After years worth of rumors and months of anticipation and hype, the PlayStation Vita has arrived. I've had my hands on the Vita for about a week now, and it hasn't disappointed me yet.

The Vita was officially announced and unveiled a little over a year ago at the "PlayStation Meeting" in Japan on January 27th, 2011 (although at the time, it was known as the Next-Generation Portable, or NGP.) The true power of the system was shown off when it ran several PlayStation 3 titles, such as Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo Kojima took the stage that day and claimed "On [Vita], we can enjoy the same quality as the PS3." In my experience so far, the Vita is living up to that statement.

HARDWARE DESIGN & LOOK

Before getting my hands on the Vita, my biggest complaint was that it just looked too eerily similar to its predecessor, the PSP. I was hoping for some radical new design with Sony's second PlayStation handheld. However, as soon as I unboxed it and felt it with my own two hands, the overall shape and button layout is just about perfect for portable gaming. The size is quite a bit bigger than I was expecting, but with a 5-inch OLED touchscreen, I'm not complaining at all. The only drawback is that for a portable device, it's a bit too big to fit into a normal pants pocket. You are going to need cargo pants or a backpack if you need a place to put it when you're not playing while you are "on the go."

The most noticeable feature of the Vita is the enormous screen, at 5 inches. The screen itself is glorious. Despite an obscure resolution of 960x544, it offers the clearest picture of any handheld device. For those of you that are concerned about the battery-life and plan to turn down your brightness all the way to save battery, don't worry about losing the experience. Even at the lowest brightness setting, the picture remains crisp and clear. Before playing Uncharted: Golden Abyss, I turned down my brightness all the way to test out all of the settings. I got halfway through the game before I realized that the brightness was turned all the way down. The fact that this massive screen is also a touchscreen is a matter all its own, and I'll touch on that in a bit (pun intended.)

BUTTON LAYOUT, TOUCHSCREEN, & FEEL

Yet again, before getting my hands on it, I was also concerned about the button layout. When comparing it to the PSP's button layout, the Vita's d-pad and other front-facing buttons are considerably smaller and spaced closer together. A gamer with large hands would understandably have reason to worry, but after letting some of my gigantic 7-ft tall friends play, it didn't seem to be an issue. The overall feel of the buttons is also improved over the PSP's. The buttons seem to be raised up from the device a little bit more, which makes them easier to push.

As for the rest of the buttons, their positioning seems pretty good for the most part. If you are a PSP gamer, having the volume buttons on the top of the device and the Start button off to the right of the screen will take some getting use to, but it's a good change. We promise. Also, with two analog sticks (which I'll address momentarily,) the Vita is almost as complete as a Dualshock 3 controller. The only buttons missing are the L2 and R2 (and L3 and R3, if you want to get technical, since the analog sticks aren't clickable.) With the idea of using your Vita to play PlayStation 3 games using Remote Play, I wonder how the lack of these 4 buttons will affect that, if at all.

Speaking of analog sticks...there are two! With how natural and comfortable they are to use, it makes me wonder why Sony didn't implement two analog sticks into the PSP. In first-person shooters, you can now look AND walk around AT THE SAME TIME. For FPS gamers, this second stick is a true pleasure.

With the still rising popularity of touchscreen smartphone, iPod Touches, and other things you can touch to make do stuff, it was nearly inevitable that Sony would include a touchscreen with the Vita. Again, though I was unsure of this idea at first, my concerns were once again laid to rest when I got a hold of it for myself. The responsiveness of the touchscreen is definitely impressive for an already powerful machine, but putting it up against something like an iPhone is almost unfair. The iPhone's touch interface is no doubt superior and far more accurate, but still, the Vita's is definitely not bad. For a device that also has physical buttons, I'm chalking the touchscreen up as an added bonus.

The back of the Vita is decked out with a (stylish) rear touchpad. While it seemed like an odd concept to me when this feature was first announced, the ways that the game developers have integrated this touchpad into their games is a joy to see and play with. In a game like Uncharted, you can use the touchpad to do things like get Drake to climb ropes. Or, in Escape Plan, a game that puts this feature to even better use, you have to use the rear touchpad to move objects or interact with your character. Although I feel that the full concept and use of this rear touchpad has not been fully realized yet, it is still a very fun (though unusual) addition to the experience.

BATTERY

A big problem with portable gaming nowadays is battery life. But we have only ourselves to blame with our needs for better looking games, touchscreens, cameras, and internet. Seriously, go turn on your GameBoy Advanced and see how long that battery lasts (hint: a whole lot longer than you remember.) The Vita's battery is no worse or no better than the 3DS', and it's about as advertised if you have all of the usual settings turned up or on. With the brightness turned down, wi-fi on, and sound at about half-way, I was able to get roughly 5 hours out of the Vita while playing Uncharted.

You have to remember, though, anything extra is going to drain battery. So if you want to make the battery life last as long as possible, turn the Wi-fi off, the brightness all the way down, and mute the speakers. Even though the Vita's play time is not perfect for long airplane flights, it's definitely not bad for most other uses. If you are going on a trip, though, don't forget your power cord.

The power cord itself is actually a clever thing. To prevent you from having to purchase separate chargers, the charging cable is actually a USB adapter and AC adapter all-in-one. The USB cable that goes from the Vita to the AC adapter is a separate USB cord, which you can disconnect from the AC adapter and use to charge the Vita with a computer or laptop if the wall outlet just isn't good enough for you anymore.

HOME SCREEN & OPERATING SYSTEM

The XrossMediaBar that we have all come to know and love on the PlayStation 3 and PSP is no more. The Vita has introduced to a hip new thing called "LiveArea." Instead of the familiar horizontal menu, we now have bubbles (large, circular icons.) These icons are sorted into pages. Each page can hold 10 icons. An icon is automatically created for basically anything and everything that has been installed on your Vita: games, apps, settings, etc. This LiveArea/home screen area is completely touchscreen operated, though. Using the physical Vita buttons will get you nowhere...

The customization is on par with the iOS 5, if not a bit better. You can arrange and sort your icons to your liking by pressing down on one of them for a few seconds, and then dragging them to your desired spot. For example, I have the icons for the 3 games that I'm playing through right now (Uncharted, Escape Plan, and Super Star Dust) on the top row of the first page. Apps that I don't use often, such as Maps and Party, are on my second page.

You can also customize the background for each individual page of icons. Whether you want to use the default colors or your own images, you can assign each page its own look. For example, I currently have my first page set to a nice blue background while my second page is red (I need to get more creative.)

Don't let these icons fool you, though. Just by clicking on the icon doesn't mean that you are launching that game or app. Clicking on an icon brings up that app's LiveArea. The LiveArea is a page that will contain the button that actually launches the app or game itself, a link to the app or game's official website, a game's digital instruction manual (because we're going green, apparently,) the PlayStation Store for any relevant DLC, and an activity log of what you and your friends have done related to that app. If there is a more recent software version for a game that you have, a button will appear in that game's LiveArea for that as well.

Although I am a fan of the organization and cleanliness that the LiveArea interface brings to the Vita, some critics are not fond of the idea that you now have to take an additional step to launch a game...but in all honesty, it's only an additional 2 seconds. It's really not a big deal.

Pressing the PS button on the Vita will minimize any apps or games that you have open and allow you to browse all of the LiveAreas that you currently have running. This is actually a really neat feature that is still hit and miss on the PS3 and PSP. Say you are playing a game, such as Uncharted. By pressing the PS button, the game automatically pauses and minimizes to allow you to use other apps without completely closing the game. This is really nice if you want to check Facebook or Twitter and then be able to jump right back into your game without having to reload it. You can easily just go back to that game's LiveArea, bring up the game, and the game is paused right where you left off.

To avoid having dozens of LiveAreas open at once, simply "peel" or "swipe" down the upper-right-hand corner of the LiveArea page that you want to close. Small icons in the top center of the home screen (to the left of the time and battery icon) will show you which LiveAreas you have open.

If you have ever had an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, the LiveArea/bubble icon interface will come naturally to you. And as much as I love the simplicity of the XMB, this LiveArea deserves some love as well. The ability to run and minimize multiple apps and games at once and quickly switch between them is an extremely nice feature to have. It makes running background downloads a breeze.

INTERNET: 3G, Wi-Fi, REMOTE PLAY

If you are not the type of gamer that plays online WHILE gaming on-the-go...don't worry about getting the 3G model of the Vita. While I am not saying that it is not worth it...the monthly AT&T subscription and possible spotty 3G service may not be worth your money. Just find a wi-fi hotspot if you really need to access the internet with your Vita (keep in mind, wi-fi is free, 3G is not.) With that said, I have a 3G model, and I have yet to use the 3G. Wi-fi has met my needs so far.

Remote Play is the main reason I originally got interested in the Vita back when it was announced. The ability to play PS3 games on my Vita was a mind-blowing idea, but so far, that idea as not been fully explored by Sony. At the time of this writing, Remote Play is only good for turning on your PlayStation 3 remotely and accessing the "Vita approved" content on the PS3's XMB. There are two ways to connect to your PS3 using Remote Play on your Vita: via a Private Network and via the Internet. Here's the difference: if you are in the same building as the PlayStation 3, the Private Network is better. The PS3 sends out its own wireless signal to the Vita. Via the internet is better (and the only real option) if you are out and about, however, this option is usually laggy.

For now, Remote Play is mostly only useful for watching any movies or listening to any music that is on your PlayStation 3. However, Sony has recently confirmed a handful of titles will allow for cross platform play, meaning that if you buy the PS3 version of a certain game, you'll get the Vita-compatible version for free. Not exactly Remote Play, but we're getting closer!

CAMERAS

The cameras are the only truly disappointing feature of the Vita. There is a camera on the front of the Vita as well as one of the back, which actually comes in handy for the augmented reality games and apps. Oh, and they can take pictures...but I wouldn't recommend using them for that.

The 640x360 cameras offer nothing to brag about. Basically any smartphone camera makes the Vita's cameras look like they are from the 80s or 90s (aka: grainy, washed out, and not full of life at all.) For comparison's sake, they are about the quality of the 3DS' cameras, which is embarrassing considering that the Vita is a powerhouse in every other instance. So unless you are just messing around the with the cameras, don't bother using them to take any meaningful pictures.

Another complaint about the front-facing camera is that it is off center from the center of the Vita. The screen of the Vita shows you what the camera is seeing, so if you are using the screen to take a picture of yourself using the front camera, you're going to have a hard time centering yourself in the frame. Despite the annoyance of not being able to look directly at the camera and screen at the same time, I'll just save my picture taking for my iPhone or digital camera.

With a very recent firmware update, the cameras can also be used to record video, but again, the quality just isn't worth your time.

SOFTWARE & APPS

With the Vita, it appears that Sony has pushed aside their desire to make their portable gaming systems into full-on multimedia playing machines. Their main focus with the Vita seems to be its ability to play games, and I applaud them for that (remember UMD Movies?) That's not to say, though, that the Vita is not capable of doing more than just gaming. Quite the contrary, it has the potential to do more than the PS3 or PSP.

With the introduction of Vita Apps, the Vita is a device that has a full-time job as a gaming machine with a part-time job as a personal digital assistant (PDA). On the flip side, an iPhone is a device that has a full-time job as a PDA with a part-time job as a handheld gaming console. Vita's apps are not here to take away from Sony's focus on Vita's gaming capabilities. They are just here to make your life more convenient while you game on the go.

Of the pre-installed apps on my Vita, we have apps such as Maps, near, PlayStation Store, web browser, group messaging, etc. etc. These pre-installed apps are nothing spectacular. "near" is a GPS-based social app that shows you nearby Vita users and allows users to gather Game Goods, like such as game add-ons. The Maps app is Google Maps...on your Vita (it's pretty straightforward.) The only thing that doesn't make sense to me about these apps is how there are 3 separate ones for managing/communicating with your friends: 1) "Party" allows you to connect with other PSN friends with voice and text chat; 2) "Friends" allows you to view a list of your friends; 3) "Group Messaging" is a basic text communication with friends and PSN users. There are also the basic videos, photos, and music apps. The Trophies app allows you to view all of your trophies (on both the Vita and all of those connected to your PSN account), as well as view your friends' trophies.

Although the web browser app can be convenient, it's not as easy to use as a PC's or iPhone's web browser (Adobe Flash is not supported.) Granted, it is at least an improvement from the PSP's browser.

The PlayStation Store app leads you to the Vita's version of the store. This app is relatively straightforward as well, making it easy to redeem gift cards or download games and demos with just a few clicks. When downloading, there is no download cart. Any downloads begin downloading in the background of the Vita right away, without the need for any additional steps. All PS Vita, PSP, and Minis games are available from the PlayStation Store app.

GAMES

As for games, you have two options: digital or cartridge. Sony has confirmed that all games that can be bought as physical cartridges can be downloaded digital on the PSN from their day one release, but not all digital games will receive a physical release (such as Escape Plan, for instance.) I have a little of both on my Vita, just so I could determine which I like better. Both options have their pros and cons. Game cartridges don't require as much memory card space, which is a definite plus considering how expensive memory cards are. But the downside to that is that you have to have to keep track of those tiny game cartridges (really, they are quite tiny.) With digital games, if you have one of the larger memory cards, you can easily switch between games without having to swap cartridges.

If you decide to go the digital route, be cautious. The digital versions of games have a slight discount over the cartridges, but they will eat up your memory card space rather quickly. A game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss is 3.2 GB. And considering that the cheapest memory card is a 4GB one for $25.00...plan carefully.

Backwards compatibility is rather limited at the moment. Obviously, without a UMD drive, PSP UMD-based games are out of the question. If you want to play a PSP game on the Vita, it's going to have to be the digital version from the PlayStation Store. Having said that, ONLY the games that are available on the PlayStation Store are compatible. An unlisted game will most likely not work (sucks for you, pirates!) There are exceptions to this rule, such as is the case for Valkyria Chronicles 2, but there are only a couple of exceptions. Currently, there are 275 compatible PSP titles. The Vita's screen resolution is obviously larger than the PSP's, so the overall quality of the games is hit and miss.

CONCLUSION

As anticipation for the PlayStation Vita has been building over the past few months, it became clear that Sony is focusing on improving the quality and experience of portable gaming with the Vita. They haven't disappointed. The Vita offers nothing less than the experience of console gaming on the go. Despite the higher-than-desired price of memory cards, 3G access, and the unit itself, the power and capabilities under the hood of the Vita is worth it.

The cameras and 3G support are humiliating, to say the least, but the rear touchpad, 5-inch touchscreen, two analog sticks, and overall enjoyable experience easily overshadows the few faults of the system.

It's always hard to judge a gaming console right at its launch, because the long-term potential is what really matters. We have yet to see the truly astounding games. We have yet to see the Remote Play features put to good use. We have yet to see the Vita's power get pushed to its limits. But from what I have seen already, the Vita is a freaking beast, and an amazingly fun gaming device.

With plenty of beautiful, high-quality games to choose from at launch, and with hundreds more on the way within the next few months, the Vita has something to offer everyone. Vita's slow launch in Japan shouldn't speak for how truly amazing this piece of hardware is, and it would be a shame if the Vita didn't see better success during this Wednesday's wider February 22nd launch.