by Terumoto

Created on: January 11, 2007   Last Updated: February 01, 2012

The question of which handheld system is the best, the Sony PlayStation Portable or the Nintendo DS, has sparked numerous lengthy disputes. In reality, there is no such thing as "best," there is only "more suitable." So to dispel any false information on this matter, which there seems to be a lot of, I will compare both consoles in an unbiased fashion, hopefully helping you to determine which is more suitable for you. Before I begin, I will state that my knowledge on this subject comes from owning both a PSP and a Nintendo DS, and also a DS Lite.

In terms of multimedia, the PSP is far better than the DS. Depending on the size of your memory stick, you can do a whole lot more with the PSP. You can view movie files and photos, and listen to music. UMD movies are somewhat useless since they only work on your PSP, they have sold poorly and many retailers have ceased to stock them. It should be noted that it is possible to do everything a PSP can, on a DS as well, if you purchase a device that reads from SD cards and plugs into either the DS cartridge or GBA cartridge slot. Datel makes a good version of this type of product, and in Japan there is a Nintendo-made product called Play Yan which enables the play of MP3s through a DS or a GBA. I do not own such a product, since I have the PSP for that, but I would imagine that the PSP's wider, higher resolution LCD screen would be better to watch movies on than the DS's lower resolution display.

Both handhelds have an active "homebrew" scene. Homebrew is a term used for applications or utilities designed by users for use on a device. There is a wide range of different kinds of homebrew programs, from emulators to organizers to word processors. However, some homebrew can be harmful to the system, and use of unsigned software voids the warranty of the PSP and the DS, so be careful. It is also fairly difficult to run homebrew in the first place, the DS requires numerous attachments, and the PSP's firmware (similar to an operating system on a PC) needs to be a certain version. Sony regularly updates the firmware of its handheld, to fix holes in security that make it possible for the system to run unsigned software in the first place.

Wifi internet access is present on both systems. The PSP has a built in web browser on every firmware version above 2.0, and the DS has an Opera web browser which you can buy separately. Internet navigation and text input is far more seamless on the DS, thanks to its touch screen, but the PSP's

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