Sony PlayStation 5 starts shipping in India, here's our first impressions

Sony PlayStation 5 has gathered enough hype in the past few months. And to some extent, it seems justified. You get a futuristic design, good quality AAA titles and powerful hardware inside the console. Priced at ₹50,000, the device has started shipping out in India today, for those who have pre-ordered it already. We were lucky enough to get our hands on PS5 a few days ago. Since then we have been playing Spiderman Miles Morales and Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 on it. While it’s too early to talk about the performance in general, what we can indeed talk about is the design, UI and the DualSense controller.

PS5 is a big-sized machine. At 4.5kgs, you can feel the heft when you pick it up and since it is larger from all sides, placing it under your TV might be difficult and require you to make some extra space for it. Some might even be concerned about the amount of dust it can collect over time, considering it has an exposed spine at the front, back and top. But on the brighter side, you get options to customise, something that is not possible with the competitor. The biggest plus point here, what we think, is the space-age design. The PS5 not just looks like a mini spaceship but is something that won’t go unnoticed in your room. It is not a natural progression from PS4 series but a bold move can work in Sony’s favour after all.

The PlayStation UI is simpler and cleaner this time around. If you are upgrading from PS4, it won’t be a learning curve for you to get used to the new interface. Most elements are familiar. The only major change is on the homescreen, which now shows more content upon scrolling downwards. With this, Sony seems to be moving away from the simple, side-scrolling row of options. Everything from the download UI, Settings to PS Store, it looks familiar yet new. For now, you don’t get customisable themes but Sony has confirmed that this will be coming later.

As for the DualSense Controller, it’s definitely better in terms of responsive triggers, better handling and easy to functionality. The vibration motor works really well in supported games (Miles Morales) and the weight is less as compared to what you get in Xbox Series X controller, which still supports AA batteries.

While these are not enough to conclude if PS5 is the console you need or not, it does manage to impress us since the list of pros is more than cons right now. However, in the end, it all comes down to the quality of titles and minor tech changes that makes the overall package worth it. Stay tuned for more information in our review later this week on HT Tech.