After a couple hours of use and playing a few games:
- The overall design is nice, but looks a bit too much like the PSP...I would have liked it to be just a touch thinner with a further step away from the PSP design. I don't have any suggestions for a design, but it just feels a bit familiar...which makes it feel a bit dated in my mind.
- The screen is really good, nice size, nice colors, black blacks (hard to tell where the screen stops sometimes), Rayman Origins looks amazing...the kind of amazing that you want to show it to people. I felt the need to show it to my wife when I was playing Rayman Origins. I dowloaded the Pilot episode of Touch from the PS Store for free and it looked really good. Crisp.
- The dpad and buttons are great...not too small, solid, good click feel.
- The analog sticks are small...really small...short travel....when compared to the dualshock. They will take some getting used to..and I am a bit worried I may not get used to them, but I hope that isn't true because I absolutely want to play Unit 13 and COD with the Vita...and I have suffered through quite a few PSP games that clearly needed a second stick or slider. When playing Uncharted (only played it for 5 minutes), I was having trouble sniping when I was just using the analog sticks, but was able to easily snipe by moving the PS Vita around in the air. I hope all shooters allow that...it worked really well.
- Speakers seem loud enough...clear enough.
- The UI works well, in fact, I am impressed...it didn't take more than a few minutes to figure it out. If you have used iOS or Android...it shouldn't take you long at all to get into it. There is a notifications corner, which is nice. Multitasking with open apps shown at the top. Simple and easy...straight forward. Fast. Responsive.
- The system feels good in the hands, a bit better than the feel of the PSP and PSPgo...although being plastic makes it feel light and not as solid as an iPhone or even my Droid X2. I would have preferred more metal.
- The game cartridge flap is hard to open. Need fingernails.
- The touch screens work great...both of them are just as sensitive and as accurate as my Droid X2 or iPhone or ipod Touch.
- The browser isn't that bad...I could see myself using it regularly...it does checkerboard a lot when scrolling, but it seems to load sites fast and is responsive for the most part. Loads websites as a desktop browser instead of a mobile browser, which I like. I haven't looked into the options to see if that can be changed. No flash though. So I will be using my Droid X2 for most of my browsing.
- The cameras suck. I new they sucked, but man do they suck...I don't even want to look at videos or pictures taking with the cameras on the Vitas screen...they look bad. Grainy. Washed out colors. This is seems to be a big mis-step...or maybe low-resolutions are needed for the AR games, but I would have loved to take 8 MP photos and shown them off on the Vitas screen.
- There are no apps to download at the moment from the PS store. Kind of a bummer. But I know that will change...hopefully Sony starts populating this fast. I would use the Vita over my phone (due to larger and better screen) when at home if it had apps for GMail, google reader, facebook , google+, YouTube, fitness/calorie counter, etc.

Simply amazing! So far i am loving everything about it. The screen is so beautiful and fun to touch. I'm also loving Uncharted; it deserves nothing less than a 9.

The one thing i havent found yet are the ar demos. But those still have a week to get released. And of course I'm using it right now!!!

First impressions? Probably something like: HOLY SHIT! THOSE ARE IN-GAME GRAPHICS!?!

I have not gotten my hands on one yet though.

If it gets great third party titles like Battlefield this might actually be the first Playstation I buy.

Demos are up

Also, I didn't not above, but startup time from system shutdown is fast. I did not time it with a stop watch, but it is a matter of seconds...not minutes. Maybe like 15 seconds total from holding down the power button to being able to use the system. And that is with a Little Deviants game card in the system...which adds a few seconds to start up. My Droid X2 takes nearly 3 minutes for startup

The more I think about it, the more I think Sony should be showing of the UI/OS more...it is pretty simple and seems to be on par with iOS and Android.

Depending on what other functionality can be built into it, I don't see why Sony wouldn't consider making another PSP phone, assuming they can package the components into a more reasonably sized package with a smaller display. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to use the PSV OS for such a device.

Technically, the only thing the 3G Vita doesn't do is access AT&T's cellular network for the purpose of phone calls.

Kaz or someone else already said that interface is build not only for Vita but could be used for other devices too.

But instead of PSP phone  Mk II they should concentrate on making sure that once you have Vita no tablet is needed. So add emailing support, pdf and other ebook aps etc.

Well, there's no point in a PSP Phone 2 if the Vita doesn't gain significant traction; it would be a damaged brand.

And while I wouldn't mind having the ability to read PDFs or buy e-books (the closest thing the PSP had was the comic book portal which is being shuttered) and at minimum, e-mail support should work with browser based e-mail, I really don't see the Vita replacing an e-book or tablet PC. Personally, I'd settle for a web browser that worked as well as the iPad's and deal with reading things on a relatively small 5" display, but I'm still seeing the Vita as primarily an entertainment device more than a replacement for any other device (that isn't a dedicated gaming handheld).

If the Vita browser ever works as fast as the iPad's and as smoothly, I'll have my reason to keep paying $15 a month for 3G service.

All i can say is bad ass, i love mine. I can see it replacing my ipad as soon as apps start rolling out. Everything just works, the os is a real joy. The web browser is pretty good, but i do miss touching the top of the screen to scroll up quickly. I cant wait to see how this evolves over time.

Is the browser really that usable?

It was the main reason why I wanted a 3G model, but most of what I've heard so far has been pretty much unanimously negative which lowered my expectations to the point where I don't even see myself keeping the data plan subscription going.

The resolution is acceptable and the screen size means it should be theoretically easier (on the eyes) to use than say an iPhone considering it has a touch interface. I've mucked with the PSP browser (game pad input makes it impractical to use) as well as the 3DS browser (low res makes it unusable for most sites) and then there's the fact that neither can connect without a WiFi port (severely limiting data access).

Initially I had hopes for the PSV as a 3G browser device, but currently I'm in the wait and see for myself club.

I suppose the real test is if it's good enough that I find myself carrying the PSV anywhere even though I always have an iPhone on me.