I'd not used my PlayStation Portal in a year, but now Sony's new update has arrived I can't put it down

When I first reviewed the PlayStation Portal two years ago, I waxed lyrical about its potential – even stating: "If it had access to cloud gaming too, it'd be better still." Well, it's taken a while but now it's here in full, and the handheld has been thoroughly transformed.

To be fair, Sony first added the ability to play games over the cloud a year ago, but only in beta form and only for a select number of titles. Now, thanks to the biggest update the device has received since launch, you can play hundreds of games without having to connect the Portal to a PS5 or PS5 Pro. And, from my tests so far, that's largely lag-free too.

As well as launching in full and leaving the beta phase, Sony's cloud gaming option has been expanded massively. That's thanks to including streaming for a large slice of your own purchased games.

It claims that more than a thousand titles are now supported, so you should see an almost complete library of available games in a new "Your Library" section. Click or tap on one and it will (eventually) load for you to play.

As a games writer (as well as tech) I have a pretty decent collection of PS5 and classic games available in my collection, and it was difficult to find any that were missing from the list. Over a 100 titles were available to me as soon as I updated my Portal and opened the option, with many that I've owned for years but frankly forgotten about.

Indeed, that was one of the things that thrilled me first – that I could jump straight into games I hadn't played for a long time, but without having to download them first. And all on that sumptuous 8-inch 1080p display.

I'd also forgotten just how good the PS Portal screen is.

Admittedly, as I've intimated already, the experience isn't quite as instant as you'd hope – there's quite a pause between selecting a game and it starting, as Sony's servers fetch and open it up. But that's largely the same with Xbox Cloud Gaming through an Ultimate subscription, and PS Plus Premium is a fair bit cheaper.

Yep, sadly you do still need PS Plus Premium membership to access cloud gaming on the Portal, even if you only want to play your purchased games, but considering how much else you already get for your money, it's an added bonus.

The gameplay experience is also of such a high standard, that it's likely you'll want to pay the monthly fees to have the freedom of playing almost every game in your library, wherever you go.

Cloud Streaming for PS5 Games on PlayStation Portal - YouTube

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How the PlayStation Portal now works

At launch, the PlayStation Portal had just one main purpose – it connected to your existing PS5 and streamed games from the console to play remotely. It used a form of PlayStation Remote Play (which is also available on mobile devices).

A year ago, Sony added a handful of games from the PS Plus game and classic catalogues to play over the cloud instead, but more as a kind-of test than in full.

Both of those capabilities are still available – although easier to access through the new, redesigned homescreen. But the real winner is the option to play your own purchased games too.

All of the above will work when you are connected to your home Wi-Fi network and, depending on the stability and speeds, are almost indistinguishable than running games on a PS5. There's a touch of latency, sure, but nothing damaging to most instances of gameplay.

I played Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown over the cloud after installing the new firmware and was able to hit every perfectly timed parry move, for example.

Perhaps even more useful is that the PS Portal can also be hooked up to other data services, including hotel Wi-Fi and mobile hotspots. Your experience will entirely depend on the strength of the connection, but there's a setting to change the streaming quality from 1080p to 720p if you experience problems.

I'm yet to test remote connectivity fully with the new firmware, but have previously streamed from my own PS5 when on holiday at a Center Parcs – over the camp's less than thrilling Wi-Fi. And bar a downgrade in crispness, it worked well.

Is the PS Portal now an essential gaming handheld?

As I'm having a mini break again soon, I'll test the Portal remotely again and find out if the upgrade has changed anything in that regard. As things stand though, I can honestly say that this could have become the handheld of the moment.

Yes, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are now available – and yes, you can install games to play on each without needing an internet connection – but if you have a stable enough Wi-Fi connection to hand, do you really need to?

And both of those handhelds are not only much more expensive than the Portal, they only have a 7-inch display apiece.

I also own a collection of other handhelds, including several Android gaming machines – like the Odin 2 Portal, Ayaneo Pocket Evo, and dual-screen Ayn Thor. And they are far more adaptable, with emulation, Android games and cloud streaming available. But that 8-inch display combined with some of the best ergonomics in handheld history has me hooked once more.

Now I can play just about every PlayStation game I've acquired in the last five years, plus a large slice of the PS Plus game catalogue, do I really need anything else?

Perhaps the bigger question is, do you?