PlayStation Portal | A Casual Gamer's Review

The PS Portal can't do it all (and that's okay).

Built for One Thing, and That’s the Point

The PlayStation Portal exists to do exactly one thing: give you access to your PS5 over Remote Play. There are plenty of devices that already offer this, often alongside access to a whole host of other gaming services. But if you’re a busy parent and all you want is to play your PlayStation 5 while someone else is using the TV, the question isn’t whether the Portal can do everything. It’s whether it does that one thing better than anything else.

I’ll admit I had my reservations going in. I’ve used Remote Play on a number of devices and, while it’s always worked decently, I never felt it worked well enough for Sony to pin an entire product on it. A lot of people were hoping for a proper dedicated handheld, something to carry on the legacy of the PSP and the PS Vita, and getting what amounts to a PS5 extension felt like a strange decision. The most egregious omission in many people’s eyes was the decision to restrict audio output to Sony’s Link technology, meaning you can’t use Bluetooth headphones with the Portal. There is a headphone jack in the rear, and plenty of Reddit users have managed to connect AirPods via a USB dongle, but it does feel like a cynical move, part of Sony’s broader push to lock you into their own ecosystem.

Still, I put those caveats to one side and decided to go in with an open mind. And from the moment I opened the box, I was glad I did.

A Premium Piece of Kit

Opening that box, there’s a genuine sense of excitement — this really does feel like a proper PlayStation product. Sony have essentially taken a DualSense controller and slapped an 8-inch LCD monitor right in the middle of it. On paper it sounds like Frankenstein’s monster, but in your hands it makes a surprising amount of sense. It’s noticeably lighter than a Steam Deck, which means you can hold it comfortably in bed for extended periods. The controller grips protrude from the screen in a way that also lets you hold it in one hand if you need to, which is genuinely useful when you’re a parent who might need to pick something up mid-session.

The device is also narrower than it looks in other people’s videos. The distance between your hands feels natural, without putting undue strain on your shoulders during longer play sessions. And since this is essentially a DualSense, you get all those haptic feedback and rumble features intact. The analogue sticks feel slightly reduced compared to the standard controller, but every other button is consistent, which really helps when you’re switching between the Portal and a full controller on your TV.

The Display Is the Star

The screen deserves its own moment. At 8 inches it’s just a touch larger than my Steam Deck’s display, but it gets significantly brighter and runs at a full 1080p, compared to the 720p ceiling on most competing devices. The colours are vibrant and the image is crisp. Even knowing it’s all being piped through Remote Play, the quality of the games I played was genuinely impressive.

The screen also handles fingerprints well, which matters because touchscreen controls (used to replicate the PS5’s DualSense touchpad) are accessed by tapping directly on it. They’re sensibly positioned near the thumbsticks so you don’t have to break your grip to use them. The one downside is reflectivity: compared to the Steam Deck’s nanotexture glass, the Portal’s screen picks up considerably more glare. In practice, if you’re using it indoors and holding it in front of you, it’s rarely a problem. And if you’re playing in bed, the display dims to a genuinely low level without disturbing anyone sharing the space, which is a small but meaningful detail.

My favourite feature, though, is how the Portal handles sleep. Put it down briefly, come back a few minutes later, and you pick up exactly where you left off. That kind of seamlessness isn’t guaranteed with other Remote Play setups, and it makes a real difference to how the device fits into everyday life.

The Remote Play Experience

This is where it all comes together, and where the Portal genuinely surprised me. The gaming experience is as seamless as I’ve encountered on any Remote Play device. You do need a solid Wi-Fi setup; I have my PS5 connected to the router via ethernet, which helps enormously. The UK’s home broadband speeds aren’t always brilliant, and I did notice that playing during peak hours introduced more jitter than off-peak sessions. If your PS5 is mid-download, that’ll affect performance too. There were occasional artefacts and moments of instability, but nothing that derailed a session.

Over several evenings I played three to four hours of Spider-Man 2 in what I can only describe as a beautiful experience. Leaning back and watching those cinematic cutscenes unfold on that vibrant screen, in bed, with nobody fighting over the TV — it felt genuinely special. Input lag is present but negligible, and even busier combat sequences held up well. Booting the PS5 and diving into a game within seconds was something I didn’t fully expect, and it exceeded my expectations every time.

How Does It Stack Up Against the Alternatives?

The comparison most people will reach for is the Backbone One controller, which even comes in a PlayStation aesthetic and plugs directly into your phone. It gives you access to everything from Apple Arcade to Game Pass to Remote Play, at roughly half the price of the Portal. I tested the Backbone One for this channel and it didn’t feel anywhere near as comfortable to use as the Portal. I also understand the appeal of something you can slip into your bag for a spare minute of gaming on the go, but I always want my phone to be responsive and available, particularly with a young child in the house. Draining the battery unnecessarily isn’t something I’m keen on.

If you have an iPad lying around, you can pair a DualSense and play on a much larger screen, but you’re capped at 720p, and on a bigger display that compromise becomes noticeable. Input lag is also more pronounced. And practically speaking, you need somewhere to put an iPad; most people aren’t going to balance it on their knee, and in a household with small children, anything left within reach is fair game.

The most interesting comparison is with the Steam Deck, which offers the same compact handheld form factor and, somewhat bizarrely, actually gives you access to more PlayStation titles than the Portal does, including PSP and PS Vita games through emulation. I’m a big fan of the Steam Deck and even put a white dbrand skin on mine to lean into the PlayStation aesthetic while using Remote Play. But getting Remote Play running on the Steam Deck requires dropping into desktop mode, finding the Chiaki app, and hunting down custom controller profiles, and even then the touchpad behaviour can cause problems in games like Spider-Man 2. It runs at 720p and, in my experience, is noticeably more prone to glitching than the Portal, though I’ll admit I’ve only had it for a couple of days at time of writing.

The gap in quality between the two Remote Play experiences is real. And if the PS5 is your only console, the Portal’s limited scope stops being a weakness at all.

Final Thoughts

The PlayStation Portal is a surprisingly impressive device, but only if you go in with the right expectations. It won’t replace a dedicated handheld, it won’t give you access to a broader gaming library, and Sony’s decision to lock down the audio output is frustrating. But for parents and busy adults who just want to enjoy their PS5 without the TV, it delivers a Remote Play experience that’s more polished and more reliable than anything else I’ve tried. That’s a narrow pitch, but for the right person, it lands.

My recommendation: If your PS5 is your primary console and you’re looking for the smoothest possible way to play it away from the TV, the PlayStation Portal is worth it. If you want a broader gaming experience or already own a Steam Deck, stick with that.