The reviews for the PlayStation Portal are here. But before you spend time and money looking for one to buy, consider this: As we already knew, the PlayStation Portal is not a spiritual successor to PS Vita. But it’s also not a replacement for Steam Deck, or something like Logitech G Cloud, which specializes in handheld cloud gaming.
Portal is made only for streaming your own PS5 games
Portal is designed only for Sony’s Remote Play technology, which means it only works if you have a PS5 already. Plus, the PS5 needs to be turned on and connected to the internet for it to work. The device will stream PlayStation games anywhere as long as it’s connected to strong wifi, on an eight-inch screen that supports 1080p resolution and 60fps. It will only stream games that are already installed on your PS5 console, and ones that support the DualSense controller. For smooth gameplay, Sony recommends a 15 Mbps wifi connection, but reviews suggest you’ll need more bandwidth than that.
It’s a good PS5 streamer
Surrounding the screen are PlayStation 5's DualSense controllers, with the same layout and haptic feedback you’re used to. Based on reviews, gaming on PlayStation Portal is an enjoyable experience overall: As long as as your internet connection is strong, wifi streaming does not become an issue. Most games work well, but the slight delay in streaming will be an issue in FPS games like Call of Duty where a couple of milliseconds might get you killed. There are some screen freezes and hang ups here and there, but nothing that will truly hinder your gaming session.
Because the Portal simply mirrors the output from your PS5, the battery life is consistent no matter what you’re playing, netting around eight hours of playtime on a single charge. There are few complaints about the 1080p LCD display, as well: Even though it isn't an OLED, it seems Sony added a high quality display that looks great, and offers enough screen real estate to see what you're doing.
The only thing really missing here from a proper DualSense controller is the touchpad. Instead, you have to tap the screen with your thumb near the control stick, which the Portal registers as a "touchpad" area. It's not a great solution, and it becomes a bigger problem if the game isn't updated for this feature, as it won't show the touchpad areas. Reviews have pointed out that with a game like Alan Wake II, a core mechanic of accessing “The Mind Palace” is out of reach because of this issue.
Missing features
Portal’s list of quirks is quite long, and one of the most glaring is the lack of Bluetooth. That means you won’t be able to connect a regular pair of wireless headphones to your Portal. Sony instead will offer their own low-latency, noise-cancelling buds and headphones that work using their PlayStation Link technology. That's great, except the Pulse Explore buds cost $199.99, the same as the Portal itself, and the Pulse Elite headset costs $149.99.
There's also no local media playback of any kind. You can play media on it, but, as with gaming, all media will be mirrored from the PS5 itself. The Portal also doesn’t support the latest wifi 6E or wifi 6 standards, which is a bit of a shame, especially for a device dependent on wifi to work.
Too expensive for what you get
PlayStation Portal costs $199.99, quite a lot for a wifi-mirroring device. When you factor in the cost of the PS5 itself, it's a bit staggering. In fact, you can make your own PlayStation Portal of sorts for free. Sony’s own PS Remote Play app is free, and works great on a laptop, tablet, or phone. You can boot up your PS5 games on your iPad, connect your PS5 controller to it natively, and start gaming. Sure, it’s not as convenient: The Portal does have a nice, large screen, and is a good overall package. But for most gamers out there, it’s not worth spending the $200.
Instead, I would suggest you look elsewhere. For $300, you can get Logitech’s G Cloud gaming handheld, which supports both Xbox Cloud gaming and GeForce Now. If that's too pricey, you can take the $199 you were going to spend on the Portal, and pick up a Nintendo Switch Lite instead. For $99, you can also pick up a Backbone controller, which essentially turns your iPhone or Android into a PlayStation Portal.
Consider these alternatives instead:
[IGN, Wired, SpawnPoint]