Jumping into the PlayStation Portal

Sony's new Remote Play handheld is built of the right stuff, but is the idea sound?

Sure, we all thought PS Portal looked a little odd when it was announced; the Remote Play handheld resembled a big screen wedged between a bisected DualSense, after all. And while it’s just as odd to look at when we unbox it, it begins to make sense when we hold it. It feels just as ergonomic and pleasing to game on as your home TV setup (and it’s lighter than you might think).

As you’d expect from PlayStation’s hardware designers, PS Portal is a lovely bit of kit. While a lot of that is down to the DualSense’s impeccable design (though the handles are a little shorter here), the LCD screen is nothing to sniff at. It may be a little shiny and prone to picking up smeary fingerprints, but the picture quality is nice and vibrant, shown off when you boot it up via slick menus that play into the ‘portal’ theming (when you connect to your console it flies into frame through a circular hole). Some users, especially original-model PS Vita defenders (we’re with you) may baulk at the lack of OLED here, but it feels swish.

For the most part, setting up is simple: you connect to WiFi (it’s required due to the Remote-Play-only premise), and are asked to link to a specific PS5. It’s easy enough to switch between multiple consoles if, like us, you bounce between a few. All that’s left is to push q and, fingers crossed, your PS5 will boot up from rest mode, become fully controllable from your PS Portal, and allow you to play just as you would in front of the TV but with a screen between your hands.

THE LOOKING GLASS