PSP-3000 unboxing and hands-on

We know they're hitting the streets, and we've already seen some unboxing pics and a nasty gutting, but we felt we needed to give Sony's new PSP-3000 the proper Engadget treatment. As you can tell by the photos, there's not much new here, though as you should know, the guts are where it's all going down (new screen, built-in microphone). Still it never hurts to take a close look at a shiny new toy... so enjoy yourselves in the gallery.

Gallery: PSP-3000 unboxing and hands-on

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[htd @ Oct 20th 2008 2:11PM]

some forums report the color difference is mostly software change, the highest brightness level of psp3000 is actually lower than psp2000, for fast moving pictures, the tailing issue is gone but there's de-interlacing issue now. I was waiting for entertainment bundle, now I will wait longer until they fix it. also even with go!cam, psp3000 wont support skype video conference...

[DBrim @ Oct 20th 2008 2:43PM]

Given this,

Any chance for a side-by-side video with the 2000, Josh?

[Saad @ Oct 20th 2008 7:02PM]

could have atleast had a pic with the thing turned on.

[F @ Oct 20th 2008 2:14PM]

First Yawn!

[Fernando @ Oct 20th 2008 2:14PM]

YOU TOO

CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL ETC

[Canoo @ Oct 20th 2008 2:17PM]

Wow Fernando, your equally as annoying...

[Bob @ Oct 20th 2008 2:28PM]

And so is your use of your instead of you're.

[holycow @ Oct 20th 2008 2:15PM]

Want me to throw a party for you now?

[George @ Oct 20th 2008 2:30PM]

Can this be hacked like PSP-2000 and phut or not yet?

PS; Darx Alex has just posted CFW 5.00 for PSP 1 and 2.

[ishism @ Oct 20th 2008 8:20PM]

Actually, they might be able to. Seems the first batch of psp3000 are using the same boards as the slims. Until the new batches come out. This info from D.A. himself.

[phanbouy @ Oct 20th 2008 2:42PM]

what an intellectual discourse this late morning here. sounds like a case of the Moondays

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 20th 2008 2:56PM]

More like Loonday.

[TheNewGuy @ Oct 20th 2008 2:55PM]

When are they going to come up with the NEW PSP??? Not just rebranded, old, PSPs??

[required @ Oct 20th 2008 2:56PM]

Nice. However I'm not a fan of that color.

[Casper42 @ Oct 20th 2008 7:26PM]

Do we know when the various colors will be hatching?

I'm not too keen on silver either.
I'm thinking Black like the PS3 or maybe Red or Blue

[Information Central @ Oct 20th 2008 7:44PM]

Yes. That finish is unbelievably cheesy, especially compared to the high-quality look of the old (black) ones.

[Virtuous @ Oct 20th 2008 2:57PM]

Not much new here, move on.

[Eli @ Oct 20th 2008 3:06PM]

Ha! Ha! First.

[Furi @ Oct 20th 2008 3:24PM]

PSP: Still a great multimedia and gaming device. I bought one instead of an iTouch and never looked back!

[lawyer bird @ Oct 20th 2008 3:54PM]

i just wish i didn't have to use memory sticks instead if the SDs I already have OR else built in storage...like 16gb would nice. and dual analog.

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 20th 2008 4:51PM]

I just wish the volume went higher...

[ishism @ Oct 20th 2008 8:28PM]

I still use my PSP phat once in a while. I still think they should remove the UMD drive and make it ultra slim like an ipod.

[Extinction @ Oct 25th 2008 1:13PM]

You can get SD to MS adapters, my friend just bought an adapter and 2 16 GB microSD cards, he now has a 32 GB PSP and it only cost him $75 in total

[jivetrky @ Oct 20th 2008 3:52PM]

When will they put a second analog nub on the darn thing. It's been a while since I had a PSP but when i did, some FPS games did axis movement with the right keypad. This made me sell the PSP.

[BlissX @ Oct 20th 2008 4:26PM]

A little tip for whoever's taking the pictures for Engadget, lower the aperature and you'll get yourself a more focused shot of the entire product rather than having one side focused with the backbody blurred. This also means you'll have to switch off from Auto and move over to M.

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 20th 2008 5:10PM]

I think it looks better with a depth of field.

[Tony @ Oct 20th 2008 6:28PM]

There is always depth of field. I think you mean to say it would look better with greater depth of field.

[Information Central @ Oct 20th 2008 7:43PM]

It sounds to me like he's disagreeing with the original poster, so that would mean likes the shallower (not greater) depth of field.

Either way, the new finish is incredibly tacky and a huge step back from the high-quality look of the old ones.

[Chin-Poh @ Oct 20th 2008 4:33PM]

Many owners are complaining the screens on these have severe interlacing compared to the previous models, can you guys confirm this?

[gareki @ Oct 20th 2008 4:35PM]

What a frightful mess. Generally each of the various iterations of a given handheld is more attractive than the last. This is in fact a step down. Just hideous. Does this come in any colors other than speckled, matte, childrens-plastic-cereal-box-prize-watch, rollerblade silver (i.e. ugly as sin)?

[Nomi @ Oct 20th 2008 4:39PM]

Admitedly the silver version isn't very nice...yet I don't know why every new package come with that one. The black and the white ones do a much better job....

[rektide @ Oct 20th 2008 6:58PM]

The shell is the same as the last one basically.

Where this one looks worse is far more important: the screen has horrible interlacing artifacts. Static screen shots look fine, but as with all interlacing artifacts when things on the screen start moving there are horrible jagged scanlines running across your screen. *DO NOT BUY THIS*.

Images of how Sony **** the pooch on this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19043905@N06/2948880126/

A round of applause for managing to screw up so egregiously and magnificently.

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 20th 2008 4:52PM]

Silver sucks.

[wyatt @ Oct 20th 2008 5:07PM]

yeah, everything painted silver looks like wanna-be metal.

[computer.dude.28 @ Oct 20th 2008 4:59PM]

Now they're on the 3rd generation. What have they added since the first? A microphone, TV-Out, a better screen, and new colours. By the 3rd generation, I think we should have a little more. a second analog stick, at least.

[wako @ Oct 20th 2008 5:00PM]

So I havent touched my PSP for like a year and a half now. I thought the whole platform is pretty much dead. I guess is trying hard to milk out of whatever life it has left of it.

Speaking of which what the hell happened to Grand Turismo for the PSP?! That was the whole point a bunch of people buying this paper weight!

[TareX @ Oct 20th 2008 5:11PM]

Why buy a new PSP if the hardware is BARELY revised, and the software can't be hacked yet?

[Phate @ Oct 20th 2008 5:26PM]

Well darling, I didn't have an old one. Not that complicated. :)

[TareX @ Oct 20th 2008 6:13PM]

A hacked, good as new PSP slim can be purchased on ebay for less than $150. With all the free games on it, and the ones you can download.

[Phate @ Oct 20th 2008 5:25PM]

Got one of these yesterday. Loving it. So excited about Final Fantasy Tactics. I love this game, I'm glad they finally did it justice after so many years.

[Sully @ Oct 20th 2008 9:40PM]

Do yourself a favor and play the emulated PSX version on the PSP - it's the reason I bought mine. (Tactics and Vagrant Story actually) On the PSP remake, every single spell has annoying and noticeable slowdown. I also don't like how they mapped the buttons since you're missing R2 and L2 - the PSP emulator allows you to intelligently remap them. The translation is a bit more polished, but I think it also takes away some of the charm of the original.

[dumbomorton @ Oct 20th 2008 9:16PM]

@wako

gran turismo 4 mobile has a 2011 release date.

[Gunr @ Oct 20th 2008 9:26PM]

I think Bluetooth would be nice. I'd love to play music/videos/games with my fancy Bluetooth Stereo Headphones...