Sony's next-generation PlayStation 4 is here. The sleek console features an 8-core x86 AMD Jaguar chip and 8 gigs of GDDR5 memory. It's Sony's first console since the PlayStation 3, which was released in 2006.
The PlayStation 4 isn't a cube, but actually a tilted parallelogram. It's also small at only 10.8 inches by 12 inches.
The console can lay on its side, or can be placed vertically with a stand, which you can purchase separately for $14.99.
The PlayStation 4's front is bisected by an LED light, which pulses blue when the console is starting up and white when it's on.
The easily missed power button is right on the front, between the glossy and matte sections, where the LED separates the console.
The back of the console is where all the heat escapes. It also holds the power, HDMI, optical, ethernet and PlayStation Camera ports.
The PlayStation 4 features a newly redesigned controller, the DualShock 4. While some aspects of the old controller have remained, such as the iconic shape-face buttons, it's a big departure from the previous PlayStation 3 controller.
The biggest new feature is the controller's touchpad in the center, which boasts multitouch gestures just like most smartphones. It can also be clicked like a trackpad.
The PlayStation 4 has its own camera, sold separately from the console for $59.99. It features two lenses to see 3D images, along with a microphone array to detect sound.
The PlayStation 4 is a next-generation console to satisfy gamers' appetites for new content, but do its supporting features break new ground for game consoles? We explore this question in the second portion of our PlayStation 4 review.
Part one of Mashable's review duscussed the PlayStation 4's sleek design, much-improved controller and slightly anemic launch lineup. Most of the consoles other selling features were still unavailable before the media embargo lifted, so we're hitting on those now.
While we talked about menus a bit, some interesting pieces have unlocked after Sony's update. Your PS4 Menu Bar now includes "What's New," a social grid that shows almost every detail about your friends — from their playing and watching habits to trophies earned to uploaded videos. While the grid layout is great, as you can quickly view videos and screenshots, it offers too much information. Filters don't seem to exist yet to limit updates to only pertinent information.
This theme of clutter permeates all of the console menus. I wish I could have seen less, not more, and that information had been organized more clearly. Accepting a friend request takes a lot of clicks from notification to confirmation. The whole experience needs to be more frictionless, especially if the goal is to draw more people back into gaming.
See also: PlayStation 4 Launch Trailers: 'Uncharted,' 'Destiny' and More
The PlayStation Store, which generally has a slick digital shopping experience, suffers from the same problem when you drill down beyond the main categories. The movies category not only included new arrivals and bestsellers, but also weekly deals, recommendations, Thanksgiving sales, genres, categories and others. Understandably, digital marketplaces are hard to organize, and no one has a perfect solution. The PlayStation Store does have beautiful art with game box covers in full-sized glory. The amount it has improved from previous iterations is impressive.
The PlayStation Network, fortunately, is a much smoother experience than the PlayStation 3. Now it's easy to log in with your email and password just once to bring in your PlayStation Network account. During your setup, you can log into Facebook as well, where you can associate your real name and Facebook photo with your PSN ID or opt out. You can then request the real names of people you play with, which will display on your friends list forever.
For its part, Sony has been very transparent about how your data is shared. You cannot just breeze through the dialog box that explains how your games can post on your behalf or share information. You also set up defaults for what gets shared to Facebook and which group of your Facebook friends can see that information. (The PS4 will bring in all your custom groups, so it might be a good time to create one to bombard with all your playthrough videos.)
Facebook doesn't have an app for the PlayStation 4, instead just opting to wrap its features into PlayStation 4 technology. Pressing the Share button instantly brings up three options: share an edited video, share a screenshot or begin broadcasting live.
Unfortunately, videos can only be shared to Facebook for now, but the social network handles sharing well. The PS4's Game DVR captures your previous 15 minutes of play in a clip, and you can quickly parse that and trim it down to one section. Currently, there's no support for splicing or rearranging footage. The video goes up to Facebook fairly quickly, and while the quality degrades a bit, your friends will get the idea. Want to see it in action? I posted a playthrough of a level of Sound Shapes.
The screenshot functions by simply grabbing the still of the last frame before hitting Share. It also can use voice commands from the PlayStation camera. The screenshots can be shared via Facebook or Twitter after entering your PlayStation credentials. Again, the screenshots are compressed and better designed for viewing on a social network.
Testing the screenshot capability from #PS4share pic.twitter.com/TzJmWEwUpH
— Chelsea Stark (@chelseabot) November 13, 2013
Finally, the simplicity of the streaming should get every gamer excited. It took about five minutes to set up streaming to Twitch, the biggest gaming video network according to ComScore, for the first time. However, it's easy to repeat after that.

The quality was impressive from the receiving end as well when you factor in the ease of use. Others watching my stream said the video was sharp, and in the windowed mode I was able to see comments posted to Twitch chat. The only downside of viewing the chat window on your console means it's also visible on Twitch.
In order to give PS4 owners a balanced media diet, Sony included a plethora of entertainment options on the console, the best of which you'll find everywhere — Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video on Demand and more — that Sony smartly decided to not put behind the paywall of PlayStation Plus. Compared to other consoles, I've always enjoyed watching video on demand apps on my PS3 because they have the cleanest layout. The PS4 continues that tradition.
The PlayStation store also offers rentals on movies and TV shows through its PlayStation Store, with offerings similar to iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand. It's convenient for those wanting to use the PS4 as a unified media box, though it did lack a global search function to locate video on the variety of apps and stores.
Sony also launched Music Unlimited on the PlayStation 4, a streaming service that allows access to a wide variety of songs for a monthly fee. It's a good idea in theory, as Music Unlimited allows users to save music they enjoy into one Library or playlists, but the app was painfully slow on the console. What's more, while you can navigate away from the app and play music while playing games or browsing, there wasn't a quick way to pause or switch songs unless you went back to the app — not exactly ideal when playing a game.
The most disappointing experience on the console was its web browser , which is probably only included to satisfy a bullet point on a list of features. YouTube is one of the only use cases for people to browse the web on their consoles. Navigating to YouTube, I was informed I needed to install Adobe Flash Player to view videos. This is a problem almost every single mobile OS has solved;why not Sony?
Not to be left in the dust, Sony has added second screen experiences to the PlayStation 4 intended to take on the Wii U and Xbox's SmartGlass app. Sony launched its own smartphone app with consoles this week, the PlayStation App.
The PlayStation App, available for iOS and Android, allows users to message friends and monitor trophy data. For messaging, this is far preferable to typing on the console's virtual keyboard. The app also works as way to navigate the console's menus, though it doesn't universally work across all PS4 apps. That's too bad, since it would be perfect for lazily browsing Netflix.
Eventually, the app will be able to launch downloads remotely onto a PS4, though that feature isn't available yet.
The other second screen functionality available to players is through Sony's not-widely-adopted handheld, the PlayStation Vita. With the Vita, you can stream games from the console to the handheld's 5-inch screen if you're on the same wireless network, a handy function for those wanting to play away from the couch or who need to share their TVs.
Setting up this process is very easy, as both devices just need to be using the same wireless network. (I would recommend plugging the PS4 into a router via ethernet.) You then enter a code generated by the PS4 to the Vita and you're up and running. Games looked really crisp on the Vita's OLED screen, and I enjoyed sitting back on a couch to play Assassin's Creed IV. The one caveat here is you can't wander too far from your router.
The Vita is also a $200 handheld, with ridiculously overpriced proprietary memory required, so it's a large investment most people might not be interested in. But for those looking for a handheld or who already own a Vita, it's a great proposition.
The PlayStation Camera, with its two lenses and array mic built in.
Sony originally planned to include its own new camera with every PlayStation 4, but it seemed that dream was scrapped in order to drop the price of the console. The PlayStation Camera is now available separately for $59.99.
It's clear Sony is aping the Xbox's Kinect here , as the camera can respond to voice commands, see the controllers and log players in based on facial recognition. The facial recognition portion wasn't that smooth to set up, and is a little redundant since a player must hold a controller up to his face — the camera "sees" the light bar — to log in.
The camera's video quality is much sharper than the PS3's Eye-Toy offering and has potential to work smoothly with Sony's continued augmented reality experiments, like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this week.
The voice commands weren't very obvious; the most useful is the ability to take a screenshot when playing. If anything, the camera feels more like a prototype than a fully fleshed-out product. Its benefits aren't apparent yet, making it a hard sell as a peripheral.
What do you want your console to do for you? The idea of a strictly gaming machine was proposed at least a decade ago, as consoles added social and entertainment features to meet gamers' demands. But Sony's PlayStation 4 doesn't excel at all its bells and whistles.
Some functions, like sharing, work perfectly, but other entertainment features and web browsing were clunky at best. While the company's messaging may be all about the games, the PS4 still has a weak launch lineup and not many extra features to gloss over that. Many of these complaints can be fixed with firmware updates, and the console's evolution is far from finished. It's just hard to ask early adopters to get excited when some pieces are half-baked, even at a lower price point of $399.
Beautiful new console
The best controller Sony has ever made
Easy-to-use sharing features will push gaming forward
Underwhelming first-party launch games
Cluttered menus
Some entertainment and online features are not worth your time
Sony's PlayStation 4 is a great taste of what next-generation gaming means, but some of its rough edges make the whole package hard to swallow.
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Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani