Hardware Review: PlayStation Portal – A Revolutionary Way to Remote Play
Hello, dear readers! My name is Victor, and I am a totally blind gaming, technology, and entertainment journalist. I am also an ambassador for universal design, an accessibility consultant, advocate, and tester.
As you may remember, if you follow me on social media or on Patreon, on December 1, we received from Sony Interactive Entertainment, through our new friends at PlayStation Norway, a nice review package that contained the PlayStation Portal Remote Player for PS5 and the PlayStation Access Controller. I have recorded videos in which I unbox both devices so you can watch them on my YouTube channel.
I want to take this opportunity to say another thank you to PlayStation Norway for accepting and welcoming me into the wonderful Nordic community of talented journalists and content creators. Some of you may be aware that we moved from Bucharest to Oslo two years and a half ago, so it became a little bit complicated for PlayStation Romania to continuously support me with hardware products. But now everything is on track again, and I am extremely happy.
During the last 10 days, Alina and I have played around with both devices, and you can already read my review for the revolutionary PlayStation Access controller here. I also promised that a review for the PlayStation Portal will be arriving soon, and I’m happy to report that you can read it today.
As I said in my review of the PlayStation Access Controller, I believe that PlayStation chose the perfect window to launch these two devices, especially for us in the Nordic countries. Oslo is one of those cities that during winter and in December, in particular, feels like it always slumbers at the age of night so people here, including myself, have more time to game, watch movies, listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts, snuggle close to loved ones during the long nights, and in my case, write even more reviews for products that I love.
Sony announced the PlayStation Portal in July, and at first glance, the device looks like a DualSense PS5 controller with a big screen in the middle, instead of the trackpad, and that’s more or less exactly what it is.
In a nutshell, the PlayStation Portal Remote Player gives us remote access to games on PS5 over Wi-Fi for those moments when the living room TV is used for other purposes or for when we just want to put our feet up and relax in bed on a smaller screen. Luckily, both Alina and I can confirm that it does this flawlessly and in style, but this is all it can do at this moment.
I know that there are some people out there who thought and probably still think that the PlayStation Portal is a new portable console from Sony, like a PSP or a PlayStation Vita, but that’s not the case.
The PlayStation Portal can only be used to remotely play games that are already installed on our PlayStation 5 console. It works with compatible PS5 and PS4 titles. As the PlayStation App on smartphones does not deliver the most accessible experience for blind individuals, I was extremely happy when I realized that I can also access the PlayStation Store and start downloads directly from the Portal.
By putting the power of the PlayStation 5 console in our hands, The Remote Player can deliver silky-smooth gameplay at up to 60fps with high image clarity on its 8-inch 1080p screen. On the Portal, we can play our favorite PlayStation games without interruptions while still enjoying all of the same innovative and revolutionary DualSense wireless controller features such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
I am totally blind so I don’t actually care about the screen, but I love the fact that I can play The Last of Us, God of War Ragnarok, or Mortal Kombat 1 at the same time as Alina is relaxing with Super Mario Wonder on Nintendo Switch on the 55-inch LG OLED TV in our living room.
But during these 10 days, I wasn’t the only one who made the PlayStation Portal their new favorite way to play games. Alina also prefers it to continue her adventure in Alan Wake 2 or The Expanse while relaxing in bed after a day of work.
If you watched my unboxing for the Portal, you already know that the box only contains the Remote Player and USB-C cable for charging. Once out of the box, you realize that the device follows the same modern design line that PlayStation introduced with the PS5, and this is a good thing because it fits nicely in The entertainment center.
Sadly, once we power on the Portal Remote Player for the first time, blind gamers will hit their first and, I dare to say, only obstacle. There is no text-to-speech on the device itself, so this means that there is no way for us to set it up without help from a sighted individual. Once we power it on, I understood that we need to connect it to Wi-Fi, after that the portal will be updated to the latest system software, and finally as a last step, we can link it to our PS5.
Luckily, after these steps are completed one time, we just need to turn on the Portal and listen for some sound cues that will tell us when the connection is successful, and we only need to press X to open a portal to our PlayStation.
After connecting to the main console, the screen reader will be accessible to us because the Portal mirrors the PS5’s UI exactly. I promise to record another short video to show you how the connection process goes.
I hope that with time, the software on the device itself will get updated with a screen reader or at least maybe we can find a way to configure the Portal through our PlayStation 5, using the available screen reader. There has to be a way to connect the two devices together through USB and link them together seamlessly and in an accessible way.
With very few differences, the Portal feels just like a DualSense controller. Some of the buttons have been moved slightly, and this is how I can describe it to you. On the left side, we have everything that we know, the D-Pad, the left stick, plus the Share and the PlayStation buttons. In the middle, there is the 8-inch screen that can at times serve as a trackpad/touchscreen, to the right we have the right stick, square, X, circle, and triangle buttons. On top of the controller, we have the standard L1, L2, an elongated power button, a button to sync with wireless audio devices, two volume buttons, and last, R1 and R2. The controller also includes a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5 mm jack for wired audio, both of these are situated on the back.
The PlayStation Portal Remote Player is a fantastic device for those who want to play even more. The build quality is premium, just like everything else released by PlayStation. I dare to say that the Portal has the perfect form factor because it feels just like a wider controller, and we had no problem holding it for a long time. We managed to get between three hours and a half and four hours of playtime before needing to charge it, and I believe this is more than enough for a balanced gameplay session.
Contrary to public misconceptions, you can actually use the PlayStation Portal from anywhere where you have good Wi-Fi. All you need to do is connect directly with a password from home, work, airport, restaurant, café, school, or other place, and you are all set. What it does not support at this moment is Wi-Fi login through web pages as the Portal does not have a web browser.
So, if your living room TV is causing tensions within your family or you just like to play your games from other rooms in your home or even from other places, the PlayStation Portal is the device you’ve been waiting for.
Lightweight, comfortable, and familiar, the PlayStation Portal puts all your favorite PlayStation games in the palm of your hand and allows you to play them everywhere you have an internet connection.
It is a revolutionary device that has changed forever the way in which Alina and I enjoy our PlayStation experience. At times it’s OK to play everything on the big screen, with sound blasting out of the two Apple HomePods we have set up as speakers, but sometimes you just want to lay down in bed to chill, and the Portal was made exactly for these moments.
PlayStation Portal review unit provided by PlayStation Norway.
Victor Dima
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