Becoming PSP - Slim & Lite

by Brad Larson  |  June 21, 2008

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo from 2007, Sony announced the development of a slimmer and lighter version of the PlayStation Portable. The new PSP was named "Slim and Lite" and was 33% lighter and 19% slimmer than the original PSP system. It was released on the 5th of September, 2007 in Europe and on the 6th of September, 2007 in North America.

The internal changes made in order to obtain the simmer and lighter figure of the PSP included the removal of the metal chassis, that was used to reduce damage in case of sudden trauma to the system by accidentally dropping the console on a hard surface, improvement of WLAN modules and Micro-controller, and a thinner and much brighter LCD screen. The PSP-2000, or "PSP Slim and Lite", offered several improvements tot the older generation, like enhancing the original PSP generation's poor load times for UMD games by doubling the internal memory (RAM and Flash ROM) form 32 MB to 64 MB, which also improved the web browser's performance.

By making the PSP slimmer, the capacity of the battery was reduced by a third, but due to more efficient power usage the runtime of the PSP is still the same as the older model. Older model batteries are still working with the PSP Slim & Lite and they extend the total amount of playing time on this PSP, although the battery cover on the new model will not fit over the old batteries because of their larger size. The new batteries charge up in one and a half hours and last for approximately 4.5 to 7 hours, depending on factors like screen brightness settings and volume levels.

As for external looks, the Slim & Lite PSP has a new gloss finish. The serial port was also modified to accommodate a new video-out feature, although rendering older PSP remote controls incompatible. Televisions incapable of supporting progressive scan will not display PSP games, since PSP games will only output to external monitors or TVs in progressive scan mode. Video that are not related to games do not have trouble outputing either progressive or interlaced mode. Although the PSP charges only when in USB mode and when not performing a game, there are available several unofficial USB charge plugin downloads for charging the PSP with a USB without the need to be in USB mode. Also, unlike the original PSP, the Sony creators have included a D-Pad in response to complaints of poor performance, and the new PSP buttons offer improved responsiveness.

Also, a new simpler and more practical UMD loading tray design has been implemented in the new PSP, in which the tray actually swivels out instead of opening up completely and jumping out of the console like in the previous model. The WiFi switch was moved to the top of the console and the memory Stick slot was moved to the upper left. The speakers were also moved, on the front of the PSP, near the top of the screen, to prevent the user from accidentally blocking the speakers with its hands. The infra-red port was also removed due to the fact that it presented no relevance to the original PSP generation except for homebrew applications. The analog stick was also redesigned to be more flexible and is not removable without opening the PSP.

Next articles in this series:

1. Becoming PSP - Introduction
2. Becoming PSP - History
3. Becoming PSP - Hardware
4. Becoming PSP - Software
5. Becoming PSP - Slim & Lite
6. Becoming PSP - PlayStation Portable Vs. The Nintendo DS
7. Becoming PSP - PlayStation Portable Vs. Creative Zen Portable Media Center

Not the info that you're looking for? Ask Tuva and you'll get your answer!

Comments

Your Comment: