In line with Sony's ambition to combine aspects of traditional video game consoles with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, the Vita contains a multitude of input methods. The device features a "super oval" shape similar to the design of the original PlayStation Portable, with a 5 inch (130 mm) qHD OLED capacitive touchscreen in the centre of the device.[74][75] The device features two analog sticks, a D-pad, a set of standard PlayStation face buttons (, , and ), two shoulder buttons (L and R), a PlayStation button and Start and Select buttons.[75] Motion control is also possible through Sony's Sixaxis motion sensing system, consisting of a three-axis gyroscope and a three-axis accelerometer.[75] In addition to these input methods, specific to just the Vita, is a secondary touchpad that is on the back of the device.[76]

Other hardware includes stereo speakers, a microphone, built-in Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity, and two cameras.[75] The cameras are both 0.3 megapixel and run at 640×480 (VGA) at 60 frames/s, or at 320×240 at 120 frames/s.[77] They can be used to take photos or videos using built-in applications on the system. The two cameras feature the abilities of face detection, head detection, and head tracking.[21][78] The platform also launched with a model with 3G mobile data support, which required a separate data plan through a data provider.[79][80] The 3G service has been partnered with NTT DoCoMo in Japan, AT&T in the US, Rogers in Canada and Vodafone in Europe and Australia. The 3G model was discontinued in 2013 and not made available in the system's future revised models.[81]

Internally, the device features a custom system on chip with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor and a quad-core GPU SGX543MP4+.[74] Sony has stated that the Vita generally runs well under its full clock speed due to overheating and battery consumption issues that would ensue, instead placing its processing power "around halfway between the current PSP and the PS3".[17] The Vita's internal battery has between 3–5 hours of power for game playing, depending on the processing power required for the game, screen brightness, sound level and network connections, as well as other factors.[82] Additionally, the battery can supply about five hours for video watching, and up to nine hours of music listening with the screen off.[83] The system does allow for additional external battery solutions as well.[84] The PlayStation Vita has 512 MB of system RAM and 128 MB of VRAM.[85][86] The amount of RAM allows cross-game chat to be used on the system.[86]

Software for the PlayStation Vita is distributed on a proprietary flash memory card called "PlayStation Vita game card" rather than on Universal Media Discs (UMDs) as used by the PlayStation Portable.[87][88] The size and shape of the card itself is very similar to an SD card. 5–10% of the game card's space is reserved for game save data and patches.[20] The PS Vita is incompatible with standard memory cards, such as SD cards, and instead stores data on proprietary PS Vita memory cards, which are available in sizes of 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB[89] and 64 GB.[90] A maximum of 500 applications and games can be stored on the device at a time, regardless of data storage available.[91] When the limit is reached, applications or games must be moved or deleted in order to access those beyond the limit.[92]

Remote Play interactivity with PlayStation 4

All games developed for the PlayStation 4, with the exception of games requiring the use of special peripherals such as PlayStation Camera, are playable on the Vita through Remote Play.[93][94] With the use of a Vita, PS4, and PS4 game, this allows a PS4 game to be run on the PS4, but its output transmitted to the Vita, with the Vita being used for the controller input, and the image and sound being transmitted to the Vita's screen and speakers instead of a television.[95] The end result is similar to what a Wii U console does with its GamePad controller through Off-TV Play.[95] The Vita technically has Remote Play functionality with the PlayStation 3 as well, though very few PS3 games supported the feature due to limitations with the less-powerful PS3 hardware.[96] More PS3 games are available for streaming on the Vita through Sony's cloud gaming service PlayStation Now, though they are streamed over the internet in the form of cloud computing rather than directly from a physical PS3 console.[97] First implemented in 2014, the service was announced to be discontinued on the Vita on August 15, 2017.[98]

Revised model

A revised model of the Vita was released in Japan on October 10, 2013, in Europe on February 7, 2014[99] and in North America on May 6, 2014.[100] The revised model, officially called the PCH-2000 series[101] and commonly referred to as the PS Vita Slim,[102] is 20% thinner and 15% lighter compared to the original model.[90] While it largely maintains the original's overall structure and layout, the original's OLED screen has been replaced with a lower-cost LCD display.[90] The model also roughly added about an extra hour of battery life.[90] The newer model also comes with 1 GB of internal storage memory, although it is not possible to use both the internal memory and memory card concurrently.[103] Upon inserting a PS Vita memory card, the system will offer to copy the existing data from the internal memory to the new card.[104] This model has a micro USB Type B port, which can be used to charge the device along with any standard micro USB cable. The model was released in six colors in Japan (white, black, light blue, lime green, pink, and khaki),[90] although it was only released in black and light blue in North America and Europe.[105]

PlayStation TV

The PlayStation TV is a non-portable variant of the Vita; instead of featuring its own display screen like a handheld video game console, it connects to a television via HDMI like a traditional home video game console, and is controlled though the use of a DualShock 3 or DualShock 4 controller.[106] Due to the difference in controller input between the Vita and a DualShock controller, Vita games that are dependent on the system's touch-screen, rear touchpad, microphone or camera, are not compatible.[107] It also shares the Remote Play and PS Now functionality of a regular Vita. The system was released in Japan in November 2013,[108] in North America in October 2014, and in Europe on November 14, 2014.[109] The device did not fare well and had a short retail shelf life in North America and Europe, where it was discontinued at the end of 2015.[53]