I see the Apple-vs-handhelds deal as a modern extension of PCs-vs-consoles. Everyone SAYS the do-everything device will replace the rest. Everyone is wrong. What Apple is doing is getting gaming out to people who probably don't want to carry a dedicated gaming machine in the first place. So much the better, because in their fight to survive, the giants might remember some old tricks that they'd previously forgotten (like REPLAY VALUE, though Nintendo's better with this than most). Me, I want a games machine first, though I'd be lying if I said that decent music/movie/internet wasn't fun.
The PSP2 looks awesome, although I won't be getting one, since it wasn't that long ago I got a 3000, but it looks like a respectable machine. More so than I was expecting, since earlier reports suggested that it would be download-only and that appears to not be the case. Lack of UMD is I think a necessary evil. Sony learned that they simply cannot support a disc drive and a graphics powerhouse drawing off of the same battery, even if it is preferable to the Go. It annoys everyone and rewards the pirates who hack the thing to run off of memory cards. My only concern is how long the original PSP's network support is going to last, seeings how it is at current my only link to PSN.
I could tear into the inconvenience of size and the ease with which the analogue sticks would get mangled, but let's be honest; ANY model of the PSP requires a carrying case for rugged journeys. Most of us as gamers learned around the original GBA that as the screens get prettier, non-clamshell designs have to be treated like glass in order to maintain them. If it didn't phase Sony last time, it won't this time.
Dual Analogue is lost on me, as it has always been. The most significant use of a right stick I ever did was Cinnamon's Action Trigger in XCM. I'm really not sure how Dual Analogue is supposed to work with only two shoulder buttons, but if that's what the PSP crowd wants, good for them.
I'm sure the NGP will be expensive. Not necessarily proportionate to the tech, though (in terms of comparison to the 3DS), since Sony is generally willing to sell at more of a loss than Nintendo. They just have to watch that they don't take it to such an extreme as to launch some tech-giant that they cannot support at a reasonable price, as happened with the PS3's launch. In fact, I'm kind of wondering how money is going to influence things on both the consumer and developer sides. Everyone was bitching about sale price and dev costs when the 3DS was announced, and you KNOW the NGP is going to surpass that. Probably won't do the battery any favors, either, depending on exactly how high they're willing to jack that price up.