I'll update as I play around with it more, but these are the impressions since last night:
1. It's heavy. Much heavier than the 360. Feels very solidly built.
2. It's very pretty. I like the gloss and the chrome, but I'll bet I have to dust this thing at least once a day. Very slick, though, quite eye-catching.
3. Setup was easy. I need an optical toslink switch, since I only have one optical port in my receiver, and that's currently occupied by the 360. Other than that, no problems whatsoever.
4. Standard AV cords? Cheap. For $499 they should have thrown in a component rig, at least. Way to sell that TrueHD bullshit, Sony.
5. Wow, that controller feels light and flimsy. If they were going to gut it, I wish they'd put some sort of counterbalance weight in there. I'll pop for a rumble when it hits. I like the PS home button, good knock-off there. I dislike rechargeable controllers - let me put my own batteries in there. I don't care for those pseudo-triggers, either.
6. That USB cord is of a laughably short length. They may have just as well written "WE SAVE PENNIES ON THIS" in white letters on the cord. I am not ten years old anymore, so I don't regularly sit with my face pressed against the screen, Sony.
7. Powered on and the onscreen setup was a breeze. I had no problems setting resolution, connecting the Wi-Fi. Downloaded the firmware update and was impressed with the DL speed.
8. I really like the PSP-styled interface, although it's a bit cumbersome compared to the 360 blades. The scrolling is fast and accurate, though.
9. Wallpaper that's actually wallpaper instead of a faded and useless background image covered with an ad. I like that.
10. Setting up to play media files through my PC was simple, but the PS3 doesn't seem to accept a lot of file types. I don't really care, because my PC is already rigged through my TV.
11. The setup to get online was a bit lengthy and irritating, but when I finally got my account together it connected just fine.
12. The web browser is pretty worthless. I don't know who designed it, but I assume they did so while liquored-up, because that interface would only make sense and seem convenient to a drunk. Again, don't care, I have a PC for the internet.
13. The PSN store is awkward to navigate, but I like that all descriptions are on the same page instead of in a sliding "pop-up" blade.
14. I downloaded the Fallout 3 trailer, and was impressed by the speed and ease, but when I downloaded the Conan demo I kept getting disconnected every few seconds. Is this common?
Next up, game, demo, and Blu Ray impressions!
