Sony has announced the hardware specs for the PS Vita, the upcoming successor to the company’s handheld PSP, and the details (see below) have confirmed most fans’ hopes instead of their fears.
The heart of the system is an ARM-developed Cortex A9 chip with four cores and a PowerVR SGX GPU. the screen, as was seen at E3, is a 5-inch OLED capacitive touch-screen capable of multi-touch and a resolution of 960 x 544.
The system will include 512MB of RAM and an additional 128MB of discrete VRAM. There will be front and rear cameras capable of 60fps at VGA resolution (640 x 480).
On the wireless side, the system ships with 802.11 b/g/n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (which supports headsets and Bluetooth stereo), and an optional 3G radio, which will be sold as part of a separate model. There will also be ports for game cards, memory cards, SIM cards (on the 3G-equipped models), and a “multi-use” port supporting DC power input, USB, audio input and serial data.
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The hardware will allow for some compelling features that will be available to all PS Vita users. Four of them were described at the Develop Conference back in late July. Phil Rogers, Sony Europe’s manager of R&D, explained at the conference (which was attended by Eurogamer) that the near system will work just like the Nintendo 3DS Streetpass, allowing users to anonymously exchange content even while systems are sleeping.
The Party mode is analogous to the same feature in Xbox Live and allows for users to maintain voice chat across games. LiveArea is a dynamic content box on the home menus that allow developers to send advertising material to players, such as announcements for new DLC. Lastly, the Activity feed shows friends’ recent achievements and Trophies, allowing players to leave feedback “similar to Facebook-style.”
What’s more, the system will ship with four social media apps integrated: Facebook, foursquare, Skype and Twitter.
via Sony’s official PlayStation Blog
It’s little surprise that the Vita’s final specs are making the hardware nerds happy. Sony proved with the PS3 and PSP that it can make hardware that ages elegantly. When the Vita was unveiled at E3, the graphical capabilities and network connectivity wowed the audience. the competitive price point, $250, put gamers over the top.
In the meantime, the investment community believes the fat lady has sung on the Nintendo 3DS and, by association, the Vita. While $250 is a steep price to pay for a separate gaming device, especially compared to a subsidized $200 iPhone that also plays games, Sony may have made a device that can outlive several generations of iOS devices.
Full specs list for the PS Vita:
Supported formats:
- Music – MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM)
- Videos – MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC)
- Photos – JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG
My two Cents
I’m actually suprised at the power that the Vita is going to have, although I’m still not sold on the system yet. the original PSP was a glorified homebrew console that only showed its worth later into its lifespan with a crazy amount of RPGs. if the same can be said about the Vita, then gamers might as well wait and see how it does. with cell phones gaining speed and more power every release, it’s tough to say if the Vita will be a competitor a year into its release.