A chunky controller isn't necessary for handheld gaming... but we need something better than a flat touchscreen too. Especially if you're going to play a FPS,

A chunky controller isn't necessary for handheld gaming... but we need something better than a flat touchscreen too. Especially if you're going to play a FPS, you need two analog sticks, and dedicated buttons that you can feel without having to look at. You don't get that with a flat touchscreen. The PSPhone doesn't have actual analog sticks, it looks like it has a capacitive multi-touch surface. The key thing that makes it all better is that it has two little nubs so that you can feel where the center position is. This is such an important piece of feedback you can't get with a flat screen. I also don't like giving up some of the screen real estate as controller surface either, but that's me.