Shops across Britain will open at midnight tonight to sell the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), the handheld games console that threatens to usurp the iPod as the world's most desirable consumer durable.

The PSP was released nine months ago in Japan, where it received rave reviews from hardened video gaming addicts. However, Sony insists that the console, which also plays music and films and can be used to browse the internet, is a serious toy designed strictly for grown ups.

"This is not being aimed at children," Alan Duncan, marketing director for Sony UK told Times Online. "This is a media platform that's going to appeal to adults of all ages."

The PSP, which goes on sale in the UK at £179.99, is being billed as Sony's "first ever portable entertainment device". As such, it does not really have any direct competitors. The closest is probably the Nintendo DS (£99), a games-only console with a massively loyal following, but which, compared with the PSP, looks like a renegade from the late 1980s.

For the PSP is, in short, a staggeringly good-looking piece of kit. Having seen their creation christened the "black beauty" by aficionados, Sony insiders are happy to admit that the company has learnt several lessons from Apple's iPod success; not least the importance for blockbuster products of epoch-defining good looks.

Nintendo, whose Game Boy series has dominated the handheld market for as long as anyone can remember, should be worried on the basis of aesthetics alone.

But the PSP doesn't quit there. A satisfyingly large 4.3inch wide-format screen dominates its facade and the picture - whether for games or for films - really is impressively sharp. Indeed this machine, which sits nicely in two hands, has the graphics processing capability equivalent to that of PlayStation 2.

Comparisons with the PSP’s larger cousin are helpful. With its D-pad, two shoulder buttons and Sony's trademark four-way clusters of buttons, the PSP has been described as "a PS2 in your hand". Even for those of us who grew up with the original PlayStation, the layout is comfortingly familiar. Games appear eminently playable, films acceptably watchable. If you are playing games, Sony promises the battery will last for up to six hours; for films up to five hours.

So far, so good. But could Sony could still slip up? Games and films for the PSP are available on Sony’s proprietary UMD Universal Media Disc format. The choice of such an unfamiliar format has an uncomfortably familiar ring for Sony watchers. Remember the MiniDisc? No, neither does anybody else. Worryingly, only 30 films are going to be immediately available on UMD - along with a similar number of games. But with sales of more than five million PSPs already notched up in Japan and the US, pundits are backing the console to go from strength to strength.

According to technology analysts, in the same way the PS2 dominates the console market and in sheer price performance, the PSP will be hard for competitors to catch. "Like the iPod, the PSP will likely be in a situation where supply seriously falls short of demand in the UK - at least in the run up to Christmas," Julie Meyer, the chief executive of Ariadne Capital, the technology analysts, told Times Online.

Having played with the PSP for an afternoon, it is hard to take issue with that verdict – or with Sony’s. The PSP really is far too good to be wasted on the kids.

PSP VITAL STATISTICS

• Dimensions: approx. 170 mm (L) x 74 mm (W) x 23 mm (D)
• Weight: approx. 260 g (including battery)
• CPU: PSP CPU (system clock frequency 1~333MHz)
• Main memory: 32MB; embedded DRAM: 4MB
• Disc drive: UMD Drive (Audio/video playback only)
• Display: 4.3 inch, 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD 480 x 272 pixel (16.77 million colors); max. 200 cd/m2 (with brightness control)
• Speakers: Built-in stereo speakers
• Main input/output: IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi)
• Headphone/Microphone/Control connector
• Keys: Directional buttons (up/down/right/left); analog pad; Enter keys (triangle, circle, cross, square); left and right keys; START, SELECT, HOME
• Switches: power on/hold/off; brightness control; sound mode; volume +/-; wireless LAN on/off; UMD eject
• Power: Built-in lithium-ion battery, AC adaptor
• Compatible with: USB 2.0 (target); Memory Stick PRO Duo; IrDA; IR Remote (SIRCS)

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