You have no idea how great of a device this is for Dad Gamers, kids are on the TV while I'm on the couch enjoying BG3

I would have bought this in a heartbeat if this had a direct connection to the ps5 like the Wii U gamepad. The latency is a killer for me

My partner wants to buy one, but is worried about delay, does the handheld unit feel the same as playing on the tv. He would like to get one purely so if im watching tv he can still game and not feel like hes taking over the tv.

One of the very few channels that I come to for the Before You Buys. Always solid reviews.

One of the few people I’ve seen actually review the device for what it was meant for and not what it’s not. Good on you!

My brother owns a PS5 & I'm a carer for my mum so its been so handy for me to pick up & play for an hour here & there

I just wish we had a real handheld portable PlayStation console. Even if it was mainly for backwards compatibility with PS2, PS3 games with rempte play for PS5 and some original games of it's own

The biggest gripe I've heard that you hadn't mentioned was the lack of Web browser on this device. The hiccup being public Wifi sites that require you to sign in or agree to their terms. This absolutely killed it for me because my interest in this device stems from constant work out of town and nights in hotel rooms. Without being able to sign into hotel wifi through a browser this device is all but useless in my ideal situation 😮‍💨.

I love my portal, I got 3 kids that take up the tv, and when theyre in bed my wife watches. You absolutely nailed that this is for people that still want to game and not leave the room. Ive been able to finish Spiderman 2 with it...first time i finished a game in a long time.

I opted for the backbone (with my iPhone 15 pro) given the infrequency of playing remotely, but having that option available to me. Does the job. But if you’re going to be playing for long sessions and money isn’t too much of an object I can understand there’s an audience for this.

personally love remote play, when i’m traveling, sitting at a coffee shop, hanging out on campus, remote play is a gem. was stoked about this but not being able to throw it in my bag is a bit of a negative to me. i throw my ipad in my bag and play that way and it’s perfect. might just stick with that

This is definitely for a narrow audience but I think it is going to really hit the spot for certain people. I've been enjoying getting in some extra play time while my wife can watch whatever show she wants

I have used this every single day since it came out for hours every day, it’s the only way I’ve played PS5 since it came out. I live with my dad as I chose to live with him in the last years of his life to appreciate my time with him, and we watch TV/movies together every night, and because of this I am able to play while spending time with him so, for me, it’s amazing. Totally understand those who don’t care for it, but for some of us out there it’s perfect.

7:20 I love how Jake is playing literally by a dumpster, like some dude taking a last sip of soda before throwing away the bottle

Nice to see Jake this time around! Awesome video!

Thank you for the honest review Jake, I would buy this on a heartbeat if it were a portable console but I have never been a fan of remote play. Great review guys, keep it up!

The PlayStation portal is something I didn't know I needed until I used it. I've been gaming way more since I've gotten it. There's something about laying in bed and playing my PS5 in my hands. Absolutely awesome.

I love how honest these reviews are. I've got children myself but also work away aswell. Using the ps portal away from home is not the best but when at home and trying to get some game time in it works a dream

Thanks for this. I've been very curious about the portal.

10:37 that was slick, Jake. nice.

That looks cool, definately getting one, sometimes my kids are using the tv, this gives me a chance to go to the next room and catch up with my games 👍🏼👌🏻

If this was more of a handheld console, this would be an immediate buy. The use case for me is just not there yet. If I was fighting over a tv with children or my wife I could see myself getting this. Right now it’s just not for me, I’m okay with that though. I hope they do a second iteration eventually when it becomes a need for me in the future

For a work around for the headphones, if your still in your home you can still use your headphones in the ps5 and get sound. Heard of another video.

It’s for me. Here’s my use case: I’m a dad of 2 young ones. There’s often a fight for screen time. Also, I don’t want to disappear to plays games by myself. I don’t have the patients to make remote play work. So the idea of a system that just works, has me excited.

I played a majority of SpiderMan 2 using remote play. Remote play has gotten a lot better from when it started

I can appreciate your POV and it not being for you, but you nailed it right on the head for who benefits most from this. I’ve had one a couple weeks and it’s incredible. No more moving the console around from room to room if I want to play and someone is using the TV. I can just fire up my Portal and get to gaming.

I have to mention. I got this device and had a mixed bag of usability within my home network I was running google wifi mesh network the original. I upgraded recently to the google next wifi pro with 6E and I know the portal does not have 6E capability. But it is night and day now. It truly feels close to native anywhere around my house. So if you are running a Mesh or a network with the newest tech it will probably run well within your home.

I’m a dad gamer and this sounds like the exact device for me. My PS5 is on the main TV in the house. This will free up the TV for wife/kids and still give me a chance to play. 100% will be getting this when I can find it!

I'm a dad and super stoked about it. Perfect for playing around the house while the kids are playing. Remote Play has always been awesome for me.

Feels cool seeing him say the intro

Very nice review. Thanks

I just use my Steam Deck as my remote play for console games. Sure, it has a little bit of leg work to setup. But it's worth it just to have all options available to you.

No streaming, no bluetooth support, and no web browser. “Play has no limits.”

I got mines launch day and i absolutely love for when im on the go and going places where i have to wait or visiting family for a few days. Most definitely not ment for multiplayer games more so single player games which is fine with me since i play a lot of single player games.

Definitely lets me catch up on my back catalog of games. And when I get home from work I can play while laying down.

It's for the bathroom.

In all honsty, I think the price is quite steep for what it is. I was hoping for a bit more offline capability, like what the Vita had (had remote play PS4 and offline gaming). Would have been nice if you could install small indie games on it, like up to 20GB... That would be a game changer.

I got this ps portal through target. It was saying I’d be able to get it delivered the weekend of launch then the day came and it changed to nov. 21- Dec 1st. As I was waiting the next week I got an update saying it was coming the next day after the week of launch so they probably resupplying faster than you think. Relief for some people I guess but it’s great for simple movement games (I barely touch it)

I love this device, one of my favorite purchases this year

I was using ps5 remote play with the steam deck oled and it was pretty fun. Played ASTRO playroom using all the gyro and track pad features. It feels like playing a game on minimum hardware requirements. lol but still pretty fun. I see it as a quick session here and there but nothing beats playing natively.

My brother in law got one and besides input being delayed during online games, it looks and runs single player games really well with no input lag. Gta v ran good with the graphics all the way up.

Can't wait for mine.....need it yesterday 😅

Thanks for the honest review

I’ve been waiting for the granx review on this, you guys have the most honest and informative gaming journalism platform out there and I appreciates that about you.

I will be honest the price is the main sticking point for me right now. I am one of those people with one tv that doesnt really get to use it a lot, i do work a afternoon shift so that helps, but it still isnt worth 200 for what it is. If the price does drop in the coming months it would be awesome to actually play my ps5 without waiting for an opportunity to use the tv. I do also have a switch so at least i can do some gaming during the day

This device (console? handheld? whatever) isn’t for me, but I do hope it sells well enough for Sony and PlayStation to consider really getting back into the handheld market. I LOVED my PSP as a kid, and there is absolutely a market for something similar waited to be tapped. The Vita was before it’s time, if it had released even a couple of years later where wireless connections and data plans were more prevalent I think it would’ve succeeded. As someone who travels a lot, I’ve seriously considered the Steam Deck or other competitors, but I haven’t pulled the trigger on one yet. I may do it soon, but I’m waiting on the day Sony announces a fully functional PSP equivalent. Maybe in 2025

Last or first I still wait for your Before you buy videos before buying anything game-related. Love gameranx!

7:30 lol, i can sense alot of family tension by doing that

I have a sick family member at home and I want to spend as much time with her as possible. The Playstation Portal allows me to play my PS5 games, mainly MLB The Show, while lying next to my loved one. Otherwise, if I wanted to play we would be in separate rooms. So yes, I'm so glad to have the Playstation Portal. For the most part, my streaming has been excellent with the PS5 connected directly to my AX11000 router and 500mbps internet speeds. Everyone has their use case for this device.

Gameranx is such a great channel I love the vids

My thing about this device is that I have a Steam Deck with Chiaki configured so I can remote from outside networks. Sure the Steam deck is twice the price and setting up Chiaki for remote play on a separate network is a whole process, but I get twice the function. For me, I already have this device and more in my Steam Deck.

Love it, the into, the consistency. I’m all for trying new things and keeping things fresh but this intro in your voice (coming from a viewers perspective) lets me know I’m about to hear an opinion from someone who has gained my trust over years and not wasting my time, giving something of value. It’s weird to say and think about and I’m sure it makes ya feel weird with it being your own voice and such but literally it’s like a bell in my head, (the viewer), that my time isn’t going to be wasted, the type of info I’m getting, and from a perspective I respect. Keep it up man! Love the innovation in the channel and the face cam shots but don’t dump that into! It should be immortalized in gaming content history. God bless brotha!

I have a Steam Deck and having a handheld with a toddler running around is SO NICE bc I just can’t sit at my gaming pc when she’s awake. So I can see how this would be useful to many people. I will always suggest steam deck over any other handheld but I guess if this is just a remote play situation then that’s neat. Steam Deck has gyro which is so cool for aiming in FPS games.

Listen. If you are like me, a dad gamer, that just wants to play on the go, this thing is a major W. Case and point, just got back from a true field test. I had the device across state on a family trip. Our cabin had reliable WiFi (500 Mbps) My PS5 on my home network is direct plugged into my upstairs router so we are good network wise (1G). We had a little lag initially, which is to be expected, I was on the other side of my state. I connected after a couple of minutes and every time afterwards, I was just fine. I played Spider Man 2, Hogwarts Legacy, and 2k with no issues.

I love it as my console is in the room and sometimes i like to sit out in the living room and talk to my wife while she watches her shows

Bought one as I didn't want to hog the TV all the time, and I absolutely love it! I went from playing an hour or so a week to picking this thing up multiple times a day. It lets me squeeze in a few mini sessions a day in between chores, I only play it home, so I've had no issues with latency. (I've been able to play Cyberpunk and GTAO with friends and had zero issues with latency :D) About three weeks in, unfortunately the left analog stick stopped responding, so now I need to send it back to get a replacement which might take 3 weeks as they are low on stock :/ Still highly recommend, just the comfort of gaming from different parts of the house in a handheld format and not having to hog the TV makes it worth it for me. If you want to game but "Can't find the time" with work and chores, this is worth every penny!

I love mine. I play while the kids watch their stuff and even pulled it out the other day when my controller died and got to keep playing. I know there are things that could make it even better, but it does what I need right now.

I would love to get one but cloud gaming/streaming games isnt where it needs to be yet for consistent connection speeds you have to be in a certain spot in your home or wherever I wish technology would get to that point already

I’m the gamer dad with family that takes over tv, but the Steam Deck with Chiaki serves this purpose for me already. This device does look nice and premium, but I wish it had some sort of direct connection to the PS5.

My eye sight ain’t the best so I’m glad they came out with this. I don’t have to get super close to my tv anymore. I can game more relaxed now 🙌🏽 was thinking about backbone but this hits the cake for me! Love that duel sense

With all niche use-cases considered, I was very close to pulling the trigger on this, but my biggest issue was not being able to cloud stream games with ps plus premium. If my PS4 & switch can do it, there’s no reason this can’t- even with required access to a PS5.

This is great for parents. I’ve been able to play my games while my kids are watching cartoons. I really enjoy this product.

I really want one but I have a steam deck with Chiaki and it works great. But man it looks so cool.

Awesome video and I definitely learned a lot. Maybe someone can answer some of my remaining questions: 1) can you access other apps like Netflix or KZfaq? 2) we only have 1 ps5, if I were to turn the console on and log in and then my boyfriend were to log in as well, would I be able to play on the portal with my account while my boyfriend plays on the tv with his??? 3) Can you play online games? Like GTA V?

As a casual gamer and dad, I love mine. Dont get me wrong, I love playing on my actual gaming monitor but it isnt always practical with a little one. Especially not being able to wear noise cancelling headphones and only focus in on a game until everyone is in bed. Youre exactly right about know what you are getting into when purchasing the portal. I can still play fps and anything else just fine. The pro gamer/streamers probably wont buy into this because it seems Playstation made this for those who love gaming for fun (not necessarily people whose whole livelihood is streaming, no offense to them) on top of making it easier to play games that were dropping $60 on. Its not necessarily made for people who crank on their systems settings and totally immerse themselves to have the best K/D ratio. I do look forward to eventually picking up some ear buds but those have a lot of versatility. Great video overall! Im also curious as to why they chose to not use BT. Youre probably right about the ecosystem idea.

I really hope this is successful so the next version comes with more features like streaming directly from PS Plus or better yet, Sony decides to make a new standalone portable device again. Because If it doesn't sell well, we may never get another portable device.

The funny thing about this is its running on a Snap Dragon 6 series chip, that chip support Bluetooth 5.x, i wonder could Sony enable Bluetooth via an update later? Interesting product. Good Review.

Since linking my PS5 to my router using an ethernet cable, my experience playing the portal at home has been pretty smooth. We have one TV in the household. (no, I'm not tight it's just weird as I live with the gf and we don't have kids). I love how the Mrs can watch her shows whilst I play FC24 on the couch using the portal and still remain social. I've used Sony remote play on the ipad and the haptic were poor, the portal resolves that issue with a built in dual sense.

Wonder if the Portal is PlayStation testing the market on handhelds again and come back with a stand alone

I feel bad for the parents that will buy this thinking it's a full fledged console.

I might be interested in this. I've been using my Steamdeck to stream games the deck can't normally run from my PC. Opening my game options while still being able to wind down in the hot tub at the end of the day would be great!

I'm with you Jake, nice review 👍

So if the stick drift happens here the whole device needs to be replaced?? Stick drift is still an issue with PS5 controllers and this is build on the same platform

If you’re reading this.. just buy a backbone controller for half the price and stream it on your phone if you’re capable.

I’m in Toronto playing games in the east end and my ps5 is literally across the city it works great.

I love mine. Even though I have access to a tv whenever I want, sometimes you just wanna lay down and play something while you’re listening to a basketball game or football game in the background

Finally, an honest and objective review. Thanks. I love mine and you hit all the points. Lack of Bluetooth is a bummer but I’m using my pulse wired to it, not really an issue, love em anyways.

For some reason playing a backlog of older games (uncharted 1-3, finishing control and some other games) feels like a grind and a “waste of time” when I can play a great current game. I’m really interested to see how getting this will make me want to finish older games I didn’t finish. I know the logic doesn’t make any sense, but it makes sense to me. Lol

I hope it comes in more colors in the future. Like cosmic red or camo 😊😊😊

I got one and it’s pretty cool, if you have a good signal.

This thing is pretty dope especially for older games in my opinion would’ve been a home run if it at least had oled , better wifi and better latency for shooters but who knows maybe we will get a PS Portal Pro haha

I wonder how many grandparents will buy this for their grandkids for Christmas that don’t have a PS5, not knowing you actually need both smh

That's why I respect your reviews the most

Can you please test if 2 player local co-op can work while the PlayStation portal is at another place like a friends house? Diablo 4 or other couch co-op games

For me this would scratch the itch, like you said, to just do something in a Like a Dragon type game. Something turn based that doesn't require a lot of attention. I'm intrigued, but still very much on the fence.

This isn't just an accessory for gaming parents! My wife has a disability that makes her sensitive to flashing lights and loud noises, so this is a perfect way to accommodate for that when we are both on the couch and she needs a break from big screen TV. I've only been playing my PS5 on the Portal since it came out and I love it! Just finished Lies of P with no issues too. The Portal is still a niche accessory but I thought people should know about another use case for it.

Are you able to stream games to it that are physical copies? Basically can I pop in a game to the PS5 and then pull out the Portal to play it in another room and such?

One day when the internet infrastructure is better then maybe streaming will be more practical. This one isn't for me personally right now but I can see the appeal especially for older gamers who share a TV with the fam.

Such a great, objective roundup - summaries that balance the capabilities and drawbacks of the Portal. Really great watch.

Man, the wii u sure has had some upgrades

I would love one to play some games at slow days at work

8:21 "him saying tony hawk is his memory game While having a poster in the background about 3min before is hilarious and touching

The biggest design flaw in this thing is the analog sticks. What happens when one gets stick drift?…

Ya know... I'd actually like this thing if I could expand the storage and sideload android apps. Could be fun to play ps1 and psp games on. Just saying.

Out of all the accessories of the PS5, including the media remote, pulse headset, (old and new gens) psvr2 and the new earbuds and ps5 slim, this is the most useful accessory to me. I'm looking forward to buying it over in 🇨🇿 Czech Republic since it releases there on the 12.1.24 which is the soonest I can get it since in Israel 🇮🇱 they still didn't release it and I live there

Jake, this is why I listen to you. I am the same way. I'm good with having the games installed not streamed. I have solid internet and I'm okay without having it. It's not for me. All solid points 👏🏿

Guys- I don’t even play games too often but as a gamer dad, this thing is AWESOME. Sure there’s limitations (that’s why it’s only $199) but feels great, plays great and the screen is honestly solid for 1080

While I wouldn't use this to play big AAA games it would be very chill for smaller in-between games. My biggest issue with it is the price. That's just not worth $200 for me.

I feel so welcomed back!

I think you nailed it for who this geared towards. People like me who don’t always have access to the tv. I would love this instead of having to watch home alone again, which I’ve probably watched 30 times over the past week.