Sony PlayStation Portal: Design

Sony essentially split a Dual sense controller in half and sandwiched an eight-inch touch screen between the two sections to create the Portal. The controller's overall design and grips are distinctly similar to those of the PS5. It features transparent face buttons and a direction pad, black analog sticks, and the same white-on-black design. The PlayStation and share mute buttons have been moved from the middle of the controller to the inner margins of the left and right sides, respectively, but the options and share buttons remain where you would expect them to be. 

All of the features of the Dual Sense gamepad are there, including as variable resistance triggers, immersive haptic feedback, and motion controls. Although there isn't a clickable touchpad, the touch screen performs the same function. 

Two speaker holes and thin, flat buttons for power, synchronization, and volume up/down are located on the top of the Portal. A microphone hole is located on the bottom border of the screen, and there are 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-C charging connector on the back.

Sony PlayStation Portal: Screen

The eight-inch, 1080p LCD screen on the Sony PlayStation Portal has a refresh rate of 60 Hz. It's not very remarkable on paper. Its inferiority to the OLED Switch, Razer Edge, and many other modern phones is much more pronounced. 

The screen functions as planned, albeit compared to other contemporary mobile devices, the 1080p quality appears fuzzier. The PS5's menu system, which is made for much larger TV displays and a better resolution, is accessed through the Portal, which exacerbates the impact. Since the OLED Switch's UI and best games are designed for both TV and portable use, it actually looks somewhat better at 720p.

The resolution isn't as problematic as the PlayStation Portal's quite simple LCD. OLED panels are used in many phones (as well as the Razer Edge and the more expensive Switch) for a reason: they often offer greater contrast and a far broader color spectrum. Although it takes specialized engineering, LCDs may produce hues that equal those of OLED panels (the Portal's LCD appears to be quite standard). 

The images on my Hisense U8H TV (an LCD with a quantum dot layer intended to widen its color range), the OLED Switch, and my three-year-old iPhone 12 are all far more vibrant than those on the Portal. This is particularly evident in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, where the touch screen on the Portal appears bland, but the red of the outfits truly shines on my TV. 

Sony PlayStation Portal: Features

The Portal's primary restriction is its most perplexing feature. Following its announcement, there were speculations circulating that the PlayStation Portal was an Android-based device, which sparked conjecture that it may run other applications (or at least clients for cloud-based games like PlayStation Plus Premium) in addition to the PS5 Remote Play app. While few anticipated the Portal to function as a fully complete gaming portable similar to the PS Portable and PS Vita, many did anticipate a use case that went beyond just streaming PS5 games. 

If Android is used by the Sony PlayStation Portal, it is hidden behind a dedicated user interface. You may link the device with your PS5 by following the straightforward menu system's instructions to connect it to your home network and log into your PlayStation account. After that's finished, the Portal offers you just one task to complete: stream from your PS5. There are no applications on it. A PSN client is not available for streaming games. The Sony PlayStation 's ability to remotely switch on your PS5 is its sole other capability.

Any reasonably new Android phone or iPhone can do this function, and it works pretty well with a clip-on controller such as the Backbone One (which comes in a DualSense-white, PlayStation-licensed version). PSN cloud gaming is also accessible on PCs, and the Remote Play software is available on Mac and Windows.

The settings menu is the only other location that is available except Remote Play. It is definitely necessary in case you need to upgrade the firmware on the Portal or change the network settings. Airplane mode is one puzzling feature of the interface, though. It's not apparent why this option exists, given that the Portal can only run software as a terminal for another networked device. I swear, I tested turning on airplane mode and it basically made the Portal unusable. 

Sony PlayStation Portal: Performance

There is no issue when you connect the Sony PlayStation Portal to your PlayStation 5 using home Wi-Fi 6 network. When playing Marvel's Spider-Man 2, you could duck and parry accurately with very little delay in your actions. The sound and video keep up with the action well, even though the picture sometimes gets a bit blurry because the focus is on reducing delay rather than having super clear graphics.

The touchpad feature is a bit different. Instead of a regular touchpad, there are two rectangles on the screen that act like touchpads. Swiping the screen opens photo mode, and double-tapping brings up upgrade menus and a map. However, this doesn't work as well as the regular touchpad on the Dual Sense controller.

While you can use the Sony PlayStation Portal with your PS5 outside of your home, Sony doesn't officially support this. Also, the Portal is quite big and doesn't come with a carrying case, so it's not easy to take with you. However, you can also play online using the PS5 remote play app on a smartphone, which might be more convenient.