Tag Archives: playstation 4

Someone Built the PS4 Portable Sony Never Made with a 7-Inch OLED

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The PS4 era is over, but the library is still incredible, and the only way to enjoy it portably has been streaming or emulation with compromises in latency, compatibility, and control. The fantasy of a true PS4 handheld that runs games natively has floated around for years, but Sony never built one. Reddit user wewillmakeitnow decided to stop waiting and built it himself instead.

This is not a Raspberry Pi or a cloud device but a heavily modified PS4 Slim motherboard, cut and re-laid to be as compact as possible while keeping full functionality. The builder redesigned the layout for better power efficiency and thermals, then wrapped it in a custom ABS enclosure with full controls and a 7-inch 1080p OLED screen, turning a console into something that looks and plays like a handheld from an alternate timeline.

Designer: wewillmakeitnow

The cooling story is where most of the work lives. A new airflow path, custom heatsinks, and a large rear fan are managed by an onboard ESP32 microcontroller. The ESP32 runs custom firmware to watch temperatures in real time, enforce thermal thresholds, trigger emergency shutdowns, and supervise power draw and battery charging. It is the safety brain that makes running a console-class APU in your hands viable instead of a thermal disaster.

The power system uses six 21700 cells at 6,000 mAh each in a 3S2P configuration, roughly 130 Wh of energy. Under lighter loads, the system pulls around 44W for about three hours of play. In demanding games, it can draw close to 88W and land closer to an hour and a half before shutdown, at around 10V, which protects the pack. There is also a dedicated port for playing on AC.

The handheld still behaves like a PS4 when you want it to. There is HDMI out for plugging into a TV, multiple USB-C ports for charging, configuration, and connection to controllers or external drives, plus a USB 3.0 port for storage. In that mode, it stops being a handheld and becomes a very small PS4 Slim you can drop next to a hotel TV.

All of this comes at a cost. The enclosure is about 113mm x 270mm x 57mm, with sharp edges and no sculpted grips, and the weight is likely well north of a kilogram once you add the board, cooling, and batteries. The builder chose to let the shell hug the motherboard as tightly as possible, sacrificing rounded comfort to keep the footprint from ballooning further.

This one-off build shows both the promise and limits of turning a living-room console into a handheld. It proves that a native PS4 portable is technically possible if you accept thickness, weight, and fan noise. It also quietly asks what might happen if a company with Sony’s resources took the idea seriously. Until then, it stands as someone picking up their favorite console and refusing to put it down.

The post Someone Built the PS4 Portable Sony Never Made with a 7-Inch OLED first appeared on Yanko Design.

PlayStation 4 mod puts a portable console in your hands

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The Nintendo Switch ushered in a new age for handheld gaming devices, but somewhat ironically, PC gaming handhelds are the ones dominating that niche market. There was a time when the PlayStation Portable and Vita were the only “serious” portable consoles around, but neither Sony nor Xbox seems to be in a rush to catch up. No, the PlayStation Portal doesn’t qualify in this regard.

This left PlayStation fans to their own devices to scratch this portable itch, leading to many mods and DIY projects with varying levels of success. What makes the “PS4T” rather notable isn’t its looks, which is downright basic, but the way it tries to reuse as much of the original PS4 Slim hardware as much as possible, leading to some interesting design choices.

Designer: Josh (Restore Technique)

There is no shortage of attempts to shoehorn PlayStation and Xbox consoles into relatively handheld sizes, and many of them require modifying and cutting up the console’s motherboard to shrink the whole system down. Curiously, this particular design doesn’t do that, which simplifies the process a little bit but does mean that “handheld” is loosely applied in this case. Of course, many parts like the optical drive and hard disk have to be removed, but the fan and cooling system are mostly the same.

The PS4 Slim is used as the base for this mod as it has the smallest mainboard, fan, and power draw of modern PlayStation models. An original DualShock 4 controller was also used and gutted, but unnecessary parts like the rumble motor and the touchpad were thrown out. The process is definitely not for the faint of heart, but more seasoned modders probably won’t break a sweat.

What’s interesting about the entire process is how it reveals the considerations that have to be made when designing a portable gaming device. Not only do you have to think about battery capacity and heat management, you also have to consider the optimal placements of components inside. It’s definitely not as simple as throwing everything together to have a pretty layout, but the final design, despite its boxy shape, is satisfying and, more importantly, actually functional.

Of course, Sony would have better engineers and designers to work on such a product, so it’s really a matter of business why it hasn’t yet made a new portable PlayStation. For now, console gamers will have to settle for fan-made handheld designs, presuming they’re not wading into the murky gray area of intellectual property rights.

The post PlayStation 4 mod puts a portable console in your hands first appeared on Yanko Design.