PlayStation Portal Remote Player 5

The PlayStation Portal Remote Player is an intriguing addition to the PlayStation 5 ecosystem, designed to enhance the gaming experience by offering remote play capabilities. Here’s a detailed review of this innovative device: ### Design and Build The PlayStation Portal features a sleek and modern design that mirrors the aesthetics of the PlayStation 5. It’s lightweight and ergonomically designed, making it comfortable to hold during extended gaming sessions. The build quality feels premium, with a sturdy construction that promises durability. ### Display and Performance The device boasts a vibrant 8-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1080p, ensuring crisp and clear visuals. While it’s not OLED, the display still provides good color reproduction and brightness levels, making games look sharp and engaging. The performance is smooth, with minimal latency during gameplay, provided you have a stable and fast internet connection. ### Connectivity The PlayStation Portal relies on Wi-Fi for remote play, streaming games directly from your PS5. The setup process is straightforward, and once connected, it offers a seamless gaming experience. However, the quality of gameplay heavily depends on the strength and stability of your Wi-Fi network. In areas with poor connectivity, you might experience lag or lower video quality. ### Controls The device incorporates the same haptic feedback and adaptive triggers found in the DualSense controller, providing a tactile and immersive gaming experience. The controls are responsive and intuitive, ensuring that the transition from a standard controller to the remote player is smooth and natural. ### Battery Life The battery life of the PlayStation Portal is decent, offering around 4-5 hours of continuous play on a single charge. While this might not be enough for marathon gaming sessions, it’s sufficient for casual or on-the-go gaming. The device charges via USB-C, which is convenient and ensures relatively quick recharging times. ### Use Cases The PlayStation Portal is perfect for situations where you want to play your PS5 games away from your main console setup, such as in another room or even on the go. It’s also useful for households with shared TV usage, allowing you to continue your gaming sessions without hogging the main screen. ### Price and Value Priced at a premium, the PlayStation Portal is a niche device catering to dedicated PlayStation enthusiasts. While it adds convenience and flexibility to the gaming experience, the cost might be a deterrent for some, especially when compared to simply using existing devices like smartphones or tablets with a DualSense controller for remote play. ### Conclusion The PlayStation Portal Remote Player for the PlayStation 5 is a well-designed and functional device that enhances the versatility of the PS5 gaming experience. With its comfortable design, responsive controls, and decent display quality, it offers a solid remote play solution. However, its reliance on a strong Wi-Fi connection and relatively high price point might limit its appeal to only the most dedicated PlayStation fans. If you frequently find yourself wanting to play your PS5 games away from your main setup, the PlayStation Portal is a worthy investment.

I wasn’t sure if this was going to be as cool as I wanted it to be. But it’s a hundred times better. It could be a bit easier/smoother to switch between profiles, and to get the most out of it you really do need a premium plus account. Those are the downsides. But that premium account gives you access to a really quite good library of old and new games to stream, and you can stream certain games you already own. Streaming is the only way to play if someone else is using the PlayStation, otherwise you can play any game on the portal via the PlayStation. A decent WiFi connection is a must for streaming, and you are kicked off the server if youre inactive for too long. It’s really comfortable to use, the controllers are the same as normal just a little smaller. The screen is absolutely perfect - crystal clear and the exact right size. The screen is comparable in size to the size of the tv across the room, IYKWIM (see pic). I’ve found it to be a more pleasurable way of gaming. I can take it in with me while I make dinner, bring it to bed or to the bathroom (always looking for ways not to scroll on the toilet 😉), and I can curl up with it on the sofa with it. I’ve even tried it on the stationary bike with great success. The battery lasts a good long while, and you get warnings when it’s getting low and when it’s getting desperate. It’ll happily keep going if you plug it in though. I got an off brand charging stand for it, which I’d recommend because it’s fairly sizeable and I could see it being easily knocked off a surface or sat on. Excellent, I choose it over the main console almost every time.

I 100% bought this because I'm an Elden Ring fan (PS5). I didn't want to be tied down to the loft all the time either. For reference, my Internet has 4 waypoints throughout the house (2 upstairs and 2 down), and a router on the outside of the house (Breaker box - Yeah, my first experience with that, too). Here's my legitimate experience: This thing is awesome. Gameplay is absolutely seamless. It acts as a controller if you're sitting right in front of the TV. I tested it with PvP (Person vs Person) online play, and also seamless. The only complaint I have is when I'm in my bedroom and the door is closed, every now and then I'll get an "Internet is Weak" symbol. But if you play online, it's very mild and semi resembles lag for a second. Then it's back to being good. Other than that, all rooms (Including the garage) work well. As an online player, I have to steas that's a minor inconvenience, I have not been kicked from an online game. I have not tried playing remotely from another WiFi source, so I can't give a review on that portion. BUT, this has 100% met my needs. Screen quality is the same as my TV (Sony, 2023 Smart TV), linking it to my PS5 was surprisingly easy, and all games were available. 100% wish I had known about this before. If you're an avid player, definitely a freedom piece to roam your house/apartment.

Although my absolute wish from Sony would be for a dedicated handheld, this will do for now. Form factor and ergonomics - Very comfy to hold and not heavy. Essential a Dualsense controller shopped in half with a screen attached in between. So regular Dualsense users will feel right at home. The only thing that takes getting use to is the PS button and the touch screen for obvious reason. I really like how the power, volume buttons are designed to be away from the top of the screen bezel compared to other handhelds. This prevents accidental button pressing and is easy to reach. And for once, the controller (I'll call it lightbar) is visible while gaming, so seeing games interact with this light is amazing. Playing the Portal (wired internet connection to PS5) - Although the latency is there, most games are very playable. Playing first person shooters are difficult, especially games that require fast reaction times, but playable. Playing games away from my home also works great. It was highly hesitant about playing games with slow latency, but being able to catch up on games while in bed or when the TV is being used is a huge win for me. Current game I am playing is Silent Hill 2 and it runs great on the Portal. Minor downsides - Battery life, I think can be better. I'm getting roughly 3 to 4 hours of game play with full Dualsense features, speakers, and screen brightness high (not full brightness). I think it's a given that if I disable most of the Dualsense features the battery would last longer, although all the features are so nice to have on a portable device. The speakers could also be better, although fairly loud, the clarity and low tones such as bass are missing. At least comparing to Steam Deck, the speakers are much better here, where you can actually here more details in games. With the Portal, I found that it was lacking that clarity, Silent Hill 2 for example, it is hard to hear the ambient background noise, and surrounding enemy direction. The other sounds are amplified such as character grunts and voices. Overall I'm really enjoying this streaming device, and only hope Sony will come out with a dedicated handheld with the same form factor. I will definitely continue using the Portal for a long time coming.

Update: still awesome but now on a trip 2313 miles away from home. Worked great 5 of the 6 days I was here, but now one the last day (and two hours later, yes I’m obsessed with getting this bi**h to connect) it’s failed to connect. Assuming it’s the travel router..but dropping a star because I shouldn’t need one. Sony needs to add a browser to this thing so we can click the silly message on captive wifi and just get on the network. I didn’t buy this to utilize while at a vacation home with my family that has standard wifi. I bought it for travel, work travel, in which I live in hotels and airports..which, guess what, Sony, use mf’in CAPTIVE WIFI BRO! Just let the browser work for that one simple thing. Got darn vultures. I’m not going to write some wannabe tech dude review here, you all know what it does at this point if you don’t have one yet. What I can tell you is this for those on the fence, it is not able to utilize captive wifi (wifi that first makes you open your browser and enter credentials or watch a short video or whatever), so if you plan on using it at hotels or airports, etc., you’ll also have to buy a travel router to bypass that. On vacation hundreds of miles away on standard wifi it works perfectly so long as your home connection is strong and the wifi at the location you are at is decent. I really do love it as I used to pack my whole ass PlayStation for business trips for downtime, now I can fit it in my backpack! Pro tip for those of you that may play late at night and keep your PlayStation in a room your family may still be using while you’re gone. Keep PlayStation in rest mode (you have to anyways) but unplug the HDMI from the back of the TV so it won’t turn your tv/monitor on when you connect the Portal. Also, go into settings on your PS5 and turn off the dang startup beep so you don’t startle everyone in the house in the middle of the night because you had to get your gamer fix on. Lastly, turn down the console lights to low so your PS5 doesn’t light up a room no one is in and causes folks to come investigating something that isn’t actually a concern. Other than that, it’s awesome, nice big screen and the controller feels like the standard controller, just have to get used to your hands being significantly further apart. Really though, if you can’t decide and you love to game and have to travel, worth every penny and more.

I bought the PlayStation Portal Remote Player and it has truly exceeded my expectations. The build quality is excellent, and it feels very similar to a DualSense controller, which makes the experience smooth and familiar. The screen has great resolution and vibrant colors, making gameplay comfortable and enjoyable. Remote play works surprisingly well. As long as you have a good WiFi connection, games run smoothly with no noticeable lag and very responsive controls. It’s perfect for continuing my sessions when I can’t use the main TV or when I want to play from another room. The battery life is solid for several gaming sessions, and the device is lightweight, so it doesn’t cause fatigue during longer playtimes. Overall, it’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants to get the most out of their PS5 without being tied to the main screen. I’m very satisfied with this purchase and would definitely recommend it.

The PS portal is a remote play device that connects to your PS5 allowing you to play games without use of the television. This is what it is advertised as doing, and it does this very well. There has been a recent update to the device that allows you to stream games from the PS Plus library of games if you are a PS Plus subscriber, completely bypassing your PS5. As of this review, the feature is still in beta, however, from my testing it works well. If you have a good connection from your PS5 to your router and have a good WiFi connection outside, you can even remote play your PS5 while you are not at home, such as in a hotel. I suggest using your phone's hot spot on a 5G connection to do this. For a more responsive and lag free experience make sure your PS5 is connected to your router with an Ethernet cable instead of connecting via WiFi. This will provide a stable experience on your PS Portal. Remember that this is not a stand alone console like a Switch or a Steam Deck allowing you to play games directly on the machine. The PS Portal connects to your PS5 or can stream games from the PS Plus library if you are a subscriber. The PS Portal itself has all the functions of the PS5 controller which is awesome. That means when you play a game that makes use of the adaptive triggers, the PS Portal will feel just like your PS5 controllers. For instance, pulling an arrow back on a bow in a game with the actually feels like there is bow string tension in the trigger. This is light years better than just getting a set of controllers that attaches to a phone for remote play. It also has all the buttons like the PS button, screen capture button, and options button. The only thing missing is the touch pad. In order to use the touch pad, you actually touch the screen on the PS Portal and a virtual touch pad pops up on the screen. My favorite feature is that the PS Portal allows you to wake up your PS5 from sleep mode. If someone in the house is using the TV, no problem. Just pick up your PS Portal, connect to your PS5, and starting playing your games!

While it's a good idea on paper, the execution could be better. Positives. If your network connection is good, it streams games well. The image on the screen looks nice, the sound is decent, the device looks great overall, and it's a great accessory for your PS5. Also, the price is good, it would have been a great value if not for... Negatives. The very first thing that I saw when I turned the device on for the first time is a stuck pixel on the screen (meaning one pixel is always on, and it's bright white, which can be very distracting). At least it's in a corner, but I've seen people reporting them right in the middle of the screen. In a normal market, it would be an easy exchange for a new unit, things happen, but, this is not a normal market. These toys are extremely hard to get, and on top of almost a month-long wait with a 2 weeks delay, which meant a Christmas present for a child arriving almost 2 weeks after Christmas, it now seems like we're stuck with a defective unit. They're still nearly impossible to order from anywhere. I can't exchange this unit, only return, and then of course won't be able to order another, and even if I did (the first one took weeks of trying and monitoring restocks to finally secure an order), they're showing delivery dates in March at this point. I know it's not Amazon's fault, and this review is not about Amazon, just to be clear. It's Sony, their product and how they roll it out. Speaking of Sony, there is warranty, but from what I understand, we will have to ship the unit to Sony (makes sense), but there is no info on when a replacement can be shipped back (not good), and on top of that, it will most likely be a refurbished unit. This is a bad situation. The product is defective, and we can return it, but not get a replacement, or get it replaced under warranty with a refurb, weeks or maybe even months later. It's also not very comfortable to hold. While looking the same, for some reason the actual controllers are angled differently from the regular PS5 controller. It's hard to explain, but it creates a very unusual angle for your hands when you hold it, especially since the device is so wide, my hands get tired very quickly. May not be an issue for a kid, but I call it a negative for sure. As I said, it streams great if your connection is good, and mine is good, but I still experience issues. In most cases it's smooth and responsive, but sometimes, seemingly out of nowhere, it starts lagging like crazy and gets virtually unusable. On top of that, it fails to connect to PS5 on the first try almost every time. I have to keep trying to connect several times until it finally does. There are some small annoyances too, like the "Remote Play active" message that remains at the top of your Portal's screen while you're using it. There is also no Bluetooth support, so you have to either use Sony's own headphones or buds, or a wired headset. With that said, I'm having mixed feelings about this one. We definitely see a benefit of having a device like this around, but the quality issues followed by support issues are very concerning. The price is good, but clearly cheaped out on the screen panel, as I see many others online reporting dead or stuck pixels, and I haven't seen a stuck pixel in years, until now. We also see some minor backlight bleed. Not too bad, but there are portable gaming systems with amazing OLED screens, and this screen is below average for sure. Conclusion. A good idea, but execution could be better. If you're considering one, I'd recommend waiting a couple of months if you can. Once they're readily available in stores, if anything is wrong with your unit, you will be able to replace it without having to jump through hoops or wait for months.