Hands On With The PSP-E1000

This is Sony's latest and final attempt to promote the Playstation Portable console before they move on to their next generation handheld, Playstation Vita. The PSP-E1000 is the cheapest PSP console to be released at an RRP of around £89 and is marketed as a base/beginner model for customers who are new to PSP. The main differences between this model and the top of the range PSP-3000 is the E1000 only has a mono speaker and does not support Wi-Fi. This means that using the console alone, it can not be used to play multiplayer matches against other PSP consoles. It is possible, however, to connect the PSP to a PS3 console and (using a free application from the Playstation store) use the PS3's Wifi connection to connect to the multiplayer servers.
I recommend if you are interested in buying any console then you should try to buy one as part of a bundle. The best bundle I found was the console, one game, and one movie. PSP discs are UMDs (Universal Media Discs) which are small discs held in a plastic casing. Games can also be downloaded through either a PC (via the Media Go software) or a PS3 (through the Playstation Store). Media Go is a little slow and takes a while to load, but once its up and running the program itself is not too bad.
The game that came with the bundle was a racing game called Gran Turismo. Released in 2009, Gran Turismo is the first edition of the driving simulator to feature on the PSP, and its good fun. Compared to Nintendo's DS Lite the graphics and gameplay are a much nicer experience. The detail of the cars and the driving physics are impressive for a portable console. The best comparison is the PSP is like having the power of a Playstation 2 in your pocket (which can be seen easily in the graphics of this game). This continues when the PSP is faced with downloaded games as well. The main problem with playing a game from a UMD is the noise coming from the console when the level is loading. I didn't notice it at first, but when I took it into my college a friend instantly picked up on it.  Once the level is loaded the console is very quiet, but it does make a little bit of noise when accessing the UMD. The console is quiet when playing downloaded games from the memory card. The movie is DVD quality. It’s on a small screen of course but is fine for traveling.

One of the big selling points Sony has tried to push for PSP is the ability to read digital comics on the device. This opens a whole world of pain. As mentioned above, the E1000 does not support Wifi so you have to download the application on your PC then transfer it onto the PSP... except the file cannot be found on the Playstation. I am currently up to two customer support emails and three long phone calls to Playstation Support and even they cannot find the file. I eventually found the application file on a forum site (i.e. not the Playstation website). So if anyone else is having this problem then leave a message in the comments below and I'll post the link.
To sum up, the PSP-E1000 is a good, solid console which will help you pass the time when you are travelling and are away from your main console. This is what a portable console is for and the PSP is a much better gaming console than Nintendo's DS Lite if you want to play slightly more serious games. There is a wide selection of games available from many of the big gaming brands. However, bear in mind that the console will soon be out of date as Playstation Vita is just around the corner. If the Vita is as good as the specs make out, this will be a powerhouse of a console; touch screens, full HD games, Wifi, 3G, two analog sticks... the only drawback to the Vita is the price (estimated to be roughly £289 – more than the cost of a PS3 slim with a 320GB hard drive!). So, if you ignore the massive price tag then I would say wait for the Playstation Vita. But if you want a good, cheap console with a wide variety of good quality games to use on your travels, I would definitely say you should consider this console.