PSP Go Decision Time.

The other night my wife asked me what was that $249 dollar thing in my Amazon shopping cart? I told her I was considering a PSP Go and she asked me “What is wrong with the one you are playing now? I thought it was some sort of programming thing. Like that PlayStation one you had for making games.”

I responded that my PSP was 4 years old, and this one was new and improved, will have longer battery life, and I do not have to drag around UMDs. She said “Oh, Ok, that makes sense. You should get one if you want one.” My wife is a saint!

I started thinking about just what was new and improved. I have a handful of games, but if I cannot play them on my PSP Go, what is the point? Will Sony offer some sort of trade in deal to convert UMDs to digital downloads? Highly doubtful, but that would be nice. What about battery life? Lately I have noticed that my two batteries get around 3-5 hours of life playing Pangya, watching videos downloaded from PSN, and surfing the web.

This article from shacknews confirms that battery life is not really improved, but there some sort of goodwill UMD trade in program may be in the works.

“The battery life is equivalent with the current models meaning approximately 3 to 6 hours for gameplays and approximately 3 to 5 hours for playing back videos.”

Grant also reaffirmed that Sony is indeed planning a goodwill program for those that own physical UMD-based games, which aren’t compatible with the PSP Go

The battery life is horrible, and if the battery is embedded, then long transcontinental trips are out. At least I have two batteries with my current PSP, so I can usually make it through one of those long plane trips. I was really holding out hope that the PSP Go would average 10 hours on one charge. I always assumed that the UMD was what drained my PSP.

I recently picked up a 4GB Memory Stick Duo (love how Sony makes proprietary crap like this), which I thought I could also use with my PSP Go. Not so much. According to the article quoted in the above article …

PSPgo uses M2 memory sticks which are smaller and take up less room on the device. This meant that we saved space and could make the PSPgo pocket-sized. However, you will be able to transfer the data from your Memory Stick Duo to your PC via Media Go and then transfer it to the PSPgo or M2.

At least these Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards are cheaper then Memory Sticks Duos, but life would be simpler if Sony opted to use a standard digital camera digital card. Of course that would be too much to ask.

Will PSP Go offer better gameplay? My first thought would be no, after all this is a PSP, but then I came across this SonyInsider article.

According to recently filed FCC documents, the PSP Go (PSP-N1001) might be faster than we originally expected. While the official specs stated the clock frequency of the processor at 333MHz, FCC documents have pegged this tiny UMD-less, flash based dynamo to actually max out at 480MHz. While the PSP Go will most likely be locked in at 333Mhz, it is possible that the software within will allow scaling for intensive applications or the full speed will be enabled in a future firmware update. Many of you may remember that the original PSP was always locked to 222MHz, but since firmware 3.50, developers had access to the full 333MHz. The difference in increased processor speed was night and day for many gamers, who noticed better lighting, more particles, and a few minor differences.

I am still sitting on the fence about a PSP Go, but there is one in my shopping cart, and my wife has given a green light to the purchase. Decision time.