PlayStation Vita: So what's the lowdown?

The PS Vita is available as a Wi-Fi equipped unit costing £229.99 and a 3G-enabled model at £279.99. Those are significant investments for even the hardiest of hardcore Sony supporters – even the cheapest option is still over £100 more expensive than the entry-level PlayStation 3.

Fortunately there’s more than enough technology brimming beneath Vita’s sleek black exterior to justify the lofty outlay. Now, for the highlights:

The 130mm OLED capacitive multi-touch screen is pure pleasure to behold – crisp, bright and pleasingly sensitive to fingertip inputs. Vita’s 960x544 resolution is a massive step-change over its PlayStation Portable predecessor, but it’s not quite on a par with the iPhone 4S Retina Display.

A touch-sensitive pad at the back of the unit practically invites new ways to play. The odd sensation of not seeing what your fingers are doing takes some getting used to, as a result it’s unlikely this novel interface will be used in scenarios demanding pinpoint accuracy.

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Front and rear cameras capture still images at 640x480, and videos in the same resolution at 60 frames per second. That’s not bad, although it’s a shame the results produced don’t match the HD splendour of the main screen.

Twin analogue thumbsticks will feel instantly familiar to fans of the PlayStation 3’s DualShock controller, as will the four fascia buttons, comfy d-pad and dual shoulder triggers. Meanwhile, a collection of onboard gyroscopes and accelerometers mean that every tilt and motion is seamlessly detected.

Certain games are playable on Vita and PlayStation 3. The range isn’t huge – Hustle Kings, Motorstorm RC, Top Darts, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom and WipEout 2048 (including WipEout HD and HD Fury download content) – but users need only buy the game once for it to work on both systems.

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A quad core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU and quad core SGX543MP4+. graphics chip give Vita enough grunt to deliver near PS3 quality games. Uncharted: The Golden Abyss is a particularly splendid example of what’s possible, and is PS Vita’s standout launch title.