

New PSP hardware able to charge via a USB connection

On Wednesday morning’s Sony E3 press conference, a lighter, slimmer and more power efficient PSP was revealed. It was also said that the new version of the PSP would feature quicker loading times, though Sony did not immediately detail the enabling technology behind this improvement.

Rather than an improved UMD drive, the new PSP features a new UMD caching feature that loads game data into on-board memory. The added RAM to aid loading is new to the upcoming hardware and is not found in the current PSP.

Photos captured during Joystiq’s hands-on with the unit reveals the UMD Cache function is a feature of the PSP’s new operating system. The UMD Cache function presumably can enable faster loading on all PSP game titles without any further work by developers. The demo unit at E3 operates using version 3.60 firmware.

Also revealed in the new PSP’s software system is a USB charging feature. Current PSP hardware only uses its USB port to transfer data, while the new hardware appears to be able to charge its battery from the port.

Sony representatives also said PSP battery life increases to 8 to 10 hours in the new hardware, more than double the playtime of the current model.

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More interested in the chick.....

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 7/13/2007 9:59:23 AM , Rating: 2

She's not too shabby.

RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Mitch101 on 7/13/2007 10:11:48 AM , Rating: 3

Yea I agree. For some reason I never found any interest in the PSP. I dont know why maybe poor marketing because its been out for a while and I cant name any game other than grand tourismo?

Instead of beating me up can someone enlighten me on the positives of the PSP instead of all the reasons its not a good buy? Like what do you do with it thats really good?

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By killerroach on 7/13/2007 10:28:07 AM , Rating: 3

From my perspective, the PSP is a fairly decent media player in a pinch with solid gaming capabilities... although there hasn't been a lot that's been able to pique my interest along the latter front lately. That being said, with the new bundles, it might be enough to entice me to get one just to play Wipeout Pure... then again, I am an admittedly hopeless Wipeout fan, so YMMV.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By BiuTech on 7/13/2007 10:48:00 AM , Rating: 2

There's some good games, but I think many will agree that it's all about the homebrew.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Johnmcl7 on 7/13/2007 11:30:29 AM , Rating: 2

There are some strong games, particularly the Q?:

Lumines (1&2)
Every Extend Extra (favourite game in a while)
Gunpey

Although Mercury Meltdown is out on the Wii, I think the PSP version suits the game better simply because I find it frustrating to play for long periods of time. It's better picking up for a couple of games over a lunchbreak or similar.

The Gitaroo Man port is very good although the loading times are atrocious.

John

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By GlassHouse69 on 7/13/2007 2:26:13 PM , Rating: 2

I think it just has to do with how much it costs.

if the thing was 89 dollars you probably would have bought it a long time ago and it probably would have made UMD movies boom instead of fizzle. sell the accessories and software, dont sell the hardware. sony fux this up every time. sad. they have beautiful stuff.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By 1337cookie on 7/13/2007 10:56:56 PM , Rating: 2

Um well the PSP was sold for less than cost unless you bought the value pack since it was released, it only made money on accessories and games/movies.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Kamasutra on 7/14/2007 2:23:52 AM , Rating: 2

That's pretty bad considering Gran Turismo is not even released on the thing. There are some great games and several good games, but in my opinion the PSP excels as a portable video playback device. The screen is a good size with good resolution, and you can fit hours of H.264/AAC onto a 4 GB memory stick; all for a relatively low price.

The homebrew is also great if you don't mind going through the steps required to unlock it.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Duraz0rz on 7/13/2007 10:19:34 AM , Rating: 2

First thing I thought :3

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By PaxtonFettel on 7/13/2007 12:08:19 PM , Rating: 1

My first thought was why didn't mine come with one?

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Eurasianman on 7/13/2007 11:41:31 AM , Rating: 5

I love how technology gets correlated with half naked chics =P

Do you guys just go around Asia looking for cute girls, give them some piece of technology, ask them to take their shirts off and then take pictures of them to use for your articles?! =P

If so, do you guys need a new photographer? =D

J/K! I have a g/f and she's all I'll ever need! =)

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By FITCamaro on 7/13/2007 11:48:28 AM , Rating: 5

quote:
J/K! I have a g/f and she's all I'll ever need! =)

At least that's what we'll always tell them right? ;)

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By timmiser on 7/13/2007 1:17:04 PM , Rating: 4

quote:
Do you guys just go around Asia looking for cute girls, give them some piece of technology, ask them to take their shirts off and then take pictures of them to use for your articles?

Damn straight.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By Yongsta on 7/13/2007 1:46:17 PM , Rating: 2

You can't really see her face. I've seen girls from that angle that looked good but ended up being nasty when you got a good look.

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By BladeVenom on 7/13/2007 4:54:46 PM , Rating: 1

I've always liked looking at the top of a girl's head. ;)

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RE: More interested in the chick.....

By rcreyes on 7/13/2007 4:47:10 PM , Rating: 3

I'm not at all interested in "the chick". I'll take the PSP. This is a tech site, not a porno site.

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Genious

By Pessimism on 7/13/07, Rating: 0

RE: Genious

By northwoodszero on 7/13/2007 10:04:42 AM , Rating: 5

You're right! Nintendo be damned for doing this with the DS to DS lite. What were they thinking?
</sarcasm>

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RE: Genious

By Suomynona on 7/13/2007 12:39:46 PM , Rating: 4

Hey, at least he lives up to his username.

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RE: Genious

By encryptkeeper on 7/13/2007 1:24:03 PM , Rating: 2

I don't really think this is going to make much of a difference in sales. Nintendo was already selling DS's very well before DS Lite entered the market, and as good as the DS was the Lite was better. Some people immediately upgraded instead of waiting on the Lite. Right now, Sony will continue to hold their position, and possibly gain a little ground, which isn't bad considering Nintendo dominated the portable market for almost 2 decades.

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Yeah... slim and attractive

By hardwaremister on 7/13/2007 9:39:08 AM , Rating: 2

Weight and battery life was a huge setback on that console, and probably, the main reason why I went the nintendo way.

Had they had this on the market one year ago, I'd be a psp unser instead. Uh... No... there's no brain-training series!
Count me out!

Anyway, great news for playstation lovers, and customers in general!

RE: Yeah... slim and attractive

By Jcruiser89 on 7/13/2007 10:06:34 AM , Rating: 2

.........I already own one but the joystick is kinda missing..........been waiting to see when they would do this so I could get a new one....

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RE: Yeah... slim and attractive

By Kamasutra on 7/14/2007 1:46:34 AM , Rating: 2

There's Hot Brain if you're into that kind of thing.

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RE: Yeah... slim and attractive

By Aikouka on 7/16/2007 6:24:43 AM , Rating: 2

Actually, there is a "Brain Trainer" series on the PSP from the same people that made the Brain Age game for the NDS:

http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/ULJM-05050.ht...
http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/ULJM-05126.ht...

It's just not released in America.

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TV Support Finally

By edpsx on 7/13/2007 9:35:43 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah, so whens it coming out then? The ability to play games on my TV from it is a huge bonus to me. Im not always on the road and if Im home and want to play a game, it would be nice to have a bigger screen to look at for it. Nintendo has always had some sort of TV integration on most of their handhelds. Its about time.

RE: TV Support Finally

By PrinceGaz on 7/17/2007 4:31:35 AM , Rating: 2

If you're home and you want to play a game, why not use a normal game console or your PC instead of a handheld console?

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am i going blind?

By noxipoo on 7/13/2007 10:26:59 AM , Rating: 3

that picture is very blurry. my eyes! my beautiful eyes!

Bah

By bigfatslob on 7/13/2007 1:32:31 PM , Rating: 3

What's the point? Since Dark Alex has abandoned the modding scene how long will we have to wait for a custom firmware or, at least, a downgrader for the v3.6 firmware? There's a chance it may never come in which case you'll have a PSP that can only play PSP games...how boring.

That said, I'd love to be able to hook up to a TV for PSP and homebrew gaming. I also wonder whether that increased battery life is due to overall increases in technology or just due to the UMD caching scheme. In other words, will the doubled battery life apply just to UMD games or will it apply to all system functions such as web browsing, media playback, homebrew, etc?

Nice

By gersson on 7/13/2007 10:37:34 AM , Rating: 2

The ultimate incarnation of an NES and SNES :-)

Improve the Software

By Zigazoid on 7/13/2007 10:44:16 AM , Rating: 2

I never had any real issues with the PSP hardware and I'm glad to see it being improved.

But mine and most of my friends complaints reolve around the lackluster titles for it, compared to what you can find on the DS.

Very nice....

By SpaceRanger on 7/13/2007 11:31:48 AM , Rating: 2

I like the idea of added cache for the UMD drive. I'll be waiting to pick one up once the newer models are officially released.

Bought a release day PSP and sold it.

By VooDooAddict on 7/13/2007 7:28:50 PM , Rating: 2

Bought a release day PSP and sold it a few months later because it gave me a splitting headache with the really bad LCD response times. The Loading times were somewhat annoying too... but otherwise I really liked the device.

Playing all the PS1 refreshes that I never got the play the first time around.