Sony PSP vs Nintendo DS Lite shootout

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I've had a Sony PSP since they came out, but recently acquired a DS Lite through a deal at EB Games.  This affords me the opportunity to compare the two units.

Screen Quality
First and foremost is the thing you'll be looking at all the time.  The PSP has a single 4.5" screen with resolution of 480x272.  BTW, that's widescreen aspect not 4:3.  The DS has two 3" screens with resolutions of 256x192.  Each of those is normal aspect ratio.  So, you add it up any which way and you'd think that the DS wins, right?  Well, it's not all about the numbers.  First off, if you're trying to watch a video on the DS, you watch it on one screen or the other.  And if it's a widescreen video, like, say, any movie released in the last twenty years, it'll be using approx 1/3rd the screen.  So that's about 256x64.  That's a far cry from 480x272.
Okay, so movies aren't what it was designed for.  Let's focus on games.  One thing I did notice is that motion blur is far more noticable on the DS, sometimes to the point of disgust depending on the action being displayed.  The closest I could compare is Tiger Woods golf.  Watch the motion blur during the course fly-over's.  The PSP keeps the image significantly more crisp than the DS.

Winner: PSP

Graphics
Continuing on the visual theme here.  This one is simple.  The PSP just has far more graphical processing power than the DS.  Again, look at Tiger Woods.  The grass is just a checkboard of randomly coloured squares of green on the DS.  It's not the resolution at fault, as when your ball lands, the blocks of colour are larger than the ball.  I thought I was playing Atari 2600 for a moment.  On the PSP, the ground has texture and is not just blocks of green.

Winner: PSP

Sound
The DS has two thin speakers, one on either side of the upper screen.  The sound that comes out of them is just amazing.  The stereo effect is quite noticable and clear.  Even with the screen closed (say I was just listening to mp3's) the sound is still unmuffled and pleasant.
The PSP has two little pinhole speakers situated on the bottom of the unit.  Sound quality is adequate and can also provide stereo effect, but not to the caliber of the DS.  Unfortunately the speakers are located in such a place where you'll often find yourself covering if watching a video, which makes holding the unit sometimes akward.

Winner: DS

Ergonomics
Speaking of holding the system, which is better?  This ones a little unfair.  I should be comparing the fat DS to the fat PSP, or the DS lite to the PSP slim.  The DS lite is lighter and easier to hold for long periods than the fat PSP, with one exception: the shoulder buttons.  On the DS Lite I found I'd often press the shoulder buttons by mistake.  The PSP's curved design makes it easier to avoid that problem.  In lieu of not having the same sized devices to compare, I'm going to call a draw.

Winner: Draw

Battery
The DS gets better battery life.  It may be the CPU/GPU, it may be the gears for the UMD, but the PSP draws more power, thus requires more juice.

Winner: DS

WiFi
Both units have an 802.11b wifi connection.  Both units can connect to my wifi router, although the DS hasn't given me any opportunity to test the speed or stability of that connection.

Winner: Draw

The Games
Here's the most important thing.  The games.  You can have the most awesome system of the day and crappy games, and the system will die.  (Anyone remember Atari Lynx?  Atari Jaguar?)  The DS has mostly cutesy games.  Yes, I know that's a nintendo stereotype, but in this case it's true.  I'm sorry if that offends someone, and I'm sure that person can come up with numerous examples of "mature" games, but for each one I can find three games about ponies, pokemon, or mario.  (Mario games are usually pretty fun, but my point stands)
PSP has the horsepower to run games like Grand Theft Auto, or sports titles akin to what we see on the big consoles.  The DS really shows it's limitations when it tries to compete on that level.  Instead, it's strength is in the original titles that could only possibly be played on the DS.  It's touch screen really opens up a lot of possibilities.  Unfortunately it's often just a gimmick and becomes frustrating because I have to keep slipping out the stylus for some aspect of a game that's mostly played with the controls.
The DS has great games, don't get me wrong.  I quite enjoy it's version of Age of Empires, and playing Soduku in Brain Age 2.  But I think the quality of games on the PSP is just plain better.  I'll be attaching screenshots of similar games for you to compare visually.

Winner: PSP

Overall: PSP

Tiger Woods '08

Smackdown vs Raw 2008

Namco Museum

This one surprised me.  I was expecting a similar experience on both machines since, heck, these games are all twenty years old.  But the PSP version is FAR more entertaining than the DS version due to screen resolution and game selection.

Super Mario

Heh, yeah that's a joke.  But here's a screenshot of "New Super Mario" for DS and a screenshot of a homebrew made Super Mario for the PSP.  (Yes it does look that good while playing!)