Well, it’s not a Playstation phone, but Sony did finally announce their next version of the PSP this week, which is being referred to as the NGP (Next Generation Portable). The handheld gaming system is loaded up with all kinds of bells and whistles including a 5″ touch screen, two cameras, dual analog sticks, motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, GPS, Bluetooth and a touch pad on the back of the device. It also has a quad-core processor that will be more powerful than the iPad, although it’s still unclear if it will actually be able to play direct Playstation 3 ports like they claim. Is all this overkill for a handheld system? Quite possibly.

It seems like Sony is trying to position themselves so that they can handle anything that the market throws at them over the next few years because they have no idea what’s going to be big. It’s not usually a good sign when you’re throwing darts at the wall and hoping something sticks instead of actually innovating. I suppose the touch screen and gyroscope will allow them to attract casual gamers and directly port popular iPhone games like Angry Birds, although I still don’t see why anyone would want a second touch pad on the back of the thing. I was excited when they announced that there is an Uncharted game in development for the NGP, but then after hearing that you might use the touch screen to climb ladders and tilt sensors to swing from vines, my enthusiasm dropped considerably.

The dual analog sticks are cool, and I do like that they are finally bringing trophies and the Playstation Network to a portable device, and also that there will be a version with 3G support. The decision to officially do away with UMDs is also a good one. Games will now come on flash memory-based cards that have enough extra storage space for DLC and save games. This should help conserve battery life as well, which is important since it is currently being reported that batteries will last for four or five hours tops.

By far the biggest question mark right now is the price point. Sony hasn’t announced a price yet, they’ve only said that it will be “affordable”… whatever that means. In a market that puts them up against other smart phones and tablets as well as the Nintendo 3DS for $249, the price is going to mean a lot. The NGP won’t hit stores until next fall or winter, but as someone who only just got around to buying a PSP a few months ago, I can say that I probably won’t be an early adopter. (Then again, all it would take is a couple of great games to change my mind.)

As for the Playstation Phone, this Engadget hands on proves that it is real… but when will we get any sort of official announcement about it? It seems to me this is the device that everyone is really interested in.