The Sony PSP is a handheld gaming console launched on 11 May 2004. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) from Sony is capable of playing back music & videos in an effective manner. However, its controls are still very much gaming oriented. The default battery life of the PSP varies across applications. It is less than 3 hours when you access wireless network with the screen brightness set to highest, and more than 11 hours when you playback MP3 with the screen light turned off. You can use sleep mode wherein least battery power is used, so that the battery life is extended.

Besides a longer battery life, the XMB or XrossMediaBar is the main-menu interface of the PlayStation Portable from Sony. Sony had recently used this interface in its TVs, PlayStation 3, and PSX hardware. Consisting of menu icons arranged horizontally like Photo, Settings, Music, Network Game, and Video, the main menu options of this interface in turn show a sequence of sub icons arranged vertically.

The XMB lets the users adjust settings, browse the Web, play audio, video & games, and connect it to a personal computer. The interface is easily accessible. All you need to do is just press the ‘Home’ button. However, the PSP needs to exit all applications that are running currently due to the memory constraints. Default background hues of the PSP change according to each month. You can set the colour manually or specify an image as the background. At present, there are about ten official themes; namely "Wipeout", "Lemmings", "Pink" "Cookies," and six additional themes.

From interface to controls and other features, the Sony PSP is perhaps the most sophisticated yet user-friendly gaming console available on the market today. At present the PSP is available in black, pink, ceramic white, silver, champagne gold, Simpsons yellow, and metallic blue. You can choose the one that you like the most; however, the Sony PSP looks simply AWESOME in all the seven colours and is a delight to gaming addicts all over the world.