Today we will be looking at the PSP and we will also take a look at a few of the differences in different models.
I will be sticking to the original PSP versions available in North America, so I will leave the PSP Go, and the PSP Street out of this. The Go is dead to me, and the Street was never released here.
The PSP Street was a European release that never came out in North America.
The PSP or Playstation Portable was released in Japan in 2004, and every where else in the world in 2005. The first version was a model 1000, followed by the model 2000 in 2007, and the 3000 in 2008. All together, It sold around 82 million units until it was discontinued in 2014.
The first digit tells you the model number of the PSP, and the last digit tells you the region. So if you have a 1000, it's a Japanese model 1000, if you have a 3001 it's a North American model 3000. Here is the complete list, This will help you know exactly what PSP you have.
PSP region codes:
PSP-x000 Japan
PSP-x001 North America
PSP-x002 Australia / New Zealand
PSP-x003 United Kingdom
PSP-x004 Europe / India
PSP-x005 Korea
PSP-x006 Hong Kong / Singapore / Malaysia
PSP-x007 Taiwan
PSP-x008 CIS
PSP-x009 Mainland China
PSP-x010 Central / South America
The PSP has a 4.3 inch LCD screen, which displays 480 x 272 pixels, A decent display for the time. The UMD drive allows you to play games as well as movies. There are a few differences in the PSP models, the PSP 2000 is 33% lighter and 19% slimmer than the original PSP. The weight was reduced by over 3 ounces, it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you hold them, it's drastically lighter, and especially after a few hours of gaming!
PSP-1000: 280 grams (9.9 oz)
PSP-2000/3000: 189 grams (6.7 oz)
The size was reduced from 23mm to 18.6mm. The size difference is less noticable than the weight, but the battery from the 1000 will only fit in the 2000 or 3000 if you remove the battery door. With the slimmer size of the PSP, they had to sacrifice some of the battery size so the 1000 battery will actually has a longer life than the 2000 or 3000. However, due to better technology on the 2000 and 3000, the batteries have comparable life spans. If you want, you can actually buy a new battery cover that will allow you to use the 1000 battery on the 2000 or 3000 and then get even more hours of enjoyment on your PSP.
The first PSP battery has a longer battery life per charge!
The headset jack has been redesigned, so the headset from the 1000 doesn't work on the 2000 or the 3000.
In 2007, The PSP 2000 was released and it came with a thinner and much brighter LCD screen. The internal memory was doubled from 32MB to 64MB. Both speakers were moved to the top of the handheld, I think because it was easy to cover them up while they were at the bottom, and then you couldn't hear the game or movie.
The very next year, 2008, The PSP 3000 was released. It had a new screen that had increased color range, five times the contrast ratio, half the pixel response time to reduce ghosting and blurring effects, new sub-pixel structure, and anti-reflective technology to improve outdoor playability, but it suffered from an interlacing problem. Sony denied it, and never made any plans to fix it, in my opinion, I prefer the LCD screen from the 2000.
The 3000 has a built in microphone, so there is no need for a headset, both the 1000 and 2000 lack a mic. however there still is the same headset jack from the 2000, so you can at least use that one if you want. The 3000 also has oval buttons for home, and volume controls. the 1000 and 2000 both had half circles or half ovals.
Overall, If you get a PSP, I would suggest the 2000 with a battery cover that allows you to use a battery from the 1000, but the 2000 in general would be my fav, not just because you can get the Vader PSP, but because it's slimmer and liter than the 1000, but has no interlacing issues like the screen of the 3000. I would say the PSP is the top handheld of all-time, and if Sony was smart we would be on the PSP3 now, but they skipped a generation, so they should be thinking about releasing a PSP2, and the PSP2 could play anything up to PS3 games, a lot like how the PSP could play PS1 games! Come on Sony! make it happen!
Anyways, for now, This is ICC signing off, peace!
Published December 12th 2017.
Copyright ICC Productions.
In Association with Uncanny X-Clan.
