Earlier today, Sony announced their plans to release the PS Vita Slim in the UK. To quickly recap, it’s thinner, it’s lighter, it has a longer battery life and there’s a 1GB block of memory built in, but sadly loses the OLED screen in the process.
It’s entering the market with an SRP of £180 and is set to replace the original design, with bundles and the actual pricing being worked on alongside retailers. If you want the OLED screen though, you might want to hurry up about it. There are several great offers and bundles around and the remaining stocks won’t last forever.
This is the same model as was released in Japan last year, so you might have seen some comparisons before, but since we have one of the new model Vitas in our possession, we figured we’d do our own anyway!
The PS Vita Slim is the bottom model in all photos.
Just from these images you can see the difference in the design, from the ever-so-slightly recessed touchscreen and smaller rear touchpad to the soft touch rubber used for the back and sides.
Heading to the screen, something which is quite difficult to illustrate, there is a noticeable difference in colour saturation, with the OLED of the original model more vivid. There seems to be a slight shift in the white point of the LED screen, which gives it a slightly different tint. Both screens have rather good viewing angles.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back with a more in depth look at the new Vita soon.
freezebug2
Sold, I ordered an OLED Vita phatty this afternoon for a very reasonable sum after seeing the recommended RRP of the new slim Vita, but mainly due to stocks of sealed fatboy Vita’s possibly becoming a rare commodity after the new Vita announcement. It’s on it’s way! ;)
Regarding the slim Vita, the micro USB slot addition is an absolute boon also the battery life extension, real shame they couldn’t have added an SD card slot though :P
TheShepanator
I think the new one looks a bit rubbish to be honest.
I wish you could turn the light off under the PS button, it’s really annoying when I’m playing in the dark
Stefan L
There’s no longer a light in that button, and these have now been relocated to live alongside the power button on the top. You can’t generally see them unless you tilt the console towards you.
rob_b
I like the slim over the phat :D
If anyone wants to buy a slim I’ll swap you ;)
Tomhlord
If the ergonomics are good, those new Start/Select buttons easier to press, the build quality still top notch and battery life improved, then for me, a slight difference in display colours is a small price to pay…..well, if the price was small.
Dependant on what the SRP translates to come 7th Feb and if there are decent bundles deals, I may be tempted. Lets see!
Cool pics btw.
ron_mcphatty
Looking forward to your review Stefan, its a shame the new model isn’t stirring up more excitement, I really love it.
freezebug2
I think that where it’s all gone wrong is with the pricing comparison being used to set the slims price tag.
ie. The original 2012 PS Vita WiFi launch price RRP was £229.99, so this £180 RRP price tag is actually in line with that for a slimmed down cheaper model. The big problem being that people are now used to a 2014 Vita WiFi/3G costing around £120 at best are not going to see the slims price as being good value for money.
I personally would prefer the slim model, but I’ve opted for the original Phat being better value not forgetting it’s additional 3G/GPS features, plus it might be difficult to get hold of brand new and sealed phat model soon with production having ceased.
The slim has more going for and is the better console I think but is held back by it’s 2012 pricing!
Spence1115
See, I don’t think the screen looks that different in the pictures, and so I wonder if it’d really be that much of a loss in real life.
Better battery life and micro USB charging (seriously, I HATE the proprietary cable crap), and despite the RRP its being sold for about the same as the old one anyway, so should be a good buy for someone who doesn’t yet have a Vita. Especially those with Playstation Plus who’ve been ‘buying’ the Vita games for the past year, all they need is a memory card and voila, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, Gravity Rush, and many other of the Vita’s best games.
freezebug2
So, that accessory port positioned atop next to the game card slot on the OLED Vita has been removed for the slim, wonder what it was intended for originally, they must have had some ideas being chucked around.