If a hardcore gamer has been thinking about
getting a tablet but has been eying that new PS Vita as well I'd choose the
Vita. These devices are pricey and not
everyone can have all of the toys they want.
Another issue is having to carry all these things around with us.
There's still too many things to cart around.
The PS Vita makes a great (smaller) alternative to tablets like the
iPad.
The PS Vita features a gorgeous 5"
OLED touch display. If you've seen OLED screens before, you know gorgeous is
the word to use. It also features a rear
touch panel. That's more important for the games, not so much use for browsing
the web. It comes in two variations like most devices these days, WiFi and WiFi
+ 3G. If you get the 3G (provided my ATT) you get better GPS quality. The
latter relies on WiFi signals and is not so precise. I opted for the 3G
version…just in case. I did not want to get the the WiFi only and later regret
not getting the 3G option. If you want to save 50 bucks, forget the 3G
option. It also features like most
modern smart phones and tablets a front and rear facing camera. Hmm, sounds a lot like a tablet doesn't it?
So far it more resembles the Galaxy Note without the phone functionality.
What the Vita does not have is the large selection of Apps that
are available in the Apple Appstore, the Google Android Marketplace, and the
Amazon Appstore. However, the most useful
and commonly used Apps are available such as Facebook, Foursquare and
Netflix. Not all of the Apps have been
released yet as of the Vita luanch date February 22nd. I would expect them to
roll out in the coming weeks. There's also talk about Sony using the OS used
for Vita for their smart phones. If that's true and it's a success I am sure
there will be more apps available in the future.
If you heavily rely on apps at the moment
to get things done (and I don't mean games) then the Vita won't work well for
you. But if you mostly use the above mentioned apps then you'll be ok with the
limited selection. Another point to mention is that what most people do with
their PC's, and tablets is use the web browser. More and more sites are
becoming HTML5 rich and the need to be app dependant is less. The Vita features
a rich HTML5 web browser. Add all of your favorite sites to the Bookmarks and
they will be ready to use just like any App would be. I should also mention that the Maps app is
powered by Google Maps.
One issue I notice so far is the inability
to play videos on Youtube. That could be a problem. The Vita browser is
supposed to be an HTML5 browser yet when you attempt to play a video it tells
you to get the latest Flash player or use a rich HTML5 browser. Huh? Then when
you follow the link to get Flash from adobe, it says you have the latest Flash
Player. So right now it's a bit confusing. Again, I am sure these kinks will be
worked out in the coming months if not the coming weeks.
The rest of this review will be finished
once the Flash or HTML5 issue is resolved. Doing a quick nav to Google Music
tells me I need to have Flash installed. So we shall see.
Web Services I am curious to try out are:
Amazon Cloud Reader
Google Music
Amazon Music
Jolicloud
Dropbox?
Google Docs
Windows Live Services such as Skydrive
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