As part of a weekly technical article on the widely-known Japanese gaming site GameWatch, the site included as part of its article diagrams of the PSP from all sides and labels all of the systems's major functions. The article, which compares the technical specs of the PSP and the Nintendo DS, curiously did not describe where the images of the system came from -- they seem to be artistic renderings of the system, but the level of detail on the included scans is so low-quality, it has been speculated that these are diagrams of the system actually created by Sony. In any case, the diagrams are accurate to the version of the system shown at E3, and with a little bit of clean-up work on the images, we are now able to share these PSP diagrams with as much detail is currently available.
Particularly of note in the PSP diagrams (not all of which are shown here -- check the diagram image archives below for more detailed looks at the system), look for the four symmetrical LED indicators (two on each side) for Memory Stick, Wireless LAN, Power and Hold status. Also, along the bottom of the system are the typical volume and Select and Start buttons, but also are a button for Display and Sound (option buttons of some type -- either to turn either function off or some other battery-saving function, or else perhaps quick-toggles for other standard display/sound options) and also the Home button (not actually placed as a button on this prototype picture, but present in the E3 model), which would likely have the handy function of jumping back to the PSP main menu -- a feature we sometimes long for when using PlayStation 2. Along the bottom of the system, notice that the two tiny divots are actually the stereo speakers inset into the unit. And, of course, bottom left is that heart-melting analog slider controller.
Other possible discoveries when looking closer at the system are a two-position Power/Hold switch (one position for full-on operation, and one for a powered-down pause mode), a set of terminals for docking the PSP for charging (as opposed to simply charging off of the AC plug -- the fancy display stand prototype shown at E3 is starting to make more and more sense now), a UMD cover (which includes a clear window of seeing the disc spinning -- although we haven't seen it in action and some pictures of the system would seem to indicate otherwise, it would stand to reason that the label side faces out so the playing game can be seen inside the system), and the still-present IR utility, which so far has not been given any purpose in Sony's announced plans for the system.
Not present on the system, either in these diagrams or the E3 models, are a few of the ports announced by Sony in the PSP specs: the AV in/out port may be built into the headphones port utilizing Sony's three-pin miniplug system (most often seen on Sony camcorders -- it's technically possible to build such a function into this kind of port, but we're not sure that it's practical to put so much functionality on one plug), and the controller port (a small headphone dongle is shown on the bottom of the system, but there is only so much that can be done with that.) Sony will hopefully offer more details on these previously-announced functionalities as the system nears release. Until then, check out the attached media pages for more diagramed pictures of the PSP system to look closer at what's known about the hardware so far.