More settings and some sound stuff too
Also within the settings screen are other options for stuff like video settings, display languages and the like, which are hard coded into the machine, which makes the PSP region free. This is very handy as it means that a game bought anywhere will be region free too, though films will be region locked. Quite how the region locking will work if the unit itself is region free isn’t clear, but as you can convert pretty much any film and save it to the memory stick, this isn’t really a problem and seeing as this is primarily intended as a gaming machine, the region free games are a bigger boon.Of course, being a Sony product, it utilises Sony’s memory stick for storage, but this means that any pictures you snap on a Sony digital camera can be instantly viewed on the PSP just by swapping out the memory sticks. This is very handy because the screen’s large size makes viewing pictures far easier than the much smaller screen built into the back of most digi-cams.
The remote provides basic functions to save you digging out the PSP from your pocketNow, I briefly mentioned the sound quality earlier on and the PSP’s MP3 playback ability. It has to be said that sound out of the two built in speakers is just about acceptable given the tiny size of the speakers. Slap in the supplied headphones though and you’ll see that the PSP is capable of giving excellent bass response which makes it a very attractive proposition as an MP3 player and movie viewer. During games, the sound is superb and looses all of the tinny response given by the speakers. The connector is a standard stereo mini-jack socket, so you can plug your own favourite headphones in, either directly into the PSP or into the remote control socket and enjoy the sound at its best.
Check out the PSP logo on the earphones… Could this help muggers tell you’ve got one?