After a week with the PlayStation Portal, we have been able to give our full impressions of the device on our review page. However, if you are wondering just how long the battery lasts, we have condensed that here.
The PlayStation Portal’s Battery Life and Charging
After four fully timed playthroughs, I can firmly say the PlayStation Portal battery lasts between four to five hours. Just like the DualSense controller itself, you can get more out of the device by turning down or turning off the haptics. Of course, you can also get more from adjusting the brightness. Yet with the default settings, the device lasts just under five hours.
Charging the device is more in line with a traditional smartphone. While the PlayStation Portal does come with a USB-C cable, there is no power brick. Using a standard Samsung power brick, the PlayStation Portal Battery charges from 0% to 100% in about an hour.
Before playing my best guess would have been somewhere closer to eight hours. This is given that it is running off of mobile hardware. Plus all of the computational power is being handled by the PS5 itself. It seems like maybe the DualSense controller is a battery hog.
What Is Sony Saying?
Four to five hours is totally acceptable, it is really not a big deal, yet there is one problem. When Sony had influencers in for reviews and impressions of the device, they told them that the battery lasts around eight hours. There is no way that the battery on this device lasts eight hours. Some influencers have included that verbiage in their reviews.
VGC’s review around the 17-minute mark talking about the PlayStation Portal Battery, “This may be incorrect but I have it in my head that they (Sony) said it was similar to the DualSense (8 to 9 hours). I have been timing it, I am at 3 hours and 52 minutes and I am down to the last bar.”
CNET’s review around the 5-minute and 30-second mark, “I have not used the Portal long enough to give a full rundown of the battery life but, back when I did my hands-on demo, the PlayStation rep said they were targeting the same battery life as the DualSense, which would put it at 7 to 9 hours.”
Wired, who received exclusive coverage of the PS5 back in 2019, went as far as to say in their review that the battery life is eight hours. “Battery life is also solid, with around eight hours of playtime on a full charge. However, unlike the Switch, Steam Deck, or most other gaming handhelds, battery life shouldn’t fluctuate based on what game you’re playing.” Both of these statements are untrue due to the nature of the haptics.
