Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs. All prices are subject to change, and this article only reflects the prices available at time of publication.
Sony’s PlayStation Remote Play feature lets you stream games from your console to other devices including phones, tablets, laptops, or other consoles in order to play games without being tethered to your PS5.
Now Sony has announced it’ll launch the first mobile device designed specifically for Remote Play. The Sony PlayStation Portal is a handheld with an 8 inch 1080p/60 Hz LCD display in the center and a DualSense wireless controller surrounding the display. Following an announcement earlier this month, the PlayStation Portal is now available for pre-order for $200 and it’s expected to be released November 15, 2023.
Sony provided a sneak peek at the PlayStation Portal earlier this year when it was still known as “Project Q,” but at the time the company hadn’t revealed how much it would cost or exactly what it could do.
Now we know that the handheld is basically a glorified remote control (and remote viewer) for PS5 games, with support for local streaming over a WiFi network. Sony says you’ll want at least a 5 Mbps WiFi connection, but the company recommends 15 Mbps or faster speeds for the best performance.
The company has provided more details about optional accessories including the Pulse Explore wireless earbuds and Pulse Elite over-ear wireless headset.
Both of those wireless audio devices are designed for “low latency lossless audio from PS5 and PlayStation Portal” using Sony’s new “PlayStation Link wireless technology,” (which requires a USB adapter). The headset and earbuds also support Bluetooth audio though, allowing you to use them with smartphones or other devices so you can, for example, answer a call mid-game.
The headset has a retractable boom mic and support for AI-enhanced noise rejection, while the earbuds are Sony’s first, and also include dual microphones with support for AI-enhanced noise reduction. The Sony Pulse Elite headset will sell for $150, while the Pulse Explorer earbud will cost $200.
While the $200 price tag for the PlayStation Portal doesn’t look too bad, the costs can clearly rack up if you decide to add one of the company’s new wireless audio devices. But if you’d rather not do that, you can also used wired headphones or a wired headset: the PlayStation Portal has a 3.5mm audio jack.
Still, a standalone device that’s only designed as a PS5 companion might be a tough sell when there are a growing number of inexpensive Android or Linux handhelds that can support PlayStation Remote Play and other game streaming platforms like Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, or Amazon’s Luna.
Sony notes that the PlayStation Portal doesn’t even support the company’s own PlayStation Plus Premium cloud streaming, so I’d be surprised if it supported any of those third-party services out of the box.
That said, I guess there’s probably some benefit to using a DualSense controller for remote play gaming: Sony says it features haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and all the other features you’d expect from an official PS5 controller. 
via Sony
This article was first published August 23, 2023 and most recently updated August 31, 2023.Â
What is the cpu and gpu in this thing. Searched Sony and googled everywhere but no one lists the specs. Can’t figure out if this is even worth it to try to hack for a custom rom.
And that’s probably part of the reason why they haven’t listed the specs. Their not positioning it as a standalone device and I doubt they’ll ever list the processor, memory, storage, or other features as if they were selling points.
But I also doubt it’ll take long for people to start tearing the case open and/or trying to hack the software to find those things out after the PlayStation Portal begins shipping.
Earlier reports show it has Qualcomm G1 gen 1. Which we don’t know what cores are inside.
what a miserable waste of plastic and hardware
If the Android on this can be made to sideload the Google Play Store, I could be tempted. Aside from software limiations, the hardware is really decent for the price.
Actually, what you suggest is probably the only thing that would make this useless thing worth 200. However, I barely even play the games worth playing that are free. Games are a waste of time if you have to work two 9 to 5 jobs to make ends meet.
If this thing has a ridiculous battery life, say like 12+ hours, and can charge fairly fast (1hr or less)… then that may be a compelling feature too.
However, it will have to be relatively lightweight for those extended gaming sessions…. something hard to achieve with heavy batteries.
So for me the USD $200 price seems both overpriced AND underpriced. We simply need more details first.
I’m waiting on the suckable Gameboy unit version extra joystick
I believe this will be a flop.
This is what Gameboy users deserve and need to thrive as a sub-species.
It is the Next Generation GAmeboy
Who the heck looked at the WiiU tablet and thought “that’s a great idea!”???
I’d say a lot of people because it was a genuinely great idea imo. Things like the horrid kiddified marketing and how weak it was killed the console and not so much the gamepad. But if it was sold as a 200 dollar accessory to a 500 dollar console, I’d say it’s a terrible idea like the PlayStation Portal definitely is lol.
The details released in their Playstation.com blog about this were disappointing. They said “games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming, are not supported”.
It seems they’re referring to their new cloud game streaming service. It appears they don’t want to cannibalize their PS5 system sales by allowing people to cloud stream PS5 games with a $200 device.
This is a stark comparison to Xbox, which allows cloud streaming from devices (smartphones and tablets) that don’t earn them ANY hardware revenue.
Leaks suggested this uses Android as the basis for its operating system, but if you can’t install anything on it, this is purely something you (get your parents to) buy to show off how much disposable income you(r parents) have.
Streaming… yeah, no thanks. Just like digital books which can be burned (deleted without informing you or against your consent) or Windows 365, you don’t actually own content any more but rent it.
I personally like having a physical copy in hand for everything. No internet connection required and they can’t take it away from me after I purchased it. Just how it should be, and used to be…
as far as I like physical object in my hands too, it will be more a niche thing over time. a thousand people who collect physical things is many, but they are minority against millions that play online
Thats the thing you need to own a PS5 and games to stream anything. Otherwise this device is pretty much useless outside.