Does the new PlayStation Vita appeal to you? I had never considered buying one before, and with the dawn of the PS Vita TV for $99 I’m still not sure if I’d buy one now. That doesn’t mean the new version isn’t a whole lot thinner, lighter, and overall sexier, though. According to Sony, it’s 20% thinner and a fifth lighter than the original. Those are substantial improvements when you consider that this is something you hold in your hands constantly.
Of course, there had to have been trade-offs or at the very least changes to make this work, and the most notable of these is that the new Vita will utilize an LCD panel, not the highly lauded OLED of the original device. Though this immediately raises a red flag for most folks who understand what was so good about an OLED in the first place, Sony is here to say that we need not worry our little heads. Andrew House of the PlayStation Group met with reporters recently to set the record straight, and shed some interesting light on the subject.
“The main reason is that the LCD panel can now realise an image quality as high as that of the OLED panel,” House explained. Apparently the new screen helps reduce the Vita’s thickness, and since the difference in image quality is now negligible there was no reason not to choose LCD this time around. It makes perfect sense – how true it is remains to be seen, but I’m sure the only people who would notice are owners of the current Vita, perhaps not the target audience for this new device anyways. Best case scenario, there truly is no noticeable difference.
In line with current industry trends, the new PlayStation Vita is going to be available in colors including Black, White, Lime green and White, Light blue and White, Pink and Black, and Khaki and Black. Khaki!? That sounds classy as hell. Time to pull a 180, I’m sold.