Sony PSP, Can It Do VOIP?

The latest gaming system from Sony, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) seems to be doing pretty well. I’ve seen a few reports about the sales not being as high as Sony hoped, but I still think it will do well, mostly because I see a lot of people talking about it. It will be interesting to see how it does during Christmas.

While I’ll probably never buy one, I did sit down and play with one for awhile. I was impressed with what I saw, being able to play music, movies and games is a nice combination. Then there is the built in WiFi and USB port, making the PSP a well rounded little device. I didn’t get a chance to try it out, but others have found a web browser for the PSP. In some ways I’m surprised that there isn’t an official, fully functional web browser for this thing, it’s got network access (WiFi). Once you get the thing on the web you’re pretty much set, email and such and just a web app away (how about Gmail having a “I’m on a PSP” button when logging in, or even automatically detecting that).

But I think this device can go even farther than that. After having it in my hands for five minutes and getting the feel of it an looking at all of the buttons and features, one thing came to mind: Voice Over IP (VOIP). It obviously had speakers, but after looking, it didn’t have a microphone. No problem, it has a USB port, go spend another $15 on a USB headset and that problem is solved (of course you’d have to get the PSP to support such a device, but that is a problem someone else will have to solve).

So VOIP on a PSP. Hmmmm, what would sort of software would you actually use to do such a thing? Then another idea came to mind, Skype. If you could port Skype to the PSP then you’d not only be able to VOIP with your PSP, you’d get all of the other things Skype can do. VOIP to VOIP calls, VOIP to POTS calls, conference calls, file transfers and chat. You’d be limited to where you could get WiFi access, but it’s a start. Or maybe Vonage could use the PSP to provide service to their phone network.

Then they’d just have to integrate PDA features (calendar, notes, addressbook, etc) and we’d be home free. Heck, if they did all that I’d buy one 🙂