Sony PlayStation Vita battery life short, memory expensive

September 15, 2011 By Mike Flacy

While many North American gamers can't wait to get their hands on a PlayStation Vita, new information about battery life and cost of memory for the handheld device may discourage some potential buyers.

According to a recent statement from Sony, battery life for the new PlayStation Vita will range between three to five hours when playing games. Using the device for only video playback offers up to five hours and listening to music in standby mode offers up to nine hours of playback. In addition, these tests were performed at the default screen brightness without Bluetooth enabled. It also doesn’t account for 3G or Wi-Fi use for online play, a potentially large drain on the battery. The limited power for playing games eliminates the possibility of using the device on long car trips or any other type of extended travel.

In addition, the device will require a full two hours and 40 minutes to recharge completely. While this is faster than the 3.5 hour charging time of the Nintendo 3DS, consumers will have to purchase a charging cradle separately for the Vita. Another expense comes in the form of the proprietary memory cards required to store and save content like game saves, movies and music. A 32GB version of the card retails for about $125, triple the cost of a typical 32GB SD memory card found online. Other sizes include a 4GB card for about $30, a 8GB card for about $42 and a 16GB card for just under $75. Since all Vita games will be available to download in digital form, this makes storing a newly purchased game an expensive practice.

However, the recently announced launch lineup seems to be more impressive than Nintendo’s launch titles with the 3DS. Games such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ridge Racer and Hot Shots Golf 6 should help move systems off store shelves. In addition, about 500 to 600 PSP games will be available to download onto the device. Sony is working on a way to convert previously purchased UMDs into digital downloads so consumers don’t have to spend money on titles already purchased.

Showing 7 comments

Robert Robs Heptinstall at 11:23am 16th September 2011 wtf. stop moaning. 3-5 is fine.
Alicia Keynes at 9:31am 16th September 2011 check this out www.believe3d.com
Frederic Ditan at 6:07am 16th September 2011 i am planning to purchase PlayStation vita once it out in Philippine Market..... never thought that the common and the most important part of Vita comes w/ a negative impact to consumers, hope before they release Vita in Philippine Market they come up w/ excellent functionality forget the price..... i'll go with better quality than quantity
Roy de Vegt at 5:31am 16th September 2011 psp rips off good games,down with psp having anything to do with ps3 games
Jessica Trau at 5:27am 16th September 2011 I think think those expensive memory cards will be a real killer for this handheld. Fucking greedy bastards not using SD Cards >.< I no longer care about this Vista nor excited.
Lorne Hammond at 5:26am 16th September 2011 Proprietary memory. Fail. Sony, stop making a universal standard that only you use! I predict this will tank too.
Rommel Villarico at 5:22am 16th September 2011 That is why it's called Sony PSP VISTA! :-)