Sony's Next Generation Portable unveiling - PSP2 in disguise
- Thread starter Farid
- Start date
Silent_Buddha
Legend
It's unfortunate that they use proprietary memory cards for generic storage (it's understandable, of course, for the retail physical games) which means you are likely stuck with higher priced Sony MC's as usual, and inability to use them in other devices.
I was actually somewhat interested in the PS Vita up until I saw that just now. Bummer.
Regards,
SB
I was actually somewhat interested in the PS Vita up until I saw that just now. Bummer.
Regards,
SB
Gradthrawn
Veteran
For those interested in the screen protector, it's texture is quite coarse, and makes smooth swipes across the screen more difficult. I had one (the Sony one) on for a few days and eventually removed it. I haven't tried any other brands yet (haven't even looked, honestly).
I have seen people recommending the Hori screen protector or the Sony one.
I bought the Sony protector because it's available in store when I got my Vita. It feels smooth ! There should be no issue in swiping. I applied both of them, one to the front screen, the other to the back touch. Pretty happy so far.
It's definitely more expensive. Not sure if it will remain high if third parties license to produce them.
They went with proprietary card for security and performance reasons.
According to Sony, your PSN account is associated with the Vita hardware and memory card unit, implying that the card has a built-in (secure ?) id. This may mean that even if a hacker stole/phished your account and password, Sony can tell what device and card he uses to login. Perhaps they can detect and block unauthorized logins from Vita too.
You mean the Blu-ray hardcoat ? Don't know if it's suitable for screens.
The plastic Vita screen is supposed to be scratch resistant (May be same level as PSP ? I don't have any data point). We'll need a screen protector since it's not scratch proof like Gorilla Glass. ^_^
Bull. Security, maybe, but if you encrypt everything than that's not an issue. Performance is crap. they could source from the same manufacturer and get Class 10 SD performance for at least half the price. Sony's cards are purely about markup (unless they have an amazing read/write performance they're not telling anyone about). Not saying that's wrong from a business POV, but there's no point trying to sugar-coat it it run with some PR-forged excuse. They cost more because Sony wants to make more.
On that note, £15 seems the minimum for a 4GB card on price comparison. 8GBs can be found for £25. 16Gbs enters at £35. I just bought a 16 GB Kingston Class 4 MicroSD card with ultra-small USB adaptor for less than £13. Vita's memory cards are MemoryStick all over again, and I accordingly expect 2x the average price per GB at least for the life of the platform.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
What makes it even worse is that it is even more limited than the Sony Memory Sticks. At least those I could use in a variety of Sony products (for me it was PSP, Camera and E-reader) as well as PC. With the Vita memory card, it's only useable in the VITA currently and...nothing else. So at least I could somewhat justify the price premium of a Sony MS.
I had high hopes that Sony would just embrace the SD platform and thus I could just use one flash memory card for the majority of my uses (Latest Sony Readers support SD cards). But no, the same Sony idiocy that saw them lose the mobile music player market rears its ugly head with the PS Vita. /sigh.
Hence, I went from oooh, I might get a PS Vita to bleh, not interested.
I really do have a love/hate relationship with Sony.
Regards,
SB
I do believe security is actually an important factor this time. The Vita is in control of content at all times. You cannot access the sticks or its content from anywhere but the Vita itself. All content manager software on PC, MAC and PS3 are just hosts for the Vita to download content from. Even just being on a format that doesn't easily fit into anything existing helps security. And yes it does make them more expensive to make, since the quantities are smaller and there are security features.
However I am also sure they can make some extra cash here. Fair enough. I can live with 16GB for 50 Euro for now. At least you can actually upgrade it, unlike any iOS device.
If the memory stick is all that's keeping you from getting it, well, I guess Sony didn't make it attractive enough. Otherwise I guess nobody would have bought a 360 either, because personally I've always considered that HDD issue worse.
However I am also sure they can make some extra cash here. Fair enough. I can live with 16GB for 50 Euro for now. At least you can actually upgrade it, unlike any iOS device.
If the memory stick is all that's keeping you from getting it, well, I guess Sony didn't make it attractive enough. Otherwise I guess nobody would have bought a 360 either, because personally I've always considered that HDD issue worse.
How so? If you can buy DRM'd content on PC to transfer to Vita, and that same content eventually be playable on various SEN devices, how does Vita having a freaky memory format stop all the other holes?
Actually, I expect it is the retailers who keep the majority of the memory card profits. Likely as a concession Sony made to get them to stock a platform that can completely bypass retail at all.
