The Portal is a day one purchase for me. Sure, it’s niche, but I often get kicked off the PS5 so my SO can watch TV, so this will be a godsend so I can keep playing. I do use the Remote Play app, but I find it often lags or almost loses connection too much, and the latency can sometimes be bad, even with our 400mbps internet connection. Hopefully with Sony engineering behind it, it will be more reliable connection-wise than Remote Play, and I’m excited to be able to jump straight in without having to mess around with opening apps and connecting or pairing controllers!
I got mine today, and whilst the layout takes a small amount of time to get used to, I find it pretty intuitive and easy to use. Obviously it’s not for everyone, but as someone who regularly loses the battle for the TV, this is hands-down a great purchase for me. Otherwise I’d have to use my phone, which is annoying as I have to disconnect my controller and connect it to my phone, and the screen is too small, or my laptop which is a bit too cumbersome. The Portal hits the sweet spot for me, it may not be for everyone, but I’m part of that niche that will use it regularly.
EDIT: My other gripe is the lack of being able to play through the cloud - I hope this is something to be added in the future as it’s literally just a WiFi controller with a screen.