Sony’s Next Generation Portable (PSP2) has been called a PS3 for your pocket. It is codenamed the NGP. So how much does it cost? Sony has no answer to that yet, but GameStop has the device up for pre-order and they have a price in mind. The Sony NGP page on their website has an estimated price of $999.99.

They probably just want to make it look like it had a price cut the day it comes out. Sneaky. Sony hasn’t mentioned when they will be announcing the actual price, but with the device is scheduled for an end of year release.

Sony’s next PlayStation Portable is codenamed NGP and will be based on five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual (augmented) Reality. It will be compatible with the PlayStation Suite and is backwards-compatible with downloadable PSP games and content.

It has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 5-inch touchscreen OLED display with 960 x 544 resolution, dual analog sticks, 3G, WiFi, GPS, a rear-mounted touchpad, accelerometer / gyroscope motion sensing, an electronic compass, and cameras on the front and back. Expect it to be available this holiday season.

We have some more PSP2 rumors today. Nikkei believes that Sony’s new handheld will have a data-only 3G connection allowing an always-on way to play multiplayer games or access the PlayStation Store. The connection would come from NTT DoCoMo in Japan and maybe other carriers.

We don’t have any info on how pricing would work. Discounted 3G rates could be the ticket here. Users might get a free but small amount of data every month and pay extra only when they need to expand the amount of data they use. In other news, the handheld’s touchscreen is now AMOLED rather than the expected LCD. Is that realistic though? Maybe not. AMOLED’s chief supplier Samsung is still facing production shortages that would keep it from large-scale AMOLED production until later in 2011.

We’ve been waiting for a long time and Sony may finally make the PSP2 public on January 27. A rumor from “trade sources” suggests that it will be shown at a special event in Tokyo. Publishers were reported by MCV as having known since late last year and would have had development kits for some time.

The company’s PlayStation head Kaz Hirai has already hinted that the system was in development and that it would combine touch and buttons. A full touchscreen along with a possible back touchpad and dual analog sticks might show up in the initial model. Sony is also planning a major jump in performance that might give performance closer to that of the PS3. The photo above is from an earlier leak and has changed since then to be a non-slider.

According to Asahi Shimbun, the PlayStation Phone is expected in the spring of 2011 for a North American and European release. That timeframe fits with what we have been hearing and while we don’t know what Sony Ericsson has for CES, they’re planning some new Xperia-branded models for MWC. I guess we will find out soon.

We also still don’t know how any of this ties into the standalone PSP2, or how gaming titles will be purchased. We still don’t know a lot of things, but hopefully soon we will learn.

Game developer EA has acknowledged that it had seen at least details of Sony’s PSP2. Senior VP Patrick Soderlund wouldn’t say whether it included the actual hardware or target specifications but noted that as a developer, they have had access.

In case you missed it, rumors have been circulating that Sony has been showing the PSP2 to developers to get them ready for development, but we don’t yet know the exact nature of the design. Some rumors give this new handheld as much power as an Xbox 360, with a backside touchpad and other additions. Performance isn’t likely to be that high, but it may use Android to run the same games and apps as the PlayStation phone.

Lately we’ve been hearing new reports of the PSP2. There’s talk of a touchpad on the back of the device for one thing. Apparently Sony has been showing it off to some developers. And now Kotaku has learned a few more details, like a larger display, an inch larger than the current PSP’s with high-def resolution.

Apparently Sony is still fine tuning the internal hardware, trying to overcome some overheating issues. They are looking at a release sometime in the fall of 2011. Probably for the 2011 E3.

The rumor around Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this week, is that select VIPs are getting hands-on with the next PSP, which is said to feature touch-controls on the back of the device for added gameplay input. Sources have told Eurogamer that it’s scheduled to go on sale before 2011 is over.

Other rumors say that the next PSP will contain dual cameras, a touchscreen, a four-cell processor and even embedded 3G connectivity. We can only hope that half of these rumors are true.

Rumors are swirling that Sony will be announcing a new version of the PSP in just a few weeks at E3. And we aren’t talking something like the PSPGo. We’re talking a true PSP successor.

With E3 just around the corner in June, we will know for sure soon. Don’t forget, Sony needs something to compete with Nintendo’s 3DS. Sony’s latest financial results show that they absolutely need a new PSP. How about 14.1million PSP sales in 2008, to 9.9million in 2009?

A rumor coming out of Spain suggests that Sony is working on the PSP2. The system would have graphical capabilities more or less like the original Xbox. According to the rumor, the GPU of the system is being handled by the same people who make the iPhone’s, Imagination Technologies. It’ll be able to support OpenGL 2.0 and Direct X 10.

Great graphics are one thing but the PSP’s real problem to date has been the lack of interesting titles. At any rate, we’ll have to see how this rumor pans out. But with better graphics, you’re gonna need more choice games.

Some of us think that the PSP could do with a major overhaul instead of just minor updates and upgrades. Designer Tai Chiem certainly thinks so, which is why he has taken it upon himself to unleash this radical concept on an unsuspecting world.

The idea is that the Sony PSP 2 is a small cylinder lightsaber deal with a flexible OLED display that can be rolled out when needed and rolled back when not being used. The electric charge that juices the display would stiffen it. It also sports stereo speakers on both sides. The design also supplies two joysticks, something PSP fanboys have been wanting. Sadly it will never happen, but it’s great eye-candy.

Samuel Lau took both devices, put on some Barry White, uncorked the champagne, then tucked them in bed together and closed the door. The result is a somewhat sexy sliding screen incarnation with a QWERTY keyboard underneath.

Unfortunately this baby is just a concept. Still pretty sweet. It’s a concept that comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera in back, a webcam in front, motion sensors, touch screen display, even geo-tracking so you can stalk other PSP owners. I wish this existed.

Check out this pic of a new Sony PSP 2 concept. It’s pretty sweet looking and has a pretty big screen. Kotaku had a contest to see what kind of cool PSP 2 concepts readers could come up with, and this is one of them. Watching movies on this one would be very nice. Unfortunately, they don’t really exist. There were some pretty interesting designs, and some haha funny ones, but this is one of my favorites.

In addition to the three colors we get here in the U.S., today Sony made it known that those in Japan will get 3 more metallic pastel-looking colors to select from for the PSP lite. The three basic colors available are black, white and silver, with the additional “lite” colors being pink, purple and blue. No word on these colors officially coming our way but you can bet that some of them are likely to make it to the U.S. one way or another.

Source via Engadget

For a few weeks there has been a fair amount of talk about a new PSP design coming from Sony. Now Kotaku is reporting from inside sources what they believe to be the final specs for what they are calling the “PSP Slim”, although an actual name hasn’t been released.

The new PSP2, or whatever it will be called, isn’t a total redesign and will be using the same hardware from the existing PSP, but it will sport a “much slimmer design”. The battery life is expected to quadruple …