Upon arriving at Sony's booth at IFA 2009, I had a couple of targets (a.k.a. products I really wanted to play with) in sight, two of the most important being the PS3 Slim and the PSP go gaming consoles. And while the PS3 Slim was kind of a disappointment, at least as far as the external design is concerned (didn't expect the plastic to look that cheap), the PSP go was in fact a very pleasant surprise, contrary to what I had been expecting.

So, first and foremost, I'll have to admit that this thing is slim and light. In fact, it's a lot slimmer and lighter than any of you probably expect it to be, being fairly the same size and weight as a smartphone. However, despite featuring a smaller form factor, the device still packs a 3.8-inch LCD screen, whose colors, contrast ratio and resolution are quite noteworthy. Also worthy of praise are the display's viewing angles, which, as far as I was able to guess, are very near 180 degrees (170 degrees is quite a safe bet).

As some of you might have heard, the PSP go ditches the UMD disc system found in the portable gaming console's previous incarnation, settling instead for a 16GB flash module and digital downloads. While this is certainly a huge step forward as far as the idea of connectivity is concerned, it also helped Sony's engineers design a very thin form factor.

The PSP go's sliding mechanism is also top-notch, being able to provide smooth and fast movement while in the same time generating a very low level of noise. Also, in spite of my initial fears, namely that the console's control systems had been altered for the worse, the truth of the matter is that playing games on the PSP go is even easier and more intuitive than on the “old” PSP.

The materials used within the go are of very good quality. The same goes for audio, the built-in speakers providing good, clear sound, even in noisy areas (as Sony's booth at IFA sure was).

All in all, I can honestly say that I really liked what Sony's been able to accomplish with its new PSP go, and I can only hope for it to arrive on the market sooner, in order to get the chance of carrying out a full review of this portable gaming console.


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