REVIEW: PlayStation Vita

I have already written a couple of PS Vita game reviews, so it is about time I write a review for the PlayStation Vita itself. I sold my launch PS Vita, believing that I wasn't going to want to play Vita anymore. I began to regret what I had done, so last December I bought another PlayStation Vita.

I was really interested in the white PlayStation Vita. I was a little concerned about buying the white PS Vita. Before buying my iPhone 5, I had a white iPhone 4S. I had a difficult time liking how the screen looked on my white iPhone, so that was part of the reason why I bought a black iPhone 5 last year. That, and I wanted a faster phone. That's a completely different story, though.

After giving it some thought, I chose to buy the white PlayStation Vita. I've almost had the handheld for a year and I haven't regretted buying the white PS Vita. Ironically, I love how everything looks on the white PS Vita. The Vita I bought was bundled with a 4 GB memory card and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. It is strictly Wi-Fi, which I am okay with because I can tether my Vita with my iPhone 5.

I really enjoy playing games on the PlayStation Vita. I have played games on a PSP (not my PSP go, but my brother's PSP) before and I really disliked how uncomfortable it was in my hands. I always felt like I was getting hand cramps. I am rather pleased with how the Vita feels in my hands. I also like the size of the buttons. I feel that they're the right size for a handheld device. I don't necessarily like how the PS home button and the Start and Select buttons are somewhat leveled with the rest of the PlayStation Vita. It makes it hard to press those buttons sometimes.

The front screen also acts as a touchscreen. The games at launch were somewhat heavy on the touch controls, but fortunately that has somewhat changed a year later. At launch, you could only control the main screen via touch, but thanks to an update you are now able to use the face buttons. Personally, I like using the touchscreen to navigate through the main screen.

There's also a rear touch pad that is used for some games. I find it interesting how the rear touch pad is implemented in games, but I have also found it intrusive during gameplay. That can be rather annoying.

The PlayStation Vita comes with pre-installed apps as well. Those apps include:

• Welcome Park
• Party
• PS Store
• near
• Friends
• Messaging
• Trophies
• Photos
• Browser
• Music
• Videos
• PS3 Remote Play
• Content Manager
• Maps
• Email
• Settings
• PS4 Link
• Parental Controls

I love the simplicity of the user interface. I also love how everything appears on the screen. I have never found it difficult looking for a certain app. The ability to customize your home screen is also a nice feature. As pictured below, you can change your background to any picture you have on the PlayStation Vita. All you need to do is press and hold on the screen and then you will be able to customize your screen. You can change the organization of the apps, background, and even create folders. What's nice is that you're able to have different backgrounds for each page.

The PlayStation Vita also comes with a front and rear camera. I hardly ever use either camera since they're pretty terrible cameras. You would think that since Sony makes digital cameras that they would include decent front and rear cameras on the PS Vita. Then again, I still don't know how often I would use it to take pictures. I have my phone or digital camera for that. The cameras are there so developers can use them in their games, but only a handful of games really utilize either camera.

The rear touch pad can also be used, when selected, for gameplay on PSP and PSone games. For PSone games, you can assign the four corners of the rear touch pad to act "in the same manner as the L1/L2/R1/R2/L3/R3 buttons on a controller for a PlayStation system." The four corners of the front touchscreen can be used for specific buttons as well, making gameplay very possible on the a handheld device. The right stick of the PS Vita can be assigned to do a certain thing as well. I usually assign the right stick for camera use, but you can assign to whatever you want. The touchscreen can be assigned for specific buttons very similar to what can be done with PSone games.

The battery life on the PlayStation Vita isn't the best. It only lasts about five hours as far as gameplay is concerned. I wish it were better, but for what you're doing on the device, I find it to be rather impressive.

There are a plethora of other neat features, such as PS Plus capabilities. The Vita can now have game saves be sent to the cloud, as well as trophy updates and the ability to download new updates automatically for the PS Vita firmware or updates for specific apps. The Vita has a decent web browser, the map app is quite handy, and being able to email via the PlayStation Vita is pretty cool as well. I really like the PlayStation Vita and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of PlayStation. There are plenty of awesome games for the handheld device.

I have a 32 GB memory card for my PS Vita. Most of the games I have for the PlayStation Vita were downloaded from the PlayStation Store. I am down to about 3 GB left, so I am shifting towards buying game cards instead of downloading games from the PS Store. Downloading games from the PS Store is simple. You can download them straight onto the Vita or you can download them onto your PC/Mac or PS3 and then transfer them to your Vita through Content Manager. All of it is rather simple and you control all of this on the PlayStation Vita.

I love the PlayStation Vita. I think it is a great device. It may not be for everyone, but for those who consider themselves PlayStation fans, I recommend checking out the Vita first hand.

OVERALL SCORE:
8.7/10