The time has finally come, tech gurus. Sony has released the official hardware specifications for the PlayStation Vita, and needless to say, this little piece of tech packs quite the punch.
After rumors regarding a cut in RAM from 512MB to 256MB, Sony has quelled the fears of graphics whores by confirming that the device will come packed with all 512MB of memory and 128MB VRAM, meaning that it has more RAM than the almighty PlayStation 3, which only has 256MB, as well as 256MB VRAM.
Here’s the full list of social networking services that will be available on the device:
Facebook – Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Over 750 million active users visit Facebook each month.
Foursquare – foursquare is a location-based service that helps users explore the world around them. Using PS Vita, users can “check in” at the locations they visit to meet up with friends, and share information about places. Users can also collect virtual badges for exploring new places, and can earn points to compete against friends.
Skype – Skype is software which enables people to communicate with others around the world using Internet-connected devices. Skype has more than 170 million average monthly connected users (for the three months ended June 30, 2011). Users of PS Vita will be able to use Skype to make free calls to others on Skype, as well as low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles virtually anywhere in the world.
Twitter – Twitter instantly connects people everywhere to what’s most meaningful to them. At the heart of Twitter are short messages called Tweets, which are 140 characters or less in length. Users can follow celebrities, friends or other people they find interesting to discover what’s happening around the world.
The actual hardware specs are as follows:
- Platform Name – PlayStation Vita
Model number – PCH-1000 series
CPU – ARM Cortex-A9 core (4 core)
GPU – SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions – Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Screen – Touch screen – 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED – Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
Main memory – 512MB
VRAM – 128MB
Rear touch pad – Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras – Front camera, Rear camera
Frame rate – 120fps@320×240(QVGA), 60fps@640×480(VGA)
Resolution – Up to 640×480(VGA)
Sound – Built-in stereo speakers – Built-in microphone
Sensors – Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location – Built-in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only) – Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches – PS button – Power button – Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left) – Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) – Shoulder buttons (Right/Left) – Right stick, Left stick – START button, SELECT button – Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications – Mobile network connectivity (3G/Wi-Fi model only) – IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) – Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)
Slots/Ports – PlayStation Vita card slot – Memory card slot – SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only) – Multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio (Stereo Out / Mono In), Serial data communication) – Headset jack (Stereo mini jack) (for Audio (Stereo Out / Mono In)) – Accessory port
Power – Built-In Lithium-ion Battery
AC adaptor – Supported AV content format
Music – MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM)
Videos – MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC)
Photos – JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG
With this much power, a 5″ touchscreen, two analog sticks, and lots of third and first-party support, we’re extremely excited to see what happens with this monster of a device. Stay tuned for more, including North American and European release dates.
