Tests on PSP battery

No offense but that's a crappy flight!

Oh and in terms of bulk, iPod + DS is much larger than just the PSP. Mind you, the iPod will kill the PSP as a mp3 player, but I think the PSP can hold it's own against the DS as a game player.

 

I thought people were saying the PSP had better sound quality than the iPod...

 

that's a pretty difficult claim to qualify. Sound quality is subjective.

I think I could could chime in on this whole situation (DS/PSP) now. I'm a gadget crazy college student. I probably cary more gadgets than necessary (Ipaq, laptop, Ipod), but I just got a DS. I can't wait to get a PSP too. I've got some uber Swiss Army Knife backpack that has pouches for everything, and I could care less about size (the inspiron 8200 is a freakin' boat anchor). I got the DS because I've always wanted a GBA SP, to play original NES games, but the lure of some classic 64 titles on the DS was too much to pass up. I'm hoping the PSP lineup gets some more games though, cause right now, I'm fairly uninterested in what they've got. Hell, that doesn't matter much considering I can't one for a few months!

 

Of your quote there I bolded the key words that reveal just how subjective your point is. What you think and what I 'think' does'nt really matter. Other than the Mercury game utilising a tilt sensor (idea copied from Nintendo btw), I don't see any "concrete" original innovative games for PSP. Really good graphics yes but nothing that jumps out at me afa really cool game concepts and ideas. And no I don't think we'll see alot of great DS game ideas make the "shift" over to PSP. Does PSP have a microphone built in? No. There's supposed to be a headset peripheral planned to come out eventually. Wonder how many ppl will get that..and actually wear it? Every DS has the mic built in. That'll make a huge difference imo. Historically peripherals don't do all too well..and this becomes a larger unkown for a handheld. How many ppl did you ever see out in public playing GBA via link cables?

Now if I'm a publisher that has a game utilizing the DS touch, dual screen and mic features I'm not gonna even try to think abouit "shifting" it to PSP. The PSP version of the game will get an entirely different build of a game that uses the PSP's powerful graphics capabilites. Say if I'm EA making next years Madden for both systems. The PSP will feature stunning graphics and fmv. The DS will have (most likely) drawing your own plays. It'll probably include a mic feature that lets your actually call your own audibles aloud maybe. Now I'm not saying the PSP won't have this in it but it's use is limited to the number of ppl who have actually bought the PSP headsets. So by default from the very get go the DS has the built in microphone as as advantage. So by March 2005 near 4 million DS' have micrphones ready to use for your soon to be released game and the PSP will have what..maybe 150k-200k headsets?

Do you see? I can already sense the way this gen of handhelds is gonna go down afa gaming software releases? DS has theseveral bad ass features advantage. Dual Screens, Touch screen, microphone built in every unit. PSP has a bad ass screen display with excellent graphics capabilities advantage. While both share WiFi and wireless internet capabilites. Everyone can pretty much surmise that it'll break down like this:

PSP title = great graphics and Wifi networking

Same said title on DS = touch screen, dual screen, WiFi and microphone use (probably in that order).


Now I'm not necessarilly saying that PSP will have no microphone use. Believe me the thought of SOCOM PSP with the headsets makes me giddy. But unless there is one huge killer app that Sony includes the headsets boxed in with, I just don't see it being a feature that will get the attention like it will with DS. Simply cause of the built in mic feature of DS.

 

Doesn't the PSP have a USB port?

There are a lot of PS2 gamers with USB headsets.

I'm sure Sony and the other developers know the attach ratio of headsets to consoles/network adapters.

But online gaming and especially voice support is more of an American publisher/developer thing than a Japanese publisher/developer one.

We'll see.

Even if the headsets work, I don't see people carrying them around. They have really long wires and a little box with the DACs sitting between the USB and the headset. So it would be really cumbersome to carry around. Not to mention they would draw power out of the USB and from the battery.

 

Yes, for sound quality that is what I have read as well. But I doubt the difference in sound quality will make up for the advantage the average iPod has over the PSP in terms of portability and storage.

Goldni,

I agree with the heart of what you are saying especially with the argument about games have a better chance of utilizing new features if the features are built-in. No argument there. I do wonder about the example you choose though, the microphone. I'm curious to see, first of all, just how many games try to use it, and how well it actually works out.

I'm sure many of us use cellular phones with voice recognition but even then, I can tell you they are somewhat problematic. Then consider the fact that the microphone on the DS is many times farther away and just a tiny hole compared to the many tiny holes on your cell phone and it only compounds the difficulty.

I frankly don't know how many people would use a PSP with a headset but that doesn't seem to be that far fetched since it does double as a mp3 player. Which looks stranger to you? Someone with a headset talking into it or someone talking into a DS? I guess I'm more used to see headsets here in San Diego (considered the wireless capital ).

 

I haven´t read other threads about PSP and was just wondering about the batterylife when you play "normal" on the buss or in the bed etz?

 

I believe he means it from the "an iPod will hold 4-60GB of music (or photos now, for some) that you can easily and immediately sift through" standpoint (and in varying levels of more convenient size) whereas the PSP "will hold 4GB if you spend an extra $500 or so on memory sticks that you will have to sift through."

Now, if UMD were burnable that would change the situation (at least the storage/cost situation), but I don't see that happening unless it flops in all other manners they're hoping to use it for. Which means... not for a long time, considering how long they'll likely keep their hopes up.

...what?

As has been established, it depends on what you're playing. High powered games? Probably 3-4 hours. Low-powered? Probably 5-6 hours. Movies? Probably 5-6 depending on source (UMD versus Memory Stick) but we haven't seen conclusive tests yet. Music? Screen off, about ten. Screen on? Probably back down to that 5-6 level again.

Of course "in the bed" you should have it on with an adaptor and not worry about it.

 

The USB headsets for PS2 use full-sized connectors, whereas the PSP has a miniUSB connector.

The first announced title for PSP's headset is a translation programme (which Nintendo have subsequently announced they're working on. Both companies aren't averse to sharing ideas like tilt sensors...) which I can imagine being very desirable for holiday goers, depnding how implemented.

Personally I think voice recognition a lame idea. I don't want to be shouting at my handheld while on the train to play games, especially if the voice recognition is as hazy as on every other system. You shout Left, you go go Right, or Jump, or worse still the thing switches off!

 

What might be cool for music is if it had those visualizations like iTunes has. It would of course use up more battery to display that. But the PSP would have the horsepower to do it whereas the iPod wouldn't, if people would even want to see it ona 2 inch screen.

 

Could you connect somehow USB Memory Sticks?

 

75$ for the flight. So yea crappy , but also really , really cheap haha.

Yes the bulk would be bigger for the ipod +ds but only some of the time if i'm planing on using both.

If i'm just running around town doing errands the ipod is far less bulk than a psp and I can listen to it on my car stero or while walking and doing the errands. Playing games wont help during that since i'm either driving or running around doing stuff .

The ds is the same size as the psp but gets much better battery life .


My whole arguement is that if you are going to use the psp the marjority of the time for mp3 listening you are better served getting a dedicated mp3 player .

Then for long trips your best off with both an ipod and a ds as you will have alot longer play time .

 

FWIW - I've had my PSP for 1 week now. So far I've:

* Played Ridge Racer about 2 1/2 hours total
* Played Lumines about 3 1/2 hours (damn it's addictive)
* Watched 1 episode of Enterprise (40 minutes)
* Listened to 30-40 minutes of MP3

This was with middle brightness (I've seen people comparing this to the DS brightness) and headphones (medium volume).

This morning my battery finally ran out of juice while I was playing Ridge Racer. It told me it had to shut down while I was playing. After turning it off, charching it for 2 hours I turned it on and could continue to play on the exact same spot as where the battery ran out.

For my travels, which are with train to work including the tube and some walking, the PSP is great. True, it's a bit bulky but I ahve it in my backpack so it's easy to take out. I also can carry it in my inside-pocket of my jacket when I am listening to MP3 music.

The battery is small so carrying an extra batery with you really adds no weight (IMHO).

If you are traveling for a very long period without having access to a charger the batterytime obviously will be an issue but otherwise I really don't see any problems for 'normal' users. After this initial test where I wanted to let it run out of juice I will do the same as I do for my GBA SP or my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player; charge it whenever I'm home so it is always fully charged the next morning.

/B

 

if you want to get into batterys , i can carry a second ds battery with me and get 24 hours of battery life .

or i can most likely buy a third party battery and get even more life. After all i did that with my sp. I got a 12$ battery taht increased the life from 14 hours with back light to 18 hours with back light.

 

Yeah but you'll probably get tired of those DS games before you need to swap batteries.

 

I dunno, mario 64 could probably keep me occupied for at least 30 hours, if not more. Or at least the originally kept me occupied for about 3 months straight averaging a few hours per day, and I didn't stop playing it for long long after. Probably only starcraft, fallout, goldeneye, final fantasy 7, and super smash bros melee can compare in the time I spent playing that...and probably the original pokemon games as well.

 

Where did you find the 3rd party battery?

 

cthellis42

Ok, i´m not in to handholds at all but the PSP seem´s to have grabbed me.
With Highpowered games i assume you mean Wipeout/RidgeRacer "type",
4 hours seem´s rather short dont you think? 6 hour´s sounds more attractive if you only going to play on it.

 

Yeah, I mean the ones that look the most visually impressive. 2D gaming and other non-intense ones will probably play for a lot longer. Remember those numbers are also for max brightness, too. As SwedBear shows, even using medium seems to net you good results, and considering how bright the thing is even on its lowest setting... I'd like to see how the straight tests compare. (Go, IGN, go! )

I'd be fine with four hours regardless, as I almost never see myself playing for more than that stretch before being somewhere that I can plug it in. I fly or take long bus or train trips to very infrequently that I would be stupid to put it up on my list of "reasons to buy/not-buy" and if I'm not driving my car, no doubt I can just use a car charger to take care of any long trip needs. (I invariably would have some sitting around for portable CD players, or cell phones, etc. as well.) Any other time? Well, if it actually becomes a hassle, you just end up playing with the screen less bright. Or play a game I know lasts longer instead. Or any combination of things. ^_^

I also think battery lifespan is less important nowadays for another reason: it's all rechargable. With earlier portables it was much more of an issue, because battery lifespan told you how long it would be until you had to shell out more cash again, so getting ~2-4 hours was a bear if you had to re-buy 2-4 AA's to keep on truckin'. (And while rechargable AA's and the like were available back then, they started losing charge fairly quickly back then, as well as being more inconvenient to manage.) Now all running out of battery means is you have to plug it in somewhere for a couple hours to keep on going.

Regardless, I'm not actually a portable gamer, so my "reasons to buy/not-buy" comes down decidedly on a different front. Mainly "is it particularly cheap and yet cool?" and "are there a lot of random games I can pick up freeware-wise?" I don't really care about high-powered gaming if I'm putzing about on a train or waiting for someone to meet me at a restaurant... I just want something to keep me amused. On the DS and PSP front, that would mean them getting a decent helping of homebrew games, or otherwise I'll just stick to the PDA which I have many other uses for.

Isn't the DS batter locked in so that you have to take a screwdriver or the like to it? That's the thing that will get in the way of most people instead of price. Gamers are notoriously lazy.