There’s every chance the PlayStation Portal is the most divisive gaming device in Sony’s history. Some folks are head over heels for it, others think it’s a glorified $199 DualSense controller split in half by an average LCD screen, while most of us simply can’t get our mitts on the damn thing.
The main reason for that is due to the Portal being harder to track down than a snow leopard. A snow leopard wearing an invisibility cloak designed specifically for big cats. So if you find yourself thirsting after the PS5 game-streaming device, make sure to check in regularly with our PlayStation Portal restocks tracker.
Just please don’t replicate my recent act of impulsive idiocy. Last week, after months of being intrigued by the streaming gadget since it launched last November, I finally caved and paid a third-party Amazon UK retailer £260 for a PlayStation Portal. That’s $330 going by today’s exchange rates, and also £60 over the PS Portal’s official price here in the frigid climes of good old Blighty. It’s another classic example of me being too much of a manchild to be trusted with human currency in a fiscally responsible manner.
That already overpriced figure has since ballooned after I promptly forked over even more money for a Wi-Fi 6 router I thought would fix a major Portal problem.
My heart sank when I discovered swinging around Manhattan with Pete and Miles in the normally phenomenal Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was a complete stutter-fest on the Portal.
Our Managing Editor of TV and AV Nick Pino did not have a fun time in his PlayStation Portal review. And I totally get why.
Out-of-box, my first impressions of streaming some of the best PS5 games on the Portal have been downright ghastly. A few hours in, I was ready to return what’s proven to be one of the most unexpectedly sought after products in PlayStation history. Booting up Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, shooting felt soupy thanks to a combination of input lag and stuttering, while clear visual artifacting blighted Nathan Drake and Chloe Fisher’s awesome adventures even with both games set to Quality mode.
My mood plummeted further the more I played the PlayStation Portal during these first few hours; despite having 1GB fiber optic that consistently allows me to download the best Steam games in a flash on my desktop. My heart sank when I discovered swinging around Manhattan with Pete and Miles in the normally phenomenal Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was a complete stutter-fest on the Portal.
Return(al) to sender
The worst experience? That would be playing stellar roguelike shooter Returnal. A brief gameplay stint that was initially so ugly on my PlayStation Portal, it looked like a PS3 game the streaming signal was so poor.
I say all of the above like I’ve time traveled straight from 2001 to play Sony’s streaming gizmo on a 56k dial-up modem. To be clear, I’m privileged to live in an area of the U.K. where I have access to a 1GB fiber optic connection that has never once failed me in almost three years. At least not until PlayStation Portal crashed the party.
After doing a lot of research on Wi-Fi 6 routers, I then decided I liked the Portal’s design just enough to invest in a new modem to hopefully improve the streaming experience.
For all the negatives I’ve complained about surrounding performance on the handheld device, it feels lovely to hold, sports the same pleasing haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the DualSense and DualSense Edge and that LCD screen is vibrant and bright enough I can kinda forgive its subpar black levels.
In a shock twist of events, there’s a sort of happy story at the end of this overpriced rainbow. It turns out, upgrading my internet provider’s stock router with the TP-Link AX5400 ($149 @ Amazon) has drastically improved my PlayStation Portal experience.
Wi-Fi so serious?
"My new Wi-Fi 6 router has reduced stuttering and improved image quality when streaming my favorite PS5 games on PlayStation Portal"
Even though my PS5 has always been hardwired to every router I’ve owned via ethernet cables since buying Sony’s smash hit console, my old Hyperoptic one simply wasn’t playing well with the Portal over Wi-Fi. Boosting my wireless speeds from around 300 Mbps to around 750 Mbps thanks to the AX5400 has made a big difference, though. Yet bear in mind, Sony itself says a 15 Mbps connection should be up to the task of providing quality streaming experiences. Take that official advice with your own bodyweight in salt.
The TP-Link AX5400 Wi-Fi 6 has significantly limited stuttering, reduced input lag and improved image quality when streaming my favorite PS5 games, no question. So much so, I’ve now had close to great experiences with Cyberpunk 2077 and the brutally tough Sifu (which is currently free to PlayStation Plus subscribers) on my PlayStation Portal over the last couple of evenings.
But these gaming highs I’ve worked hard to achieve have resulted in a total outlay of £440 (or around $515). This has been a teeth-gnashing game-streaming experiment that’s hit my wallet hard. For $115 less, I could pick up the new PS5 Slim for $399 on Amazon in a bundle that includes the aforementioned, oh-so-good Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. I can hardly claim this whole experience with the Portal has been a savvy investment.
So what I have learned from this rollercoaster, slightly stupid game-streaming experiment? Don’t overpay for products, people — it’s against the central mantra of Tom’s Guide, after all. And do some serious research on PlayStation Portal, your router and the quality of your broadband if you do manage to find one going for $199 before you part with your precious pennies.
More from Tom's Guide
- I took the PlayStation Portal on a trip — and I’ll never do it again
- 3 reasons why a true PlayStation handheld can succeed
- Watch out Switch 2 — Sony could finally be making a new PlayStation handheld
