Sony PSVita System w/Wi-Fi Black

Pros: If you liked the PSP you will the love the Vita! Graphics are amazing for a handheld.

Cons: Only downside no expandable memory.

Pros: -Physical buttons
-Second analog stick
-Modern graphics
-Day-one digital releases
-Ability to continue some PS3 games on the go
-Trophies
-Bright, capactive-touch, OLED screen
-Availability of rear touchpad
-Support for PSX and PSP games, as well as some PS3 ports
-A formal way to backup games
-iTunes playlist support

Cons: -Some developers overlook the physical buttons for simple things, like menus
-Low number of exclusives (for now)
-No video previews in PSN store
-Battery life could be better
-Expensive memory cards

Other Thoughts: This review comes from someone that owns multiple handhelds (Game Boy, Game Gear, PSP, 3DS), but no smartphone. I got the system a launch but wanted to wait to let things sink in.

The Feel
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Nothing about the system feels cheap. The analog sticks feel closer to real analog sticks, more so than the PSP and 3DS. The weight difference between the Vita and the 3DS is prettily much negligible. I would have preferred a slightly thinner and lighter system, but you can't expect that from a 1st-gen device. For reference, my PSP-3000 in comparison feels like an empty bottle, but it's also has less than 1/16 the power.

The screen
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The OLED screen is great. The viewing angles on this are perfect. Also, though, the screen isn't anti-glare, I find that the screen holds up better to glare than the 3DS, which is beneficial for gyroscope-heavy games. The only problem I noticed is that when using it in the dark, in dark scenes, blotches will appear on the screen. However, if you're using it in lit rooms, you'll likely never see them.

Graphics on 3DS, tablets, and smartphones pale in comparison WHEN the games take advantage of the hardware and aren't just straight ports. If you consider the hardware that's in here, you'd see why. Even though the 3rd-gen iPad has the same GPU, the Vita has to push fewer pixels, which will result in better graphics. Unfortunately, that power comes at the cost of battery life. On the bright side, some PS3-level games can be played on this system.

Games
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The Vita has some excellent games for it, however, at the time I'm writing this review, a large number of these can be found on other systems. Fortunately, some of the games are exclusive to PS3 and Vita alone. Since I don't own a PS3, this is great. If you're a PS3 owner and you own both versions of a game, you can continue your gaming on the go. (Keep in mind that the Wii U controller can't be taken out of the house.) Regardless of which version you play, when you're online, you're playing the same people.

Aside from the Vita games, there are some PSP and PSX games, as well as some Dreamcast ports. Currently, however, not all the PSP games are compatible with the Vita. The one game I have tried on there plays flawlessly.

Unlike on the 3DS, on the Vita you'll get to enjoy Trophies. You can also download games while you're playing a game, watching Netflix, or any other number of things.

Multimedia
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As far as an entertainment device, the Vita is comparable to the PSP. You've got music, you can rent/buy movies and tv shows, and you can browse the Web. Aside from PSN, there are Netflix and Youtube apps. (Because PSN doesn't have video previews the latter comes in handy.) One thing they took out was comics.

Overall, the Vita is great gaming handheld that also has other entertainment features. Given time, the number of original titles should expand. Day-and-date digital releases are a strong

Pros: Just to reply the previous poster: "now cheaper overseas by $50".

I'd love to hear where those $50 cheaper PS Vitas are being sold since I just visited Japan and Taiwan and they both had it more expensive than the US version (by a good $50, ironically).

Cons: If you are using the US PSN, then it's unforunate that you won't be able to play your PSP games on Vita, since that service is only offered under the JPN PSN accounts.

Other Thoughts: Unfortunately, some of the better games on Vita in Asia probabily won't be avaliable in US. Just the way it always has been and it always will be with PS. You will be able to enjoy this console much much more if you understand Japanese...

Pros: Really nice screen to look at. Netflix a plus. Mlb the Show looks almost as good as its big brother. Built Solid & Has dual analog sticks. Touch Screen works very nice & the back as well when you get use to it. Nice Wifi speeds. Played some Mlb online and worked well. Cloud system works good with PS3. 4 core & 4 core GPU 512megs of ram and a 256 megs for the GPU thats nice. Size is ok of unit, no so bad. So far its Decent.

Cons: Not enough of anything yet, now cheaper overseas by $50. Not enough of a good firmware update to take notice. Cant play MLB the Show Vita vs PS3 online games, Huge let down. Should come with screen protector as mandatory! Battery Life not real good. EXPENSIVE MEMORY CARDS! Not Enough of good promotions for the system to sell itself. OS not bad but not great either. Needs Help by third parties badly and EA Madden coming soon wont even use crossplay! Whats the Point of even getting it then? Also too much of Attention Grabber be aware if you travel on trains or buses cause late night travels you can be robbed for it, so if your gonna take it out and play be aware of your surroundings!

Other Thoughts: Has a battle ahead of it from IPAD 3 for sure if rumors are true and IPAD has a controller in the works its gonna spell big trouble for this handheld. It has potential though. Needs a promotional restart, Needs to Hire Me for sure lol! At all cost you must protect this screen asaugi or you will be sorry if you scrape this wonderful screen. Also Get a Case to put it in.

Pros: Had Vita for ~4 months now and I'm still smitten.
Gotten so much enjoyment out of this system after $250 + extra for accessories and a couple games.

Compared to the fun I got out of my 3DS which ran similar costs at launch - the difference is night and day. I say this as a Nintendo fan - I never even got a PSP until last fall *after* I got 3DS!

* Skype is now available for free in the shop, works great but doesn't support text IMs (on the other hand, the PSP version was audio-only, so it's still a step up for something that's "free").

* If you think your PSP titles don't look good on the doubled screen resolution, press the touch screen a few seconds while in the game and try enabling Bilinear Filtering. Doing this made a pleasing difference in Persona 3P.

* The PS Vita titles & (Compatible) PSP library is expanding steadily, and downloadable PSP game prices are shifting downward now.

* Online shopping is tremendously better than w/PSP.

* Great video playback.

Cons: Well, the Vita had a somewhat limited library and only a sampler of apps when it was launched in the US despite having already been on the market for a few months in Japan.

There is still no support for PSone Classics on this if you don't use the streaming technology in combination with a PS3 -- as I do not own a PS3, I find this a real shame.
I'm sure they're working on it, though. (I keep in mind that the devs had to endure so much griping on their blog when the Skype app was late to market..)

If you have plans to use this as a more mobile Skype device, I have two more tips that won't fit in my "Other Thoughts":
1. Get the cradle, it's worth every penny if Skype and Video are important features to you.
2. If you have a very large Skype friends list, you may occasionally crash the app (it can run out of memory, even if not multitasking) and may want to set up a secondary Skype account to avoid this.

Other Thoughts: The caveats that have turned my friends away from getting a Vita of their own, have perfectly good explanations in my opinion.
Sony's doing a bit better at responding to its customers than it was 6 years ago.

Storage is costly but going down, & I don't regret upgrading from 8GB to the 32GB memory at original cost. Is essential for a portable anime collection! :)

Apps that were problematic around launch have updates: Netflix and Facebook work great (you may need to increase your stream quality in Netflix's account settings), and you can now post your Vita's screenshots and photos to your status update in the FB app, if you have the most recent version.

A free app that came out recently called Paint Park inspired me to get a soft tip stylus for capacitative touchscreens. Picked one up at a drugstore and I gotta say that Paint Park goes from barely usable to pretty fun with a stylus. It makes me wonder why Sony isn't selling an official capacitative stylus for Vita (yet).

Pros: I absolutely love the OLED screen and how it's large on the Vita. I also like the fact that it IS big, it feels like high quality material, not anything like cheap plastic. The buttons, triggers, and the anolouge (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) sticks all feel really good, if a bit small at first.

Cons: The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but those can easily be wiped off. No HTML 5 or Flash for video. That's about it.

Other Thoughts: This is primarily a gaming device, so the other features aren't the best you can find, but in gaming it is superior.

Pros: great looking oled screen, I mean really birght crisp colors and the deepest blacks ive ever seen. the system OS is very quick runs vita games tip-top. the wifi is good im on cox Premier and getting 20mps downloads on a linksys e4200. netflix is rad sitting outside watching the kids. camera is marginal at best, dont expect much from the videos either.

Cons: why you no!! have embedded memory, seriously even my frist droid had 16 gigs. even with the 32gig i needed a second one just to keep up with stuff. and you have to format/configure each stick since it wont keep any system settings or anything the last one had.

why you no!! play psp games prefect?? seriously you would think with this much power things would run rad, but no somthing makes it choppy and laggy.

why you no!! have standard formats, from the memory sticks to the usb connections and stupid content manager n+ no drag in drop. guess they are still bum hurt from the 733t-HaXXorSS that walked over the psp.

why you no!! have full html 5 support, it said it had full html 5 support..but it doesnt.

Other Thoughts: all in all thou, I think its great I should have gotten two because everyone in my home likes to use it. be careful with the ps store once you put your CC in you kids and add and buy stuff without subject lol, besides that its easy to spend money on the vita.

Pros: This is the best handheld I have ever used! The graphics look great, the rear facing camera takes great pictures and videos and the front camera isn't bad for video chat (wish the resolution on the front camera was better). Plays great, very comfortable handheld.

I love the dual analog sticks!

Cons: had to buy the memory card separately. I wish it just used the universal SDHC cards, but Sony isnt about to loose out on all that money we all HAVE to spend because you cant do anything without one.

Other Thoughts: i wish Sony would have had more games at realease... im bored of my games already! WE DEMAND LITTLE BIG PLANET 2

Pros: This is the perfect handheld for any gamer. I was extremely disappointed with the Nintendo DS because the games were all dumbed down and had no depth. The graphics did not help either.

The Vita on the other hand is just perfect. The games on it have the same amount of content as its console counterpart and then some and the graphics are just as amazing.

The amount of customization with the system you can do is amazing such as wallpapers and apps. There is no lag when transitioning between apps and games.

The option to download and delete games without limits from your memory card saves so much space, although you do have the option of buying the cartridges for a few dollars more.

Cons: No flash for watching youtube at the moment.

Other Thoughts: This is the best handheld gaming device since the original gameboy. A must have for any hardcore gamer who loves depth and graphics with their games.

Pros: this thing has some serious mobile muscle. it can running 4 apps and a game at the same time with absolutely seamless transitions, the screen is the best thing in my pocket and it had good controls. the battery is about 4 hours but no less.

Cons: the thing picks up sweat and dirt like a mop so you'll need to wipe it off after a while.

Other Thoughts: they could have added support for Hulu a bit sooner....