PS5 Remote Play Handheld Allegedly Has Just Four Hours of Battery Life

"So let’s await official information from the organisation"

Yeah right that ain't happening, people incoming to bash the device based on rumors.....

Was just looking to get a backbone, purely to play PS5 in other rooms in the house so I think I might just hold out for this. The price really will dictate it for me.

Hahahahaha surely not? So they’d release a device that can only be played over WiFi that lasts 4 hours? That can’t be right.

It’s not going to be well priced, is it..

Considering its for use at home it seems like a non issue.
Sure if you’re using it while out in garden it may pose a problem but if you’re just using it cos either family members are using main tv or you’re in bed, then if battery gets low just plug yourself in at the mains. Handhelds all the way back to the gameboy and sega game gear i’ve used while sat near a plug half the time lmao

Yikes.
Why did Sony really in rush to make product like that to compete with Nintendo?

@get2sammyb Hmm maybe, the vita oled battery and switch oled battery is better than 4 hours and they're running games natively so would assume consumes more power. So I'd expect this to run atleast 6 hours, playing gamepass on backbone one I can get over 5 hours from a full phone charge.

Maybe they should opt for a slightly smaller screen and ditch the dualsense features for standard rumble.

Steam deck! Makes you realise what they have achieved with streaming battery life of 8 hours with it. Sorry this new Sony device has very little appeal....

For my personal use case, that would be fine but I can see why it wouldn't be for others.

Oh geeze. I mean this is what I expect of a sony consumer product battery, it's exactly on the mark for their history. Much as I like to disregard the rumor mongers like this, I think he's just confirming my own prediction based on every other battery powered PS device ever. 4 Hours. The Logitech gets 10-12. This is just.....who approved this thing?

They'd have been better off buying a crate of iPads and stamping a PS logo on them.

@itsfoz $70 DS5 + $100 tablet + Sony Tax = $250 minimum.

@UltimateOtaku91 That's just it. The VR Sense runs about 4 hours. The DS Edge runs about 4 hours. This is a DS5 powering a giant screen and wifi without much more battery space than any of the above. 4 hours sounds perfectly predictable. The motors that make it "stand out" are also what make it a poor choice.

How will I complete all the dailies in my 10 live service games with only a 4 hour battery?

@pyrobolt Sony's the #1 LI battery producer in the world. We shouldn't have to make excuses that you can "just plug it in" every time they make a battery powered device with an insufficient battery for the purpose. Not when their "less premium" rivals that aren't the world's #1 battery producer seem to not have this problem.

@Anti-Matter
Nah they were way too slow working on this. The Wii U hasn’t been a thing for years.

I don't understand why we would expect more than that on a device like this.

Personally, I would much rather have the device have less battery life than be heavier.

Logitech G Cloud lasts a long time (my only comparison to this device). Not sure what they have in the specs, but I've literally used it for 4 hours and it was only down to like 60% battery life.

Seems reasonable given the technology in the dualsense and the fact it is powering an 8 inch screen

Dead on arrival. Sony loves to copy Nintendo, and yet still they haven't got a clue. Stick with Switch and Steamdeck.

@FinneasGH At least with the backbone it uses your own smartphone so can also use it outdoors.

Sony just can't seem to catch a break from the disaster-filled ride they're on right now...
PS5 lack of exclusive IP's... increasing the PS5 prices almost everywhere except the US for no reason whatsoever... a 4h battery on the Edge controller... the abysmal "state of" the latest "play" shows... the disappointing Showcase after ~2 years of waiting... their GAAS games receiving more money in the future than their big epic AAA IP's that got them their success... and now this.
What's next?

It would be trash for me anyway, they really should have copied the more useful Switch instead. I would also not trade my superior Vita for this new machine in a billion years!

Sounds like Sony is targetting 100 dollars with this thing wiht that battery life. Maybe 150.

well that's... not great. my iPad Mini would probably get close to double that I imagine? it's just streaming video and sending button pushes.

but maybe it means Sony is keeping the specs low to keep the price down? that would be a good thing! and hopefully you could play with it plugged into the wall / a battery pack if you really wanted.

@Blofse to you... for those of us who want it battery life is of little consequence as every issue has a remedy. Some will get it, some won't. That is the way of any industry.

I bet it comes with drift too.

@BlueBeemer to be fair, the WiiU failed due to a lack of dev support. Does Sony have that issue? I'm sure we can all agree that they don't. Also, they've been trying to implement remote play since PS3 which was ahead of the WiiU by several years. Questioning their motivations is a waste of time; either support it or don't.

How to ruin a lead

• Jim Ryan

@MattBoothDev right... because of Jim Ryan, Sony is in the best shape that they've been in for the last 15 years. He understands how to release low cost impact products so that profits continue to increase. I guess you know better though.

@thetraditional vita's sleep mode is pretty good, but it definitely doesn't keep going for years, maybe two or three weeks of non use before it gives up. Powering it off completely I assume they meant.

@nessisonett this is hilarious, why bother with this device? 😖😖

@SurgicalMenace Exactly people seem to say sony copy everyone yet they came out with eye toy as the first motion based gaming tech, first streaming subscription model and first second screen mirroring with the Vita.

If anything the WiiU is just a ps3 and a vita together.

If they sale it for say 99 quid, it might be a success.

@SurgicalMenace I'd credit Mark Cerny more with the PlayStation success than Jim Ryan.

This handheld is already dead on arrival as far as I'm concerned. Another PlayStation TV.

@nessisonett to be fair it can be played on mobile data too

@huyi why not? Depending on the price its a decent streaming device.

@SurgicalMenace ok then, I'm not stopping you buying it, it's your money and you do what you see fit but I'm just pointing out the flaws of this device and issues it has

@Andy22385 there are many options tho that do the same thing, I'm just hoping people are aware of that

@Andy22385 where did you get that update from? So far it's confirmed to play on WiFi only, maybe this is viable for some people if this can be taken outside?

As long as I can play PS5 in bed when I feel like it, 3-4 hours of battery is a non-issue. This product won’t be for everyone and it would be great for Sony to actually re-enter the handheld market, but this is a step in the right direction.

I saw it described as “more Wii U than Switch,” and that makes perfect sense. Here’s hoping there will someday be a successor to the Vita… One that actually sees ample support. The Vita was mismanaged and left out to dry.

@Andy22385 ok, I accept your response but I hope you are able to know there are other more viable options out there, make your decision from your count

@NEStalgia that’s 1.5 hours longer than our dual sense’s NES. Wow Sony is a leader in bad battery life and i am just not sure why. They optimize the hardware and software and this is all they can squeeze? Seems like a low priority rather than talent but i don’t know.

I'm the key demo for this (dad looking to game on my couch while vegging out with the PS5 in the basement) but even I think this is a hard sell when you can get a solid controller to attach to your phone for under a hundred bucks easily. Dunno how they saw the rise of the Switch and Steam Deck and thought streaming only was the way to compete. They shoulda just gone full VIITA. Yeah I already branded it for em.

Not really an issue considering you have to use it inside where there are plug sockets. The bigger issue is that being the case. If it was 5G capable it would have more of a use.

This is why I simply don't wanna buy any of these devices like the Steam Deck, even if they are cool, because all the battery lives on them are awful. The Switch and it's much lower power battery simply makes it a much better portable

Switch is what 3 hours, Vita 1000 I think similar. An Android phone/handheld is how long?

How long is a Chromebook battery life, which this handheld is compared to a Laptop as beefy native hardware then weak hardware but enough to access the internet, the cloud future and online documents/storage and games is the future. It's going to be terrifying.

@MFTWrecks they saw the rise of android handhelds thing is they have android they market streaming but it's still android games and offline use so its not as much of a waste.

This device seems like it wants to target that but be a PS ecosystem of subscription to PS+ and while still offering remote play/second screen apps of disk and digital PS5 games that you already have access to on other devices since PSP/Vita did it and since Android 2020 support of PS5 and PS4, PS4 app also and iPgone a month ago or so and whatever OS on this handheld we don't know yet.

If I wanted I can use phone apps not available on my TV by casting my phone with third party android apps. It's delays like 3-5 I think bur still possible if I wanted to play emulation or a music app or whatever and display it on the TV. If I wanted to be silly I could go ok PS5 to phone and phone to other TV in the house that can be seen on my network with a casting app to a new enough TV. XD Doing the phone to TV on my 32inch TV that I bought in 2016 worked fine even besides the delay on the TV it didn't bother me to watch videos but did emulation. It didn't work on my 3D TV because it's too old and can't be seen as compatible. It's be stupid but I could do it. XD

Now it's like you said it's good for remote play/cloud in bed but if your PS4/PC/Phone with grips which they announced the android ones and have iphone ones I think are out already then what's the point.

The Vita did this with PSNow and remote play, you had 3G models no one used that feature and it had exclusive carriers which didn't help either and a native game library for offline use this has no native library and needs wifi/data (I assume a sim.card with 4G/5G) for out and about or port forwarding remote play.

At least the Wii U was Gamepad and Console on a strict frequency no wifi needed. Get a battery pack and your good. Take the Wii U outside like a Switch just Both have to be taken around. It was like having a Wavebird GameCube controller to a GameCube or a VMU to a Dreamcast. You could probyrake a GameCube with a screen that third parties made the same as the PS1 with a screen. Or an Xbox Series S and a screen for it and play digital offline games.

Or its like a Chromebook you take it to wifi areas then a laptop with more power and local options for offline and online not online only. That's the best comparison besides it's markets to be like android Handhelds with streaming services.

The remote play video Sony released confused their potential audithe newcomers. This announcement of the handheld also confused them and annoyed handheld fans the back up audience they have for sales so I'd they have a confused audience and an unhappy handheld core audience they have messed up pretty quickly.

The cloud future is upon us.

They better be packing a 2 Metre lead

What Players Want: Vita 2 with non-proprietary memory cards.
What Sony Gives: A Remote Play handheld no one asked for.

This thing deserves to be mocked relentlessly.

@SurgicalMenace

The greatest idiocy here is this product, which serves no purpose that a smartphone can't already

@AdamNovice

There hasn’t been a handheld console with that sort of battery life since the DS Lite, which could crack 12 hours on minimum brightness with headphones on. The GBA SP could hit 14 at the same settings.

The PSP-2000 and 3000 were decent for what they were. Well the later revisions using the 1000 series battery. About 7 hours on games stored on memory stick. Cut that down a decent bit on UMD games.

The OG 3DS and Vita are where things really started going downhill in terms of battery life. At least with the PSP a battery change was quick so you could buy multiple batteries and swap them at convenient times. Both of those had less convenient battery swap methods. Battery banks were coming down in price then though so that was a reasonable workaround for both platforms relatively short 4-5 hour battery life. The Vita 2000 helped a little bit. The 3DS revisions helped that platform a ton. Especially the 3DS XL and New 2DS XL.

The original launch Switch is objectively terrible. The Mariko Switch (like I have) and the OLED are dramatically better, but still way less than the 10 hour mark. The kind of game you play makes a huge difference. If I’m playing 3D games like Advance Wars or Zelda it’s out of juice in about 4.5 hours. If I’m playing the retro emulated titles or fairly simple 2D Indie games it’s almost double that before it gives up the ghost.

It’s still crazy to me that the OG Game Boy from 1989 is probably still the longest lasting handheld console ever. You could eek almost 18 hours out of that thing on four AAs. The Game Boy Pocket and Color both got around 12 hours.

I don't get it. Is it a remote play only device? If so, wouldn't your smartphone be enough to remote play? If you can download and play games offline tho, that would be better.

@KaijuKaiser

I think what bothers me (speaking as a person who has gamed a lot on handhelds over my 3 decades on this planet) is that back in the day I never had to really worry about battery life with my GBA SP or DS Lite.

I charged them like maybe twice a week.

It’s not like that anymore. It’s a daily charge routine now with any portable game playing machine.

It’s not a crisis, but it is annoying. For younger people it’s what they’ve grown up with. But for those of us who have been gaming for forever including handhelds, it’s just annoying that we’ve seen huge advances everywhere on portable machines except for battery life.

@Fighting_Game_Loser

Steamdeck isn’t terrible depending on what kind of games you play.

It’ll actually outlast the Switch Mariko playing simple 2D indie titles.

But once you boot up something like Horizon Zero Dawn on it, get ready for that thing to be throwing low battery warnings after about an hour and a half.

Which to be fair, is still way better than most gaming laptops.

This device, if sold at a very affordable price, could be successful. I have no desire for it because I have a Switch and one thing I’ve learned about modern big budget 3D games (which are 99% of my PS5/PS4 library) is that they really don’t work well on small screens.

Most of my handheld gaming time are 2D titles or turn based titles. I adore playing JRPGs and tactical strategy games on my Switch in handheld. I rarely play them docked; 90% of my time on Advance Wars and the FF Pixel Remasters is me laying in bed and playing for an hour before I set it back in it’s case and crash. Games like those are almost tailor made for handheld play. Big type fonts, slower paced gameplay, simpler visual styles combine to make it a comfortable and relaxing portable experience.

But games like Zelda TOTK or Mario 3D World I almost exclusively play docked. Simply because those games are tailor made for bigger screens. I couldn’t imagine playing something like Spider-Man 2 on anything less than a 20 inch screen.

But I see a market for this thing. Especially people in households where there is only one console with one TV that it is connected too. I saw a need for that back in 2018 when I only had a PS4 and my ex-fiancé was living with me and dominated the TV for her TV shows. I ended up pulling out my old Nintendo DS from storage just so I’d have something to do because we did not share tastes in television. I tried remote play through my phone but considering the games I most played (I was cracked out on Battlefield 1 at that time) that wouldn’t really work.

So this thing has a right to exist. But the key is going to be cost. It needs to be 150 bucks for mass market adoption. 200 at the absolute most. There’s a lot of potential customers. But if you get too much more that then people will start questioning “why should I buy this thing when I could get a Switch Lite for not much more investment. And I can actually take it places rather than being stuck at the house.”

@Green-Bandit

Only controller with decent battery life Sony has ever made was the Dualshock 3.

And even then it was still pretty subpar compared to the 360 controller’s battery life on some scavenged half used AAs.

@Buckster

It does have a much bigger screen than a smart phone…

But I have a current generation iPad mini. If I really wanted to do remote play I would use that with my Dualsense synced to it.

@OrtadragoonX agreed, i still don’t get why gamers think AA batteries somehow make the Xbox controller outdated when you get near 40 hours on it. I have the rechargeable battery back and it get’s around 35ish, no Sony controller get’s that with the built in. So while i would say if battery life was equal then yes built in for the win, but when one has 5-6 hours and the other has 35-40 it just isn’t in the same league.

@get2sammyb
Agreed, as somebody who a few times a year is restricted to bed upstairs, this really appeals to me. I just hope it's priced ok 👍

I just don't see the point of this thing when a backbone cost less.

@huyi there are, I know I do it myself, I use my phone but of course that's not in my hands. I can see why it'd be a good product because there's not really anything available with that screen size in your hands yet

This would be pretty cool to play in the quiet hours at work for sure

Are you kidding me??? This has to be a joke…

Can't remember the last time I charged the PS3's DS3 controllers? They just seem to always have charge.
Same goes for the Vita - still get about 5-6 hours out of that before it needs charging. It's also the only handheld that seems to retain charge for months if it's not used.

Surely there'll be more to it... cloud gaming, maybe? Would you need premium if it did have that? Could you use it as a little second screen in certain games wii u pad style? Display the map or hud or whatever. Will it be able to link directly to the PS5, so you can still use it with terrible internet? Are they just aiming for a smoother remote play experience with dualsense features? I reckon it'll be at least £200.

@NinjaNicky Who are you to tell people to get out more? What makes you and your life so wonderful?? Because you have a wife and kids??? So the amount of game time you have is the exact right amount and anyone who has more time is wasting their lives?

Yes, everyone else shares that sentiment.

Even you, yes, even you.

@OrtadragoonX

Exactly!

Let's not forget this is still a streaming device, if you have terrible WiFi, this will still suck. Haha. I still think they should have done this in a different way. Even have something that can play downloaded games, basically a diskless console. Steam deck has already proven games can run on a small system.

To the surprise of no one, the Dualsense is pretty bad for battery life so including its features plus a screen was never going to be great

@Green-Bandit For some unknown reason they underspec all their batteries in ps products. Too little space allocated for batteries, too low capacity batteries used, and power draw too high for the specced battery. I can't fathom why. Probably margin. Reminds me of when he Ford hard steering columns catching on fire because they chose to exclude a wiring harness that cost less than fifty cents because it would save millions.

i don't think the pricing will have any bearing on its success. whether it is $100 or $500, it will fail. i would go as far to say that it NEEDS to fail for sony to understand that people want a proper handheld that runs games natively.

How do the hours compare to Vita, Switch, etc? About the same? Which by the way was fine. Poorly written article without doing those comparisons.

@NEStalgia Where do you get that nonsense. Sony isn't #1. They aren't even in the top 25 LI battery producers in the world. I even looked at the top 100 (from 2022) and they weren't in the list then either.

@Shepherd_Tallon A Dual Sense controller has a MSRP of $70. Then you add a 1080p screen plus some type of APU (nothing fancy) and memory (not much but enough to load app and OS, store multiple screen pages), have larger battery driving both the controller and screen for apparently 4 hours. You are likely over $200. I am betting close to $300 or $350. For reference we could use the Logitech G Cloud which actually has a smaller screen and 7" vs 8" for the Q is $350. Though Logitech screen is smaller it is touch (no word on if the Q is is) but overall, the device serves a similar purpose and has minimal hardware specs (low end Snapdragon CPU). Let's not forget Sony does tend to charge toward the high end with its products. So, expect similar pricing to the Logitech G Cloud.

@ImGumbyDammit wow, you're right, I was outdated, apparently they sold their battery division entirely, so they're apparently not a battery mfr at all anymore. They kept the Electric Devices division as merely a sales unit as a supplier and sell branded batteries only..... Sheesh, that was one of their only really profitable divisions.

@Buckster I've already decided that I'm purchasing the Q and the ear buds. I like to get a 1st hand experience of how they perform, early adoptor and all.

@Blofse i don't know what games you play on your steam deck but at best it's 3 to 4 on testing AAA games not even that 🤣 4 hours is around what all these kind of devices are steam deck, switch even phones if you use them for streaming games

@Shinnok789 not really it's just gaming in general right now after covid there still need to catch up what's xbox got coming starfield if its anything like redfall then xbox will always be in third place i don't see anything big in there show coming most will be 2024 and Pc and Nintendo is just in the same position it's the state of gaming for properly the next few years

@NEStalgia that is as good of an explanation as i could think of. That’s the only thing i came to conclusion on as well. Yeah it’s nut’s what a company will do to cut cost for profits. Knowing it’s bad and yet still doing it. PS users seem to be ok with the bad battery, so much so they make fun of Xbox Controllers for having 8X the battery life cause it uses AA batteries. So if i was Sony i would kept doing what they’re doing.

I would personally say with all the limitations of what this device can do, (ie be tethered to a ps5, and WiFi only with 4 hours of battery life) the price would have to be around £150. But we all know that's not going to happen.

@Green-Bandit Yep, when consumers celebrate mediocrity, you invest more in mediocrity.

If this thing is 4 hours it's just sad people are defending that it ruins the bare minimum. Instead of building a better, more versatile product, like competitors are doing, the minimum is fine because thay can plug in their portable device?

That might be passable if li ion lasted forever. But 4 hours out of the box means what in a year, 2 years, 3 years? How long until it barely gets an hour? Li gets worse the older and more used it is. And the lower you run it down, the more wear it applies, so running a 12 hour battery 4 hours all the time barely harms it, running a 4 hour battery to near empty all the time is devastating to it. Starting at 4 hours means it'll have a brief life before it's frustrating then useless then goes into a landfill and you buy it all over again.

@NEStalgia absolutely everything you said is true BUT WAIT… there’s more. Since it has a Dual sense style controller that likes to get stick drift in a few months does that mean this whole unit is a throw away after stick drift? Cause if so that is a no go for me. Companies should have long been using better components in controllers, looking at you Elite 1&2 but this thing has that going against then it’s going to need to be around $150 dollars or it maybe DOA before it hits shelves.

@Green-Bandit Yeah no reason to not believe it's not just a normal ds5 split in half with a screen in the middle more or less. Any issues the sticks have will be the same unless they set the dead zone higher which will avoid a lot of the mild drift cases.

I don't see less than 250. Logitech is 350 list, 300 Street and doesn't include a Sony tax and has a smaller screen. They might push for 300 or 350. Maybe if they're feeling generous 200 or 250. No less. Which isn't necessarily horrible if no other product existed but the Logitech is multi platform, has a 10h-12h battery. Is basically better minus the resistive triggers and bigger screen. Unless Sony massively undercuts in price, which is really unlikely I can't imagine why anyone would buy this instead of that. Feedback triggers for remote play aren't worth a self destructive battery that barely runs.

@NEStalgia yeah i agree. This will more than likely be priced wrong and it’s not what people asked for anyways. So i may be being a bit extreme to call it DOA, but less just say it could be close to that. Sony is in an interesting spot at the moment cause it’s like they kind of want to do what the competition is doing, but only a little bit. Like they want a handheld but not a true handheld, they want to release games on a service and PC like MS, but not day and date, it’s like they see value in Nintendo and Microsoft’s strategies but don’t want to fully commit and so we are kind of left with some things that feel kind of half baked. I might just be overreacting since the show didn’t have last of us multiplayer. Yes i am still mad about that.

@Green-Bandit Sony's handheld strategy has been weird consistently though. When vita faltered they just cut it and then promoted it as a wiiu gamepad for PS4. This thing is like an attempt at making a vita2 from year 3 that only does rp. But will probably cost as much as Vita without being a console. And it doesn't solve Japan's need for actual portable yet they're not fully cloud committed either.

@NEStalgia it’s a very strange concept for sure. I see most online saying this isn’t what we asked for. So i wonder what plans Sony has for it, cause clearly they know many have said this isn’t the product they wanted. I ain’t touching it personally. I will wait for Switch 2 as it’s the only handheld i need in my gaming needs. Sony is reeling a bit, i want to see what they will do as their momentum shifter. My guess would be show single player action/Adventure titles.

@Andy22385 so you never heard of a steam deck or other windows based handhelds that is out in the market regarding the screen size? There is a lot to choose from which is better that is what Sony if offering, you are free to choose whatever you decide to play on but know that there will be cheaper and better options out there

@Green-Bandit The device concept is ALMOST fine. It's a niche. I'm in the niche. Logitech seems to be moving the g cloud much better then expected at the high price (it's somewhat officially game pass endorsed.). It sells out often. But the g cloud is multiplatform and focused on streaming services including gp. This thing is locked to ps and focused on local rp. For probably the same price with worse battery.

If it pushed ps plus cloud that would be one thing. Maybe it will with Jim's vague "big plans" for cloud. So far we're not seeing it though.

@NEStalgia Cloud has to be the answer for this. It would be strange if not. Cause like you said at that point there are other devices out that are simply more robust and worth the money and time.

@Green-Bandit there's till time for them to emphasize this as a cornerstone of the hinted cloud push. But even then it's weird they're introducing it purely for local remote play then. Why not wait to announce it with the cloud push them announce a lousy uncompetitive product now only to announce the rest that makes it suck less later? Weird marketing if so. And even then if it's really part of a secret cloud push....... That 4h battery makes it that much worse than any other device. Plus it's funny only non multiplat one.... So still a bad competitor.

@huyi but can they use PS remote play? And this screen is far better than the steam deck. Personally this isn't of use to me as I'd rather use a controller and a tablet but it's certainly the best option for someone who wants to play their PS 'in their hands'

@NEStalgia True and throw in it’s ugly as heck and seems like holding it will suck. There is no way this is comfy to hold. Hell the Dual sense isn’t that comfy to me and now i have to hold it with a 8inch screen in the middle? Yeah i am out on that. This isn’t made for me anyways. So i am just enjoying your feedback and opinions of the device. But remember i only buy exclusives on PS consoles, so this is a bad buy for me when all my gaming collection is on Xbox.