 Hi, I'm Ross with The Verge, and this is the PlayStation Vita, Sony's latest dedicated gaming portable and a large step forward evolutionary from its previous PlayStation Portable. Now compared to the PSP, Vita is actually noticeably larger, about 23% overall, and a good bit heavier too. It's nothing too bad though, I mean taking it on its own, it's hefty, but it's not too bad. It is just however, just big enough to make you think twice about carrying it in your pocket. The nice thing compared to the PSP, the D-pad and face buttons are actually smaller, but they're noticeably snappier. A ditto for the L and R button. Thankfully, the Vita also swaps out the single analog knob you've got here for something actually usable, these dual analog joysticks. It's not quite as comfortable as a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 controller, but it does get pretty close, which is actually impressive for a portable console. I could actually see myself playing shooters and racers on this for many hours at a time. The display is probably Vita's greatest asset. Sony's opted for a 5 inch OLED screen that has some seriously impressive viewing angles and colors. It's got a capacitive multi-touch screen that's useful for obviously for controls here in the video, and also a handful of games, menus, and of course an on-screen keyboard. Now, what's unique to the Vita itself is this rear touchpad in the back. Unfortunately though, there aren't a lot of launch games that support it, and even then, I haven't actually found a game that does it well. Some of the launch titles like FIFA and Little Deviants, basically what they're going to do is require you to know exactly where you're pushing without being able to see. It's imprecise, and pardon the pun, it takes some time to get a feel for where exactly you are. The front and the rear cameras are VGA, and while there is a camera app, I really, really wouldn't recommend using it. Everything came out pretty muddled. The big reason you use the cameras is augmented reality apps, and Skype, which isn't available at launch, but it should be coming pretty soon after. Now, inside the system, there is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a dedicated graphics processor, and five launch games like Uncharted and Wipeout look gorgeous and smooth. One thing worth noticing is this is a launch title, and like most launch titles for any system, load times have become something of an issue. It's something worth keeping in mind if you're actually going to use it for a portable system. You're going to be waiting a long while. If you have a short commute, this probably isn't something you're going to be able to use in the little time you have. So graphically, the game, especially some of the launch titles like Uncharted and Wipeout, look really good. This is absolutely gorgeous. The frame rate is great. The one thing, though, for most people, there's going to be enough higher-end iPad and Android games that look comparable in graphics. If you are that kind of video file, obviously this is going to be something you really strive to get, and you're definitely going to notice the difference. I get the feeling a lot of people aren't going to care enough about the graphical difference between this and a game like Dead Space for iPad and Android. The Vita OS is actually a brand new platform for Sony, and it's clearly inspired by smartphones. For the most part, that's actually a good thing. The whole interface is actually driven by touch. With one exception, you can't use buttons at all. You'll notice the theme background is changing. We'll get to that in a second. Icons, just like most smartphones, you can hold down, and you can kind of move them around. If you want, panel by panel, too, you can change the theme. Make this gray if I wanted. Or, alternatively, I can use photos. It's pretty intuitive. If I swipe right from any of the windows, what I'll do is I'll actually get the last app I open. This is the library. It basically gives all the information I want. I can continue the game from where I was. I can go to this special website. So anything the developer wants, they can add to the library. If I press the PS button, what I'll get is six of the last apps I open. Just to kind of give you an idea of where I've been, and pressing videos will take you straight to the relevant content. Honestly, this task question right here is probably on par with even the latest Android, Windows phone, certainly iPhone. What Sony's got here is actually a very quick system. The one knock I'm going to have against it is that it's, well, frankly, it's pretty ugly. I mean, this is a very odd and bizarre and kind of gimmicky interface. As you can see, to delete apps, you actually roll it off. I'm sure a lot of people will like that. It just feels really weird to me. Aesthetically, very unappealing, but it's also very efficient and very snappy. So beyond gaming, Sony's added a bunch of apps here. Most of them, though, are like social. They do about the same thing. Party friends, group messaging, or for getting a hold of other PSN friends. Trophies, you can look at your PSN account. Near is the newest one. What you can do is Near is a near social app, which ideally will show you other video users you've passed by or are in your area when you've checked your location, and you kind of get a feel for who's around you. It's a cute app. It's a cute app, but it's nothing you're really going to care about. Network operators you can use if you have the AT&T 3G account. You've obviously got your music, you've got your videos. Remote play is the same thing you got from PSP. There's not a lot of improvement on that one. It's still fairly low resolution compared to what screen you have here, but you can use remote play to basically play your PlayStation 3 off the TV. The web browser is functional enough, but not something I'd recommend using day to day. It's worth noting that it doesn't support flash, and as of launch, if I have the game running at the same time, if I try to go back to the browser, it's going to make me close any game I'm playing. Now, Sony did say that they're going to change that. Sony's updated the PlayStation Store to make it very touch friendly, almost to a fault. So you've got your featured, you've got your new releases, which obviously is not a lot. What's interesting, of course, is for this time, unlike with PSP, at launch, any of the games you can get on carts, more or less, are available on the PlayStation Store. You can go ahead and download without disk. As you can see, a lot of them are going to be cheaper than the cart version themselves. That's interesting, of course. At launch, you can get a lot of the PSP games, you can download these. There's no way to do cart conversions. If you have PSP games right now, you're going to have to probably rebuy and download. Sony's offering a number of them. They said more are going to be coming, slowly trickling out, but you do have a pretty good list at launch, and this is just the P to S right here. So for the PlayStation Store, you can get the minis, which Sony's been pushing pretty heavily. Download videos, get your look at media. PlayStation Vita games are actually kind of interesting. All these launch titles, Sony's actually offering as both physical media and both downloadable. The downloadable titles are actually cheaper, even though it's all from the same thing, which is actually a nice little trend, and we kind of hope it continues. Now, if you're going to get physical media, the one thing you're going to notice is the cases are actually much smaller than pretty much anything else out there, except for the DS. But, like the DS games, when you open it up, it's a laughably small cart, which kind of bears wondering why you have a case this big. This Vita cartridge is more or less the exact same size of an SD, SDHC, those kind of cards. Obviously, capacity is pretty well, it's pretty snappy, and it's what you have to use for Vita. It's one of those things where you'll be very happy that you have a small case on the bookshelf, and then you're going to be very sad when you open it up and realize there's nothing in here. Alas, there is no internal storage, and memory cards are sold separately. Basically, I'd say it's pretty much required to buy one of these at launch, even though they don't come bundled, which is, well frankly, it's kind of a shame. So not only do you need this for downloading and saving, but most Vita games will actually require storage. So, in some way, shape, or form, you're going to need internal storage. There is none for the Vita, and you're going to have to buy Sony's disc because this is a brand new proprietary memory card. Prices, of course, range from $19.99 for 4GB going all the way up to a whopping $99.99 for a 32GB card. On top of the memory cards, the system itself costs $249 for the Wi-Fi model, or $299 if you want 3G capabilities. That said, you won't be able to download files larger than 20 megs, which rules out pretty much any game on the PlayStation Store. And you also can't do multiplayer over 3G, which basically leaves the functionality to a few social apps, and updates, and maybe a little bit of downloadable content. Look, if you're looking to use the Vita outside of Wi-Fi clouds, I'd recommend getting something more versatile like a mobile hotspot and pay a little extra money. Go ahead and get the Wi-Fi model. What it ultimately comes down to is investment. The Vita is a brand new platform. The games are only going to get better from here on out, and already you're getting access to a pretty large backlog of quality PSP titles. Not to mention a collection of launch games that isn't too bad. For PSP owners and fans of Sony's franchises, the Vita is kind of a no-brainer. The PlayStation Vita is hands down the most powerful gaming console ever, offering performance that inspires to this generation's home console market. And while yes, its size and battery life makes it less suitable for portable gaming on the go, those looking for the latest and greatest will not be disappointed.