By comparison, using Remote Play to access my PlayStation 5 Pro is still as painful as launching the PS Portal. The handheld constantly fails to wake the PS5 Pro from sleep, so I have to manually turn on the console when I want to use the portal. When my PS5 Pro is turned on, Portal can usually connect in about five seconds, and it takes another five to ten seconds to boot up. Spirit of Yotei. The game generally runs smoothly via remote play, but there are occasional slowdowns that can affect intense combat sequences.
My biggest problem with PlayStation Portal at launch was that I just couldn’t trust it. Sometimes I could connect to my console remotely with no problem, other times it just refused. I have a pretty solid Wi-Fi 6 network and gigabit fiber from AT&T, so my connection shouldn’t be a problem. But something in my network settings doesn’t seem to work correctly with Portal for Remote Play, even when I connect my PS5 Pro via ethernet.
Strangely, the PlayStation Portal is much more reliable when streaming games from servers thousands of kilometers away than when remotely connecting to the console a few dozen meters from me. This shows how far cloud streaming has come: it now practically feels like playing locally. I guess this shouldn’t surprise Sony too much since the company only produces 1080p streams. NVIDIA’s GeForce Now has proven that you can stream PC games in 4K, as long as you have the massive bandwidth to support it.
The best thing I can say about PlayStation Portal now is that I can finally trust it, at least to some extent. I had no problem connecting to streaming servers to play Spirit of Yotei AND spiderman 2 on my home network and I was also able to stream games through a connection to my phone. But the portal is still a useless device if you’re stuck somewhere without good internet access. You can forget this on an airplane, even if the onboard wifi is fast, or in a hotel with poor internet connection and no cell reception.
Given the need for good connectivity and its clunky design, PlayStation Portal remains a poor gaming option, even on the go. You’ll need to find a large case that can accommodate the Portal’s massive controls and touchscreen, a combination that really feels like a tablet sandwiched between Sony’s DualSense gamepads. The slimmer Switch 2 is smarter to travel with, and I’d say the massive Steam Deck fits more easily in a backpack too. And it’s worth noting that you can also use apps on the Steam Deck to play games remotely from your console, and you can install the Windows PlayStation Plus app to stream games from the cloud.
It also continues to bug me that Sony hasn’t included Bluetooth connectivity in the Portal. If you want wireless sound, you need Sony’s Pulse Explore or Pulse Elite headphones. If you want to use AirPods or other wireless headphones, you need to connect a separate Bluetooth receiver. You’ll definitely want to invest in an audio solution if you want to play longer sessions on the portal, as the small speakers don’t do it justice. Spirit of Yotei convincing sound world.
As expected, cloud gaming didn’t make a significant difference to Portal’s battery life. I still saw four to five hours of gameplay (split into dad portions, of course). And if you’re doing a marathon session, you can always plug in the device to charge it. Since the Portal doesn’t use local hardware to run games, but simply decodes video and transfers data over the network connection, you can also expect more reliable battery life than other handhelds. Switch 2, for example, lasts between two and six hours, depending on what you play.
While I still can’t recommend PlayStation Portal to all gamers, recent updates make it a more viable option for PlayStation fans. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did with Remote Play. And if you’re already a PS Plus subscriber, this is the easiest way to access Sony’s cloud infrastructure. Or, like Engadget’s Jeff Dunn, it might even be the perfect way to tackle the challenges of new parenthood. At least Portal isn’t great anymore, but it’s not a Vita 2 either.