Hey Everyone, it looks like reviews are out, so I’ll be adding them all here (or at least the ones I find). Let me know if I missed some.
Video Reviews:
- Adam Savage’s Tested - Sony PlayStation Portal Review
- SpawnPoiint - PlayStation Portal Review: Everything You Need to Know
- CNET - PlayStation Portal Review
- Kinda Funny - PlayStation Portal Review
Written Reviews:
- VGC - PlayStation Portal is a slick solution for portable players
- Kotaku - PlayStation Portal: The Kotaku Review
- DigitalTrends - PlayStation Portal review: PS5 streaming handheld cuts a lot of corners
- The Verge - Sony’s PlayStation Portal gives a confusing first impression
- IGN - PlayStation Portal Review - 8/10
Extra Testing:
If I missed any let me know!
Edit: Added the IGN review which was actually pretty good! Tested it at a cafe outside with their PS5 back at home on WiFi and the experience was good according to the reviewer.
Edit 2: Added Kinda Funny but I haven’t watched it yet. I’ll update my comment below if there is any new info worth adding to my TLDR.
Edit 3: added an extra testing section where SpawnPoiint tested the USBC port for Ethernet and USBc wireless dongles
TLDR after watching and reading these:
It’s a good remote play device and little more. You get better ergonomics than other methods, full dual sense haptics, and the screen is nice. You should use remote play with a device you already have and depending on how it runs on your personal network and circumstances, that is what you should expect from the Portal. In the Tested Review his iPhone was able to perform a single frame faster than both the Portal and the SteamDeck running Chiaki, although he said this was not noticeable in gameplay, only under analysis. Audio options are limited to 3.5mm wired or using a PS Link compatible headset.
No review has tested USBC audio out for potential use with a USBC dongled wireless headset (like my Arctis 7).SpawnPoiint tested the USBC port for Ethernet and wireless USBC dongles and neither work. And if you are playing at home, I have personally tested (using my phone and Arctis 7) that you can leave a USBC dongle in your PlayStation 5, establish a remote play connection, go to the audio out settings and force audio out through the USBC. The digital trends article did try to do USBC video out and connection to a dual sense, both of which did not work (why they didn’t think to test a headset dongle is beyond me). In the SpawnPoiint review he was able to show a 82ms delay between his TV and the Portal using a timer from a racing game displayed on each. Lastly, no reviewers seem to actually have the Pulse Elite or the Pulse Explores in hand to test with this. I expect the headset reviews to come later.Personally, I will be keeping my pre-order as this experience is exactly what I expected. I already remote play on my Steam deck using Chiaki, and my main pain points are the lack of haptics, the smaller 7 inch, 720p screen (technically 800p but I don’t stretch the aspect ratio), and the less vibrant display. I’m looking forward to getting this myself to test it out, and it should come Wednesday, so if anyone here has specific questions not covered in these reviews, let me know and I can test for you.
Edit: added from the IGN review: While the reviewer had a great experience streaming from a local coffee shop with a PS5 back home on WiFi (not wired), they did note that the Portal has no way (currently) to deal with the typical login screens that you get on public Wi-Fi. I think this is a big deal if you plan to use this in any hotel, airport, or really anywhere that requires you to accept a TOS for you to access the internet. Of all the negatives about the Portal, this is probably the biggest one as of yet (other than Bluetooth). Hopefully Sony fixes it in a software update, but no one should be buying this device hoping that it’s better in the future. You should only be buying this device if it’s current feature set, fits your wants and needs.
If you had the new OLED steam deck instead of the OG, do you think you’d still be interested in the Portal? Why or why not?
That would be tougher. OLED 7.4" screen is pretty darn close to the 8" of the portal but it’s still 800p vs 1080p. The resolution doesn’t bother me as much as the color accuracy, so the OLED would solve most of my major pain points. It would definitely be a harder decision. I think if that were the case I wouldn’t get it at launch and would maybe wait for a price drop to $150 before I would impulse buy. Right now it’s not a matter of if I can already remote play, it’s that I want the experience to be as close to TV gaming as possible. The jump from 720p to 1080p is significant though for making these PS exclusives feel epic, at least for me. I would probably want to see a side by side deep dive comparison between the OLED steam deck and the portal before I would make that decision in this hypothetical.
If I didn’t have the steam deck at all and was deciding between splurging on the OLED or the Portal, I would go Steam Deck since it’s such a great device. The fact that I can play games that aren’t on PS, like Dave the diver, and other PC exclusives makes it worth it. Chiaki on it is just a bonus. I didn’t buy the Deck for PS remote play, whereas I am buying the Portal specifically for it. Chiaki4deck does also have occasional artifacting and some other connection issues that make the experience less than ideal.
I went back and forth for weeks deciding on whether or not it was going to get it, whether it was worth it, whether I was being silly because I already had the steam deck. Ultimately I couldn’t get it out of my head and decided to just pull the trigger.
I can relate to this, except it’s my first deck. The older LCD and battery life were big turn offs for me that the OLED eliminated. I wonder what 720p might look like blown up to 7.4 inches over the 1080 at 8inches, or if I’ll even care because of the OLED. And that I could also be having dualsense tier comfort and benefits for well under half the price of the 512 Deck OLED. I think the OLED Deck is easily the better value, but it’s far more expensive and complicated than a Portal.
Yeah, if you don’t have a deck, I would recommend the deck over the portal if you don’t mind paying more. It costs more but you also get more AND you can still remote play.