After over a year of trickling down news, social media hype and intense fanboy wars online, Sony's newest iteration of its mainline home consoles, the PlayStation 5 is here, promising a dramatic increase in all-around performance and some nifty new technologies inside.
Here is our review of the Sony PlayStation 5.
Technical specifications:
The PlayStation 5 packs a punch inside the hood, coming in at a theoretical performance of 10.23 teraflops. At its heart is an AMD-designed APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), with 8 Zen 2 cores with 16 threads, clocking in at a peak frequency of 3.5 GHz, while the GPU is a custom RDNA2 implementation with 36 CUs clocked at a peak frequency of 2.23 GHz.
The console has 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM (Graphics Double Data Rate 6 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory) with a total bandwidth of 448 GB/s. The primary storage is an internal SSD (Solid State Drive) soldered onto the motherboard with a capacity of 825 GB.
The APU is cooled with liquid metal, which allows for significantly more efficient heat transfer than most thermal paste compounds. The specific liquid metal used here is, however, unknown.
The console supports an output resolution of up to 8K, with support for 4K/120 FPS(Frames Per Second) output via HDMI 2.1.
In the box:
Unlike the PlayStation 4, which came in a thick cardboard box, the PS5 comes in a sleeve package with the actual box containing the console and its accessories inside it. The sleeve package has all the usual details: Design of the console, storage space, warnings for users, and the likes. It does feel a little flimsy, though, with just a couple of pieces of tapes holding it closed.
Inside the box are the console itself, with a separate box for accessories such as the power cable, the high-speed HDMI 2.1 cable, and a cord to charge the DualSense controller, all nicely covered with protective packaging. It also has a stand for the console, so users can keep it in either vertical or horizontal orientation.
The console and the controller:
The console, much like the previous PlayStation consoles, has a radical shift in design. Unlike the PS4, whose aesthetics looked like a mix of business and gamer-y, the PS5 has a strictly gamer-oriented appearance with its two-tone design and outrageous dimensions.
The console has LEDs to show the device's status like the PS4, but unlike the PS4, it looks just a little more subtle and accentuates the console's look as much as it serves an actual function.
The front of the console has two USB ports, one type-A and one type-C, along with the power and eject buttons (the eject button is missing in the digital edition, but it is otherwise the same as the disc edition we received). There is a Blu-ray drive to the right of the console (or the bottom, if you orient it horizontally).
On the rear, which also has one of the biggest exhaust arrays on a console, there is the standard I/O array, including two high-speed USB type-A ports, one HDMI out, and a LAN slot for those who prefer ethernet over Wi-Fi. The device is powered by an internal power supply, which connects to an 8-figure power connector. It also has a Kensington lock on the top.
The controller, at least on paper, looks to have the same buttons and layout as the PS4's DualShock 4, except for the redesigned touchpad, but don't let that fool you; it, too has a number of new technologies inside.
Setting up the console:
The process of setting up the PS5 feels a bit more simplified from the PS4. After connecting the power and HDMI ports to compatible sockets, the console asks you to connect the controller with a cord. From there, it's just a matter of choosing the language, network connection, rest mode power settings, downloading any software updates for the console and the controller, signing in to PSN (optional), and transferring data from the PS4 to the PS5 (also optional).
Once you've set it up, you can dive right into the UI.
The OS and UI: Blazing speed, beautiful design:
The UI of the PS5 looks like it was designed to pop right out of the screen, because that's what it does. Unlike the PS4 UI, which looks a bit bland and slow, the PS5's UI feels a lot more 'alive' in its appearance and snappy in its performance.
One of the biggest changes in the PS5 UI are the 'cards' and 'activities' features, which allow users to follow news from the game's developers, view screenshots and video captures, and even track their in-game progress and get walkthroughs for objectives they're unable to complete.
The PS5 OS also integrates the PlayStation Store into the main UI instead of it being a dedicated app, making entering it as simple as going left to it on the main screen and hitting 'X'. It is also redesigned on the PS5, looking much cleaner and being snappier.
The UI runs at a native 4K, regardless of what resolution your display is capable of outputting.
One complaint we do have about the PS5's OS is that it makes choosing between visual quality mode and performance mode for games a lot more difficult than it needs to be.
Gaming: A new era of console game performance
The PlayStation 5 is an absolute monster when it comes to gaming. We received a copy of Demon's Souls to review the console with, and the console had little issues rendering it at a full native 4K with lighting quality, particle effects, and texture resolutions that would be simply impossible on the PS4. It just felt more engaging and enjoyable and left us wanting for more.
While the resolution of games and their frame rates will vary on a game to game basis, Demon's Souls offered an in-game cinematic and performance quality setting: Cinematic runs at 4K at 30 FPS, while the performance mode runs at 60 FPS at either 1080P on a Full HD display or a dynamic 4K on a 4K display.
The console also supports boosted performance and/or image quality for certain PS4 titles according to Sony, but we were unable to test it ourselves.
The SSD: Sony's most important hardware choice:
The PS4 and Xbox One were hamstrung by many things: A weak CPU, for one. But it was the hard drive that was a source of grief for many a user, and even switching it with an SSD did not necessarily offer much help. However, the PS5 ships with an SSD, and it is blazing.
Packing a theoretical base performance of 5.5 GB/s, with accompanying hardware to ensure the bandwidth is not wasted; it leaves the previous console generation in the dust. While loading a game for the first time or reloading a level on the PS4 could take over a minute depending on the game, it took us merely a few seconds to boot up our copy of Demons Souls, and maybe 5-6 seconds to reload it after any death.
Sony is also promising a revolutionary improvement in game design with the SSD, but that will only be seen as game developers build their engines around the console's design to take advantage of the ridiculous speed its SSD offers.
DualSense: More fun than ever before
The DualShock 4 had the usual rumble brought over from the previous controllers which offered a sense of responsiveness, but the DualSense is in a league of its own.
It features a new haptics implementation for more engagement and precision, along with actuators for the trigger buttons, which allow for the impressive use of resistance and a very powerful overall force feedback, enabling the controller to simulate the objects your character is walking on and provide resistance in movements, such as pulling a bowstring.
The console features a demo game to allow users to experience everything the DualSense can do: Astro's Playroom. The experience of playing the game was unreal, to say the least: Walking on the ice felt like being on an ice rink, swimming in the water felt like being in a pool, and the motion sensors made what is otherwise a couch activity a lot more physical.
The best part about Astro's Playroom is that despite being meant as a demo for the DualSense, it is actually a very fun game in itself, with intelligent use of puzzles and platforming to deliver a wholesome experience, not unlike a high-quality AAA title.
Some downsides:
The PS5 is an impressive piece of hardware and software, yes, but there are always downsides to anything - especially in this climate.
For one, the console is absolutely huge. The PS4 was not exactly a very sleek package, but at least it felt like an improvement over the mammoth PS3, and the PS5 has gone back to the PS3's era in terms of physical dimensions.
And coming in at 4.5 kilos for the disc edition, it is also incredibly heavy. Clearly, you won't be casually lugging one to a LAN party. A teardown reveals the reasons for this being a gigantic heatsink and a much bigger fan to cool the high-clocked APU at the heart of the console, but it's still a little difficult to digest.
There is also the supply issue, though that is not entirely up to Sony. People all over the world are consuming electronics faster than foundries can push out chips, so expect supply shortages to run for a few more months, and this is without the scalpers trying to lift every PS5 to sell at double the market price.
The console also supports expandable storage via an M.2 drive, but Sony has not yet enabled it, so users will be stuck with only 667 GB of usable storage space till it comes through. The console also does not support native 1440p rendering at this time.
The Rs 50,000 price tag for the physical edition also feels a bit high for an entry point when coupled with the higher price for games. Sony could do better if they went for regionally-sensitive pricing in India, owing to the lower average wage compared to the US or EU.
And though the console has no shortage of games, be it native PS5 games or the PS4 backward compatible library lacks a definitive killer app at this time, with the likes of God of War, Horizon, and Gran Turismo still a while away, it's not exactly an easy sell for those who buy the console for the exclusives.
Conclusion:
The PlayStation 5 is a very potent performer even in its early days. It's fast, snappy and a no-holds-barred monster. It is likely to get even better as developers tune their tools to better use its powers, and though there are some shortcomings, we can safely recommend getting one, if you can get your hands on some stock that is.
Note: The PlayStation 5 was reviewed on a BenQ EX2510, a Full HD 144 Hz monitor.
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