The PlayStation Portal: A Device with Great Potential but Limited Appeal

I recently had the opportunity to test out the PlayStation Portal, a device that allows you to play PS5 games remotely over the internet. The portal is essentially a small screen with a built-in controller, and it's designed to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. Once connected, you can input button commands into the portal, which will send those inputs back to your PS5 console.

The experience of using the PlayStation Portal was quite good, despite some minor issues with latency. I found that playing games like FS F16 and Gran Turismo 7 remotely was a fun way to enjoy my gaming sessions, especially when paired with a strong home internet connection. However, if you're planning to use the portal for multiplayer FPS titles or anything that requires low latency, you may find it lacking.

One of the biggest advantages of the PlayStation Portal is its flexibility. It allows me to play games that I wouldn't have been able to play otherwise, simply because my PS5 was not in a convenient location. This has actually gotten me playing more games than I would have otherwise.

However, there are some limitations to using the portal outside of your own home. The network speeds can be a bottleneck, and if you're using a slower internet connection, you may experience frustration with latency. Additionally, tethering off your phone to use the portal over 5G will only make it worse.

Despite these limitations, I was surprised by how much sense the PlayStation Portal makes as a PS5 accessory. The battery life is actually very good, lasting around 7-8 hours on a single charge. This is impressive considering that it doesn't have to balance power and performance like some other devices.

Imagine if you could use the portal to stream content from Netflix or YouTube directly onto the device - this would add serious value to its functionality. And, for a device of this size and with a built-in controller, it's almost as if it's an all-in-one machine to play older PlayStation titles.

However, knowing Sony, they probably wouldn't have put more power and functionality into this device unless it was going to be worth charging extra for. As it stands, I think the $200 price tag is steep for most people. For casual users who don't need the flexibility that the portal provides, it's hard to justify over using something like a smartphone or tablet with a controller attachment.

In conclusion, while the PlayStation Portal has its limitations and may not be worth the full $200 price tag for everyone, I was pleasantly surprised by how much sense it makes as an accessory for serious gamers. The experience is good, but it's definitely not perfect - and that's what might make it harder to justify for some users.

I hope this review helps you understand my thoughts on the PlayStation Portal. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or if you agree with my assessment.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI got my hands on this the PlayStation portal one of Sony's newest accessories for the PS5 and it's leaving me scratching my head if you've been living under a rock and don't have the faintest idea about what the portal is plain and simple it's a remote play companion for your PS5 what Sony have essentially done is take a dual sense controller cut it in half and stuck a giant tablet in the middle that allows you to play your games away from your TV over wifi now remote play as a feature isn't anything new you've been able to play your PS4 and PS5 from your tablet smartphone or computer with a controller attached for quite some time but even still I think having a device designed around Remote Play is a novel concept for example perhaps your PS5 is in the living room and you'd like to game a bit while laying in bed or perhaps you're traveling in which case you certainly wouldn't want to carry around the large PS5 around with you everywhere though I know some weirdos that would absolutely do that whatever the case the PS portal allows you to play outside of your living room in a way that feels native to the PS5 experience with minimal compromises at least that's what Sony wants you to think let me explain before we get to the meat and potatoes of this video I want to talk about today's sponsor Squarespace Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for building a website for your personal brand or business with a variety of stylish templates and plenty of options for customization making a website that's truly your own is a breeze which can make a world of difference when it comes to engaging your audience whether you are selling products on a storefront showcasing your portfolio to prospective clients or just simply need a landing page for a project whatever the need Squarespace has you covered and will even help you set up a custom domain with just a few clicks if you're interested in checking them out and also want to support the content that we make here on Deni head over to squarespace.com SL Deni you can try out the service for free and if you like what you see they'll give you 10% off your first purchase of a domain or website thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video and now back to the show going into this review I was pretty skeptical with how good the portal could actually be especially since it cost a whole $200 here in the US and comes with a few too many design quirks that make me question the value proposition I'm certainly going to talk about the negatives I've experienced using the portal for about a week and there are quite a bit of them but a lot of what I was looking out for in particular were the positives what is there to like and and would it be remotely enough to balance the scales to actually justify buying one something that isn't quite easy to swallow for that $200 is that the PlayStation portal functionally doesn't do anything else apart from remote play this tablet isn't running Android there isn't even a web browser on board which can be especially problematic if you were thinking about taking the portal to a coffee shop or hotel and using the public Wi-Fi usually these require registration via some sort of web page which your portal of course won't be able to access people have found workarounds and posted them online but it's far from the most welcoming user experience out there especially when you're away from home however perhaps the one upside to the portal having purpose-built software for remote play is that it's a pretty seamless experience with your PS5 connecting it to your console is easy via the PlayStation app on your phone and the UI is intuitive since it matches the one on your PS5 very well in fact I think if you handed the portal to someone that's never used or even seen a PS5 before they might think it comes with the console kind of like a Sony Wii U but less cursed in terms of ergonomics no surprises here it feels like a dual sense controller just wider in fact in fact because the added mass of the tablet is spread out mentally my brain perceives the PlayStation portal to weigh about the same as the controller even though it's actually twice as heavy as someone that's already loved the Dual sense through hundreds of hours of gameplay I think Sony nailed the feel 100% the buttons are mostly where you'd expect them to be from the Dual sense though of course they've had to relocate the ones especially in the middle your PS but Buton and the mic mute switch are now on the left and right which are easy to reach but not so much so where you'd accidentally hit them so that's good but the only weird thing is the touchpad which is replaced by an on-screen overlay in the remote play software helpfully they give you two touch points on the left and right where your thumbs naturally are in order to substitute for the real thing not the biggest deal since those inputs aren't used in games super often but definitely an interesting Quirk to note and since we're on the topic of gameplay here's the $200 question how does the PlayStation portal actually play games look very good on its 8 in 1080P display where the screen size compromises some portability I think this is the perfect size especially for reading text elements in games that were meant to be scaled up on larger screens however image quality and how games actually play on the portal of course relies more on your internet connectivity which is one of my biggest concerns well before I even got my hands on this mind you for a device that came out in 2023 the fact that it has WiFi 5 and not WIFI 6 is most certainly a choice without going way into the weeds WiFi 6 generally offers among a lot of things better speeds improved signal performance namely through walls and above all else lower latency all of these things are important for remote play because remember this feature involves beaming a compressed video feed from your PS5 to your device of choice in this case the portal which will send your button inputs to the PS5 over the internet then the PS5 relays the video reflecting the inputs you made back and if there's any dip in network speed or latency in any part of that chain that can mean poor video quality but worst of all laggy button inputs which would basically make your games feel unplayable now to the portals credit I actually didn't have many issues playing it in my one bedroom apartment most of the time I was playing with 1/2 to 3/4 Wi-Fi signal with the portal being two walls away from my router the video feed was excellent and the inputs were good enough to get through a few hours of FS F16 gameplay the latency was a touch noticeable but it was very easy to work with you won't catch me playing multiplayer FPS titles on it but casual times playing story-driven RPGs was really where I understood why the portal even exists while it's not quite the same thing and I'm being cautious about making this comparison much like I found with the steam deck the portal gives me more flexibility to play my games which actually gets me playing more however unlike the steam deck go out and touch grass and the PS portals limitations start to show outside of the house your bottleneck really is the networks that you have available to you here in the overclock media office we have excellent Enterprise level internet and ubiquity mesh set up all over the place but even despite that playing some ff16 and Gran Turismo 7 remotely has enough latency where it's starts to get frustrating and certainly if you start tethering off your phone to use this over 5G it'll feel even worse all of this to say I can't exactly recommend you use this outside of your own home it's a shame that the PS portal is specifically locked only to remote play because I think there's way more potential with a device like this than Sony is taking advantage of the battery life is actually very good I've been getting about 7 to 8 hours on a single charge since it doesn't have to balance any power or performance like the switch or steam deck because it's essentially streaming video but imagine if you were able to actually stream off of Netflix or YouTube right on the device especially for a home entertainment device this would add serious value even if that's not the Portal's main functionality also for a device this size and with a built-in controller you could almost Envision it as an UL ation machine to play older PlayStation titles however it is said that the portal is running on a Snapdragon 662 processor which is about good enough to stream video and system management and that's about it could Sony have fitted more power and functionality to this thing most certainly but knowing Sony they would probably charge you more at retail for as much as I've used this thing I could see how people that play their ps5s a lot could get their $200 worth out of it however any more than that and I think it would be a much harder sell on that note for more casual users I think it's difficult to justify the portal over using something like the phone tablet or computer that you already own each of these things can easily connect to your dual sense controller for a native feeling experience and especially if you're on a smartphone from the past few years grabbing a controller attachment like the officially licensed backbone feels like a smarter more economic play at around 80 bucks short of the screen size and small UI scaling your phone screen is likely higher quality of a panel than what you get here on the portal and also has 5G built in and likely Wi-Fi 6 as well it might not be as comfy as playing on the split dual sense controller on the portal but it as hell is more portable since we carry around our smartphones with us every single day all this being said while I personally wouldn't buy the PlayStation portal with my own money I walked away surprised that it actually made some sort of sense as a PS5 accessory the experience was far better than I think people might give it credit for though $200 is a lot of money and it might not be doing enough to justify that cost let me know what you think in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of deny channelI got my hands on this the PlayStation portal one of Sony's newest accessories for the PS5 and it's leaving me scratching my head if you've been living under a rock and don't have the faintest idea about what the portal is plain and simple it's a remote play companion for your PS5 what Sony have essentially done is take a dual sense controller cut it in half and stuck a giant tablet in the middle that allows you to play your games away from your TV over wifi now remote play as a feature isn't anything new you've been able to play your PS4 and PS5 from your tablet smartphone or computer with a controller attached for quite some time but even still I think having a device designed around Remote Play is a novel concept for example perhaps your PS5 is in the living room and you'd like to game a bit while laying in bed or perhaps you're traveling in which case you certainly wouldn't want to carry around the large PS5 around with you everywhere though I know some weirdos that would absolutely do that whatever the case the PS portal allows you to play outside of your living room in a way that feels native to the PS5 experience with minimal compromises at least that's what Sony wants you to think let me explain before we get to the meat and potatoes of this video I want to talk about today's sponsor Squarespace Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for building a website for your personal brand or business with a variety of stylish templates and plenty of options for customization making a website that's truly your own is a breeze which can make a world of difference when it comes to engaging your audience whether you are selling products on a storefront showcasing your portfolio to prospective clients or just simply need a landing page for a project whatever the need Squarespace has you covered and will even help you set up a custom domain with just a few clicks if you're interested in checking them out and also want to support the content that we make here on Deni head over to squarespace.com SL Deni you can try out the service for free and if you like what you see they'll give you 10% off your first purchase of a domain or website thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video and now back to the show going into this review I was pretty skeptical with how good the portal could actually be especially since it cost a whole $200 here in the US and comes with a few too many design quirks that make me question the value proposition I'm certainly going to talk about the negatives I've experienced using the portal for about a week and there are quite a bit of them but a lot of what I was looking out for in particular were the positives what is there to like and and would it be remotely enough to balance the scales to actually justify buying one something that isn't quite easy to swallow for that $200 is that the PlayStation portal functionally doesn't do anything else apart from remote play this tablet isn't running Android there isn't even a web browser on board which can be especially problematic if you were thinking about taking the portal to a coffee shop or hotel and using the public Wi-Fi usually these require registration via some sort of web page which your portal of course won't be able to access people have found workarounds and posted them online but it's far from the most welcoming user experience out there especially when you're away from home however perhaps the one upside to the portal having purpose-built software for remote play is that it's a pretty seamless experience with your PS5 connecting it to your console is easy via the PlayStation app on your phone and the UI is intuitive since it matches the one on your PS5 very well in fact I think if you handed the portal to someone that's never used or even seen a PS5 before they might think it comes with the console kind of like a Sony Wii U but less cursed in terms of ergonomics no surprises here it feels like a dual sense controller just wider in fact in fact because the added mass of the tablet is spread out mentally my brain perceives the PlayStation portal to weigh about the same as the controller even though it's actually twice as heavy as someone that's already loved the Dual sense through hundreds of hours of gameplay I think Sony nailed the feel 100% the buttons are mostly where you'd expect them to be from the Dual sense though of course they've had to relocate the ones especially in the middle your PS but Buton and the mic mute switch are now on the left and right which are easy to reach but not so much so where you'd accidentally hit them so that's good but the only weird thing is the touchpad which is replaced by an on-screen overlay in the remote play software helpfully they give you two touch points on the left and right where your thumbs naturally are in order to substitute for the real thing not the biggest deal since those inputs aren't used in games super often but definitely an interesting Quirk to note and since we're on the topic of gameplay here's the $200 question how does the PlayStation portal actually play games look very good on its 8 in 1080P display where the screen size compromises some portability I think this is the perfect size especially for reading text elements in games that were meant to be scaled up on larger screens however image quality and how games actually play on the portal of course relies more on your internet connectivity which is one of my biggest concerns well before I even got my hands on this mind you for a device that came out in 2023 the fact that it has WiFi 5 and not WIFI 6 is most certainly a choice without going way into the weeds WiFi 6 generally offers among a lot of things better speeds improved signal performance namely through walls and above all else lower latency all of these things are important for remote play because remember this feature involves beaming a compressed video feed from your PS5 to your device of choice in this case the portal which will send your button inputs to the PS5 over the internet then the PS5 relays the video reflecting the inputs you made back and if there's any dip in network speed or latency in any part of that chain that can mean poor video quality but worst of all laggy button inputs which would basically make your games feel unplayable now to the portals credit I actually didn't have many issues playing it in my one bedroom apartment most of the time I was playing with 1/2 to 3/4 Wi-Fi signal with the portal being two walls away from my router the video feed was excellent and the inputs were good enough to get through a few hours of FS F16 gameplay the latency was a touch noticeable but it was very easy to work with you won't catch me playing multiplayer FPS titles on it but casual times playing story-driven RPGs was really where I understood why the portal even exists while it's not quite the same thing and I'm being cautious about making this comparison much like I found with the steam deck the portal gives me more flexibility to play my games which actually gets me playing more however unlike the steam deck go out and touch grass and the PS portals limitations start to show outside of the house your bottleneck really is the networks that you have available to you here in the overclock media office we have excellent Enterprise level internet and ubiquity mesh set up all over the place but even despite that playing some ff16 and Gran Turismo 7 remotely has enough latency where it's starts to get frustrating and certainly if you start tethering off your phone to use this over 5G it'll feel even worse all of this to say I can't exactly recommend you use this outside of your own home it's a shame that the PS portal is specifically locked only to remote play because I think there's way more potential with a device like this than Sony is taking advantage of the battery life is actually very good I've been getting about 7 to 8 hours on a single charge since it doesn't have to balance any power or performance like the switch or steam deck because it's essentially streaming video but imagine if you were able to actually stream off of Netflix or YouTube right on the device especially for a home entertainment device this would add serious value even if that's not the Portal's main functionality also for a device this size and with a built-in controller you could almost Envision it as an UL ation machine to play older PlayStation titles however it is said that the portal is running on a Snapdragon 662 processor which is about good enough to stream video and system management and that's about it could Sony have fitted more power and functionality to this thing most certainly but knowing Sony they would probably charge you more at retail for as much as I've used this thing I could see how people that play their ps5s a lot could get their $200 worth out of it however any more than that and I think it would be a much harder sell on that note for more casual users I think it's difficult to justify the portal over using something like the phone tablet or computer that you already own each of these things can easily connect to your dual sense controller for a native feeling experience and especially if you're on a smartphone from the past few years grabbing a controller attachment like the officially licensed backbone feels like a smarter more economic play at around 80 bucks short of the screen size and small UI scaling your phone screen is likely higher quality of a panel than what you get here on the portal and also has 5G built in and likely Wi-Fi 6 as well it might not be as comfy as playing on the split dual sense controller on the portal but it as hell is more portable since we carry around our smartphones with us every single day all this being said while I personally wouldn't buy the PlayStation portal with my own money I walked away surprised that it actually made some sort of sense as a PS5 accessory the experience was far better than I think people might give it credit for though $200 is a lot of money and it might not be doing enough to justify that cost let me know what you think in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of deny channel