We recently reviewed the PlayStation Vita and had quite a few positive words to say about it. All things considered, the Vita is a great handheld gaming device that hopefully does very well and gets the software support it deserves. Still, nothing's ever perfect, is it?
After spending even more time with the Vita, Dale North and myself have been able to isolate a number of problems that are too small to ruin our lives, but provide enough minor irritation to at least be worth bringing up. We've selected ten nitpicky little niggles that we'd love to see rectified in the future.
USB Charging is a Hassle:
The PlayStation Vita can be charged by connecting it to a USB port on a computer or other electronic device, but it's not very convenient. Firstly, you have to manually set your Vita to accept a charge on an electronic device, rather than having it just work like USB devices are supposed to.
Not only that, the Vita cannot charge via a USB device while remaining switched on. You cannot charge it while playing a game (slightly understandable), but you can't even get any juice when it's in standby mode. As someone who likes to hook his devices up to a computer and intermittently check up on them, it's a bit annoying to not have it charge while remaining in standby. Instead, it needs to be powered completely down before it'll regain any battery life, which defeats the object of hooking it up to a computer in the first place. I gave up and just started using wall sockets, which I don't want to do.
So, you can charge via a USB port, but there's not much point. So ... what's the point?
Lengthy Boot Time and Standby Recovery
If there's one thing a Sony device loves to do, it's make users wait around. The Vita is no exception, taking its sweet time to switch on after being powered down. Not only that, but reactivating the system after placing it in standby mode takes far longer than it should.
When you press the home button to recover the system, there's an irritating delay between your interaction and the system's response. It's not exactly an eon of waiting, but it's just long enough to make you wonder whether or not you pressed the button. This is definitely a massive deal!
Double Tapping Apps
Whenever opening an app, you have to first click on its bubble icon to open up a specially designed splash page. You then have to click "Start" on that page to actually access the software. I don't quite mind that for games, where there are useful links to the manual and extra content, but why do I need to click through two screens just to access the Vita's settings page, or the PlayStation Store?
It's yet another example of Sony's tendency to introduce minor little inconveniences with absolutely no justifiable cause. The only reason you have to double tap is because Sony didn't implement a way for the Vita to differentiate from a game and another piece of software. After all, why should Sony put a little extra time in when it can just waste the consumer's?
Connections and Notifications
The Vita loves to spam its user with constant messages. Every time you put a new game in, you have to sit through a "please wait" pop-up and watch the icon bounce up and down annoyingly. Various games disable the network capabilities of the Vita during gameplay, and warn the player every single time it happens. As if that wasn't enough, the Wi-Fi Vita adds an extra annoyance by needing to manually connect every time it opens an app with online features.
Not being a technical expert, I don't know how necessary any of these notifications are, but I've decided none of them are required because they get on my nerves. So, get rid of them. All of them. Forever.
New Apps Installing in Dumb Places
You can fit ten apps on a single PS Vita home screen, and you can use multiple screens. I currently set up my system to have functional apps on the first page, games on the second page, and crap I don't want to touch on the third page. On any other mobile device, a new app would fill the first open slot available on the system. On the Vita, every game I install currently opens up on its own new page, even though the first two pages have open spaces.
This makes for a bit of extra fuss when personalizing the page, constantly having to shift apps from one page to another to get them where I need. All those empty spaces, and the Vita keeps ignoring them because it insists on doing silly things.
Lack of Multitasking
I'm definitely not among those silly critics who bash the Vita for not being a smartphone, but come on. If you're going to have a system with multiple features, it's a little embarrassing to not allow multitasking. I should be able to pause a game and go on to check some emails without having my game shut down. I should be able to do that, but I can't.
The bloody thing has a 3G-enabled SKU to appeal to the iPhone market, but it can't even let users check their Twitter in between game levels. That just seems self-defeating to me. Users are easily distracted and want to do more than one thing at once. The Vita doesn't cater to modern demands in that regard.
The Shittiest Browser In The World
The PS Vita web browser is one of the worst I've ever used. I'd take Netscape Navigator over that crap any day of the week. Dale didn't seem to think it was quite so bad, but I absolutely despise the thing. I don't know how it got so difficult to do something that other machines got right years ago. Hell, even the PSP has a better browser.
Slow, unresponsive, laggy, and unable to make even the most basic sites look right and function properly, the Vita's browser makes the Internet a sad and frightening place. I couldn't get the thing to open my emails correctly -- it would load up the email, but only render as far as the subject line before freezing.
Rambo thinks he had it bad in Vietnam, but he didn't have to use the PS Vita's web browser.
That Fucking Music
I've barely had the PS Vita for a week and I can't get the bloody music out of my head. When you're navigating on the home screen, this depressing mall music drones on and on, never stopping, never changing, just chirping and warbling for ten million years.
It'd be nice to set your own music, but instead you'll need to go to your settings and find the mute option in Sound/Display. Your choice is cold silence, or a repetitive drone that'll have you jamming knitting needles in your ears after fifteen minutes.
What is it about game consoles that think the cool, cutting edge thing to do is use cheesy muzak? It'd be like Skrillex wearing a flowery dress on stage ... though to be honest, he'd probably look a bit more sensible.
App and Data Management
I can't say I'm impressed with the PS Vita's ability to let you manage your application data -- or rather, how it doesn't. There's no way to check up on PS Vita save game data without opening the game itself, as only PSP save data has a menu item in the settings. If I want to check whether something has data saved to the memory card or the internal memory, either I can't do it, or the option is hidden away in some infernal corner of the console.
I also don't like how certain apps have to remain on the home screen. I don't think many of us need to keep Welcome Park on display forever, and some folk might not want to deal with photos, or use music, or fiddle around with Near. These items cannot be deleted, but they also cannot be hidden away. There's no folder or sub-menu to store away those apps one isn't interested in, so they have to stay there forever. BAH!
Needless Separation of Apps
There really is no need for Trophies, friends, party chat and even Near to be stored on the Vita as separate applications. They're all social and networking features, and they should all be used together in a unified social networking app. Having to open several apps to access several related features is pretty damn stupid.
This is indicative of Sony's larger problem of being unable to provide any sense of synergy in its software. Everything is so gated and fails to gel together properly. I want to feel like the PS Vita is a fluid and unified experience, not simply a dull conduit for a bunch of unrelated applications. This "close one door to open another" approach is lame.
Lame, but no deal-breaker. In fact, nothing here is a deal-breaker. The PlayStation Vita is a fine system and I really enjoy using it, but there are still all these little gripes with the thing. That is what Sony does -- it never really has one, big, all-encompassing problem. It just has a lot of minor issues that pile on top of each other.
Still, compared to the potential of the Vita and the fun already on offer, these issues are nitpicks that many can ignore. Just be prepared for them and enjoy your expensive new toy!
Contest:
4:00 PM on 02.16.2012 | 
Also "I also don't like how certain apps have to remain on the home screen. I don't think many of us need to keep Welcome Park on display forever," Man that would irk the crap out of me.
That, IMO, has the be the crappiest thing you listed and the USB charging one seems absurd. I can charge my damn phone and use it at the same time when I plug it in.
FIRMWARE UPDATES INCOMING!!!!
The reason why high power devices like the vita and ipad can't be charged on "most" computer usb ports is because they amperage coming out of those ports is too small. The average computer USB port only outputs 500mah while the ipad needs 2000mah and the vita needs 1500mah. Simply using the device while having it plugged into a standard usb port, the device uses more power than those usb ports can supply. There are some computers that do have high power usb ports that will actually charge things like ipads or vitas as if they were plugged into the wall. I personally have my vita charged off a 2000mah usb wall charger.
Its heavier than my laptop.
And the 3DS browser was only mildly better than PSPs, but still shit compared to my iPhone browser.
Seriously though, nice article. Great coverage.
in comparison,iOS version 1 didn't have multitasking, no folders, no copy & paste, no MMS.
but it got there gradually.
Anyway, i heard recently, that the browser will be made better, though i hope they include multitasking somwhere along the road as well. It's more powerful than a fucking smartphone, why can't it do several thing at once, while a simple smartphone can? (don't answer -_-)
It's playing while charging over a computer's usb port that you can't play and charge at the same time. You can charge while playing if you plug it into its own charger or a higher powered usb port.
I agree that the splash screen that shows up after you first tap an icon can be annoying, but most of them do have a use. The PS Store app screen lets you go straight to a "redeem code" page if you want to.
But besides those few things, this article is pretty darn spot on.
To say that again: People are claiming they won't buy a system because of a minor annoyance. These same people probably don't go outside because they'll be bothered by bugs and the sun is too bright.
OT: Sony has been trying really hard to convince me that I don't want a Vita. They're doing a really good job. These minor annoyances (to some) just make that beautiful device that had so much potential look even worse.
I know my iphone allows me to pause a game, go check email, facebook, dtoid, whatever, without losing my place.
In fact, I can switch between multiple GAMES without losing my place in ANY OF THEM.
Sony, you are WAAAAAAAAY behind the powercurve.
Also, memory cards. Sigh, I was so, so, so, excited for this thing too.
This is like bf3 levels of disappointment for me.
It would of been much better if did what the xbox does and download files and automatically power down when you turn off the console while a download is active.
Well it's nice to know that despite all the hate apple gets, it's fine that apple's outdated, several years old interfaces are an acceptable standard for Sony.
/sarcasm
I can't see how the Vita aims to compete with smart phones when its UI is clunky and its browser is horrendous. It has the game part down but it should not take one million updates to get things that smart phones get right on day one.
On a wall socket. Which I was not talking about.
Just some quick pointers -- you only failed to capitalize a few of the I's as opposed to all of them, and while calling me a pig is a solid basic insult, I think you can push yourself further than that. Experiment a little. Be creative. This is your time to shine. Other than that, your hyperbole is good and your stylistic direction is excellent. Having everything bunched into a single paragraph is always a classic touch.
I look forward to our future working relationship, and I can provide you with contact details for the "Jim Sterling hates the PS3", "Jim Sterling hates the Wii", and "Jim Sterling hates the Xbox 360" people if you'd like to compare notes and prepare yourself fully for the many wonderful years we'll be having together.
Thank you for the confirmation.
@tristan77,
Read the article. It's him whining about little issues. He states "I really enjoy using the system". I'm pretty sure he said to buy one, but be aware of these things.
It's probably just me, but the USB charging hassle section reads like "Green Eggs and Ham"
The double tapping apps issue makes me thing of some small nagging things I could say about some areas of the 3DS interface, which does the same thing. We get it handheld makers, theres a touch screen to use, let us use the d-pad and face buttons to navigate if we want to.
"You can fit ten apps on a single PS Vita home screen, and you can use multiple screens."
Ugh.. annoying.. As someone who likes to have his 3DS' screen filled with icons (not super tiny ones, but somewhere a few clicks up) I can see where this is going to bug me. I do it simply because I don't want to have to tap to the side so often to find my endless amounts of crap.. Obviously if feels like Sony's done this in order to make us swipe the screen more -again, we get it, theres a touch screen.
I'm with you on the whole lack of multitasking section, all of it.. Honestly, it going to sound bitchy but, if the 3DS can let me swap over to the browser then the more powerful Vita should too.
"Hell, even the PSP has a better browser." Again, I'm going back to the 3DS for this -I still don't quite understand why they needed to make that browser anything different from the DSi's.. Its even HARDER on the 3DS to get certain pages to load. Like, for example, Wikia pages.. I'm trying to look up whatever on a Wiki, because I can't find it in another guide, and I can't watch a video of what I need because theres no flash, but I'm being met with errors telling me the page can't be loaded.. Furthermore, the page fully grey's out, instead of being like the DSi where I could at least scroll around what was loaded.. The only real upgrade we needed from the DSi browser is it needed to be faster, and it needed to have more ram, so pages didn't overflow the memory in 3mins of use. All the Options in it were fine, picture viewing was better.. I just don't get why they made it a point to tell us "look, use this when you get stuck!" but limit us so dearly.
So yeah, I can see where the difference in the PSP and the Vita's browsers will piss people off.
"What is it about game consoles that think the cool, cutting edge thing to do is use cheesy muzak?"
Because muzak is generally cheap, or public domain.. Otherwise, yeah, I don't know how Sony couldn't higher one of its dev's to just write a decent song. Better yet, Sony does have a whole record label to pull from...
App and data management section makes it sound like you can tuck the things you don't want to see a few "pages" back. Like, with the 3DS I keep all the stupid crap I don't use or want (but keep because I'm a pack rat) on the second page. I never really scroll that way, so I never really see it.
"Needless Separation of Apps"
Only thing I can think of that sounds remotely like what it should act like is PSN itself reeling in all of these things and making it your go to place for all of this, specially when it comes to trophies, which I feel like should be tied to your profile, like 360 achievements do (I don't have a PS3, I'll be new to trophies, so I don't really know how they're handled yet)
But yeah, I don't see any of this stuff being deal breakers for me, but I do see how I might groan every so often about them.
My only real complaint is still just the price tag. I see little that's wrong with the hardware. Too bad no one bothered to be even slightly open minded with the 3DS.
When did the PSP come out? They've had since then to learn how to improve the UI. Sounds to me like the original PSP had a better UI.