Oh the Glory of a Ceramic White PSP. It is even more eye catching than my old one with the Liquid Silver Faceplate. It shows no finger prints, and I really like how it feels in my hand. I think the white paint Sony used feels a little grippier than the paint on the black one.
We all know the details of the PSP. There isn't much difference with the Japanese version. Some say the UMD door spring is springier, but I'm not noticing a big difference. The screen does not appear to be any sharper or brighter. The headphone port sounds as if it's the same quality as the older one. The wi-fi looks to be just as strong as the U.S. version. They both use all of my memory stick duos. They both have no issues connection to any of my PC's or Mac. The only major differences seem to be the language it comes set to, the main selection button, no U.S. UMD movie playback, and of course the color.
Setting the language to English was no big deal. Every PSP supports a ton of languages. I just counted the number of steps to change the language setting on my old PSP and then did the same thing on the white one. Then I set it up to use my wireless network so I could update the firmware. That was just as easy as with my black/silver one. Actually it was easier since I know what I'm doing now. No weird inexplicable errors this time because I have mac address filtering turned on.
The Japanese use the circle as the selection button instead of the X, which makes much more sense to me. It's no deal at all in games. The game itself sets the button configuration. In Metal Gear, the buttons have always been that way even on U.S. PSPs. Outside of games, it didn't take much time to get used to the button setup. I only have an issue when the white PSP needs to be charged and I have to go back to my old one for a while.
As for UMD movies, I can't understand why people buy those things anyway. They cost too much to only be used on the PSP. It doesn't take long to rip a DVD and play that movie from a memory stick. Ripped DVD movies play just fine on any PSP from Japan or the U.S. This includes DVDs from other regions. There are a lot more movies on DVD than there will be on UMD anytime in the future, if ever.
The color is just plain gorgeous. It's really eye catching. Right after I ordered it I bought a clear case before it ever got here. With it in that case, and hanging on a neck strap, I got a LOT of compliments on it. Mostly from girls for some reason. :-) Even my own girlfriend threatens to steal it all the time and she hates video games. I think she is just jealous of the attention I give it, though. She named my old one Penelope and called it my other girlfriend. I went ahead and named this new one Persephone just to irritate her.
I must admit that I was worried about importing something so expensive. The first one I tried to get on eBay and that was just a total disaster. The idiot selling it didn't actually have any. It took me weeks to get my money back. Plus I was worried about dead pixels or other hardware problems. But eventually I had to cowboy up and get me one. The pictures of them on the web were just to enticing. I got it from Lik-sang.com for about two hundred dollars (the Standard Pack with just the PSP and AC adapter) plus about $25 for shipping. It had to come all the way from China (through Japan actually) and it only took two days to get all the way to Michigan. I liked that a lot, I can say. That was back in August and after six weeks of almost constant use, I have no dead pixels. Everybody dance! It also came with a one year warranty. If it has any problems that are covered under Sony's warranty, I will have to ship it back to Lik-Sang, and they only ship PSPs back to Japan for repair once a month. Not having it for weeks or months would suck, but at least it has a warranty. I can't imagine that I would have a problem with it anyway. Even after taking my old one apart a few times it's been very reliable, so I imagine this new one would be just as reliable.
I say if you want one and you are willing to pay another few hundred bucks for one just because it's pretty, get yourself one. Even if you don't wear it, you'll still look awesome playing it. Now I just have to wonder how cool the pink one will be. .
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