Transform PSP into a mobile

Not content with playing games, watching telly and listening to music on your handheld console? Never fear – you could soon be using it as a mobile phone too.

A source close to top voice over IP (VoIP) provider Vonage has stated that the company is in the process of creating an interface that would allow users to convert the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS into internet-powered phones.

Both devices are compatible with VoIP, as they come with microphones and can connect to the internet via Wi-Fi. All they need the necessary interface and software – and that’s what Vonage is working on.

Vonage's partnership with Wi-Fi operator Cloud means that its customers can get internet – and therefore VoIP – access at over 7,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country – so Vonage stands to gain a whole lotta new customers if it can convince them that their handheld console makes a nifty phone as well as a nifty device for playing Mario Kart on.

Our source didn’t disclose exactly how Vonage would introduce VoIP to these devices, but it could be brought to the PSP in the form of a firmware upgrade and to the DS in a cartridge (like the Opera web browser we reported on recently).

Vonage themselves declined to comment on the matter, but if and when we hear any more we’ll let you know.