No, not Weapons of Mass Destruction, UMD stands for Universal Media Disc. It is one of four(!) ways my new PlayStation Portable can get data into it. It has Memory Stick, USB, WiFi and UMD support. The memory stick is a ‘Duo’ memory stick from Sony. In short it is a locked-in proprietary format that means I will have to pay Sony somehow for the memory upgrades. USB and WiFi are standard (WiFi is 802.11b compatible) connection types for many computers. UMD is the most bizarre format though (and the games usually come in this format) because it seems overkill to have a plastic case around a CD/DVD type media. However, it is a great device and I surely can’t complain.

I bought this for work (seriously!) because it has an incredible browser and clients like one large one I have in Texas need me to do work that will display correctly on this device. The one major issue I can see with this is that the data entry control for adding text on web browser form controls (and in some games) is completely difficult for spelling words like ‘holly’, which requires you to select ‘l’ and then the ‘next cursor position’ button [I don’t know what else to call the button] then ‘l’ again.

This site does not currently render correctly in the PSP browser, but will do so shortly when I have a few moments to tweak the CSS. I am really impressed with the capabilities of this device and recommend it to those who are ‘on the fence’ about purchasing something like this. The screen is brilliant, the sound is good, the speed of the processor is excellent. I have to wait longer for my PS2 to load up games (granted they’re probably more sophisticated) than I do for the PSP.

It is a great device and I strongly recommend it for web developers (it supports RSS!), game players and regular travelers who want to watch movies on the go.

Its two downfalls for heavy media usage are that it requires the purchase of a newer bigger memory stick and a USB cable if you don’t already have one that is of the right spec (unless you buy the ‘giga’ package that Sony sells that comes with the 1 Gigabyte stick and cable). The media types it appears to support are rather broad so I can see it being handy for those who don’t want to get locked into one type or another. The latest OS patch (which I downloaded over WiFi!) includes support for the Windows Media Audio format (WMA) as well, though you do have to click through an end user license agreement to enable it. I haven’t watched a full movie on it yet but I can imagine that it will be handy to be able to bring video footage to various places to try it out.

Check out other reviews or buy it on amazon.com