Sony, PlayStation Portal Remote Reader, For PlayStation 5 Console, Color: White

I have my PS5 wired to my router. It's not using the Virgin Media router for WiFi. I have theirs in "modem mode" and use a £90 TP-Link Wi-Fi 6 router with 4 aerials on it. I don't have a fancy mesh setup or anything like that, it's just a regular router you'd buy if upgrading from your ISP's with no tech skills required. So this isn't some elitist ultimate experience that is only available to network professionals.I have not, and flat out refused, to change any settings on PS5 - e.g. changing the resolution to 1080p and any of that nonsense people suggest. The device is worthless if every time you use your console on the TV, you have to keep switching your resolution back and forth, so I point blank refused to do it. It's set to 4K, 120hz and HDR as per normal.I have got in the habit of putting my PS5 in rest mode rather than shutting down, and enabled the network connection when in rest mode - that way your PS5 turns on when you turn on the Portal.Performance for me is flawless. I've been all around the house with it (modest 3 bed semi) and no issues. I'm used to streaming, having used Geforce Now extensively, and Nvidia Gamestream - so I know what good streaming is like. With it running over your local network rather than the web (unlike GF Now) this is obviously the optimum streaming experience.I am playing in May '24, and I gather there was a major patch that "significantly" improved the performance of the device a month or so earlier. So my experience may differ from early adopters. I don't see compression artefacts, judder, stutter, latency or disconnects. It all just works perfectly; like owning a "PS5 Switch".It's particularly good for older games, or those running in performance mode, as the 1080p Portal Screen means they run at native resolution, so it looks better than playing the game on your TV, albeit minus HDR. Something like RDR2 which has poor resolution on PS5 (compared to XSX) would definitely be better on Portal than on your TV.For the ultimate latency test I tried AC Unity, which is an old 30fps PS4 game running at 1080p. This game is now in its element on Portal. It looks amazing even compared to modern games, and whilst 30fps isn't ideal for streaming, it's actually great to play and doesn't feel laggy at all. Obviously 60fps games will feel even better.The screen is very bright and I haven't touched any brightness settings, so that's how it came out of the box. It also seems to have less glare than my iPad screen that I'd previously used for PS remote play. That's despite having a tempered glass screen protector on it.I gather the sticks are shorter than on a regular PS5 pad, but I haven't actually noticed when playing.Sound is excellent. Better than my Switch OLED even! More like my old 14" portable TV's of yesteryear than a handheld console!So yeah, this really is the "ultimate Switch"! Because my PS5 turns on with the Portal, and because it runs so flawlessly, it really is like having a Switch but with PS5 graphics.Currently playing AC Liberation which I also own on Switch, but clearly the experience is a million times better on my Portal, and looks better than if I were using my big OLED TV.99% of the time when I use my Switch in handheld mode, I'm in the house and connected to my home Wi-Fi. Sure in the Switch TV commercials it shows cherry picked trendy and attractive actors pretending to play it at a basketball court or skatepark, but let's be brutally honest..........who really plays at such places? We all mostly use the Switch in handheld mode whilst we or our partner is watching/hogging the TV or a movie in the same room.That makes this the perfect device, and more akin to whatever the Nintendo Switch 3 will be like in 2030! Albeit you have your entire Playstation collection at your fingertips, anywhere in the house!I took it to a relatives house who had good Wi-Fi broadband, and it played exactly as it did in my house, even though my PS5 was miles away. If you take it on holiday and **IF** you have good Wi-Fi and internet at your destination, then it will be perfectly useable and like taking your PS5 and TV on holiday.I tried connecting to my mobile phone as a hot spot at home, but the 5G signal here is terrible and whilst it was playable, it would occasionally stutter. In an area with good coverage, I think it would also be perfectly good.Easy 5/5 stars for me based on what I wanted it for, and how well it does it. This is my primary way of playing PS5 now and has made me want to buy all third party games for my PS5 rather than XSX or PC, simply because I have this device and the capability it offers.

The product is wonderful. It performs exactly as promised. Although you need to have a stable and rather fast internet connection, it is a amazing convenience tool. Keep in mind that you need to have a PlayStation 5 for it to function.

real easy to use and understand the games are in front of you and you don't have to wait

I read the reviews and bought a TP Link along with the portal because forewarned is forearmed.On Christmas day after fully updating the device and connecting everything sure enough my lad experienced some lag in dedicated single player games and especially with on-line Roblox content. Single player stuff was playable but annoying, multi-player stuff was laughably bad.My boys setup is in his bedroom and connected to the router via Wifi with no hardwired connection available. Had already read numerous accounts of peeps having better performance with their PS5’s connected directly to the router. Not wanting to drill holes all over the house and not having 50 ft of cable handy I instead had the TP link plugs ready and waiting. Set them up on Boxing day and created an ethernet connection to his PS5 through the house plug sockets, basic setup, cheapest option, no frills.Swapped his connection over to LAN and it’s like night and day. The portal is now useable and he’s spent all day happily playing his games. Don’t get me wrong there’s still the occasional micro-stutter and slowdown but its rare-ish and doesn’t completely spoil gameplay.As for the rest the screen is nice, the sound is pants, battery life is kinda short, ergonomics are ok and the charging port location is silly. If you buy this make sure you have a wired internet connection or you’re in for world of pains-per-second. Oh and grab yourself a gripcase and a decent set of stick-grips while you’re at it.For the time being all is good. Sony hardware, Caveat Emptor.

Verygood

Much more useful than it looksLove the ability to play when the wife and kids are watching tv in the living roomThe only thing is it genuinely requires a good stable connection especially for remote play (the ps5 needs to have a great connection too so the closer it is to the router the better - or connected with an Ethernet, remember it needs to upload and Dow load your gameplay from your ps5 at the same time it does it on your portal in real time)

Love it

Shame PlayStation didn’t make their own portable console like the Nintendo switch or the steam deck not just a remote play device, as long as you’ve got a decent upload speed at home and a solid download speed where you are playing, it works really well, really enjoy playing it! Took it on holiday and it worked great!