| KBG29 said: It is really hard to say what the best path is hardwarewise. Do they stick to the PS4 tech? Do they release PS5/PS5 Mobile? Do they Stick with X86? Do they switch everything to ARM? Do they split it X86 at Home, and ARM on the go? Every way has advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I think sticking to either X86 or ARM, and have a completely unified and scaled ecosystem is the best way to go. Since they have just spent 5+ years building around X86, I rather see them stick with X86 as opposed to rebuilding from the ground up again. Really it is going to come down to the personal preference of whoever the lead architect. I would hope the same Tech Designer and OS Designer over look all future projects to make things a unified and effecient as possible. The issue I have with not offering a Phone version of any future handheld, is the reaction to the Vita. The number one reason people I have talked to did not pick up the Vita was the lack of native calling and text. I think they would be in a similar position with any future portable. Having the entire PlayStation catalogue available going forward would definitly help things, but I can still see people saying, well it would be nice if I could use it as phone, but I just can't justify carrying around two devices, or I can't justify portable game player when I already have my phone. To this day I have people come up to me when I am browsing the web, watching videos, streaming music, or playing online on the Vita, and ask me how I am doing it. Some people ask if I am teathered to my phone, others ask if I get wifi (when there is no wifi around), and the rest just ask, how are you do that. When I tell people it has 3G, their face always lights up, and the next question is always, can you make calls on it. In the beggining I didn't know about Skype, so for well over a year I always said no. Then when found out about Skype the 3G Model was long discontinued. At first I got the responses above. After I learned about Skype many people were asking how much it cost, and what provider it was on, just to be let down when I had to tell them it was discountinued. To which they would ask why, and claim they would much rather have something like the Vita than whatever current iPhone or Android device they had. Now I get the same questions, and when I tell people I used to be able to make calls on it, they are dumbfoundedas to why that would ever go away. Even this year I have had people come up to me ask these questions, get these answer, ask why, and pull out their Phone and say, I would much rather have something like that than this. Even with the limitations, and the lack of apps. As someone who has carried around the Vita for almost 6 years now, I know what my friends and family want if they were ever to buy another portable PlayStation. I have been to half the states in the US, I have been over seas, and I know what the general feeling is, from what has to be in the thousands of co-workers and random people that have come up to me through the years in air ports, resteraunts, waiting rooms, and every other random place you can imagine. People want a Portable PlayStation that they can make phone calls on, first and foremost, without that, their is next to no interest. You know what the other two major questions are? Question 2: Can you play online multiplayer on that? Answer: With Wifi or teathering to your phone. Typical Response: Awe that sucks, you should be able to play on the mobile connection. I would get one if you could play (insert online multiplayer game) over 4G/LTE/Mobile or whatever word they use. Question 3: Can you hook that up to a TV and play with a controller? Answer: No, but they made a seperate device to do that. Typical Response: How lame, you should be able watch and play stuff on a TV or Monitor. That would be cool then. |
I don't necessarily disagree with the handheld having phone options in it, even if there needs to be a base and 'Pro' model, with and without. The question is what price would PS charge for an all in one device like that, and will people pay whatever that price is? Switch is $300 already, plus PS may not want to price their dedicated phones based on the 'Pro' handheld. Since they didn't add 4k BD to PS4 or Pro, it makes me think they wouldn't want to do it with the handheld. That would mean having a dedicated PS phone, and that just get's extremely complicated based on the path they seem to be on. Not impossible, just way too many possibilities and what if's when the phone comes into play.
If it were really going to happen, I would say make it a PS5 product, BC or not. If PS could design the handheld similar to the 3DS, where the screen flips up, but also comes apart and can be used as just a phone, but when you attach it to the controller half, it becomes a handheld, plus a dock that the handheld plugs into for TV with DS4/5, and even a separate boost dock maybe for checkerboard/true 4k. That way the controller portion has x86 and just uses the phone as a display, and the phone is ARM but only plays typical phone games on it's own. Controller half would also have it's own battery. PS games could only be played in handheld mode or docked. The base model would basically have a dummy phone that was just a screen, and the 'Pro' model would have a full fledged phone. Maybe you can take the phone/screen off, and use it to play with a friend like Switch? The screen may be a little small for that though. Something like this, where phone and handheld are merged, because I just don't see a gaming phone on it's own taking off. This or a PS Switch in a 'Pro' model that has full phone functionality. I just don't know how many people would want to carry around something as large as a Switch all day for normal everyday communication, plus the more than likely constant charging.
A lot of ways they could go, but I see the Switch type device being only somewhat likely. The phone itself, very unlikely. A phone/handheld hybrid? Maybe, just maybe.
