It took a little while, but the technical specifications of what is going to make the PSP2 (we keep calling it the PSP2, but Sony right now is calling it the NGP) tick have now come to light. Our first impression is that it is powerful and perhaps a generation or two ahead of the latest smart phones.

The PSP2 will be powered by an ARM CortecTM-A9 quad core CPU with a SGX543MP4+ GPU. It will use a touch OLED screen that is 5-inches, with a 16:9 ratio with a resolution of 960x544 and it can output 16 million colors to this screen. The unit has front and rear cameras, but we are unclear of the megapixel rating of these cameras at the moment. It does offer built-in stereo speakers as well as a microphone.

The unit will include a six axis motion sensing system, which is actually a three axis-accelerometer and a three axis-gyroscope. It will offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS and 3G support, but some models may come without the 3G support according to our sources. Sony is still working on establishing additional carrier partnerships to offer the 3G support in more regions. Battery life is estimated at between 4 to 6 hours, depending on the game and options on the unit that are enabled.

The big question right now is the price; and honestly we don’t have an answer on this one. Those we spoke with suggest that the price will be more than $299, but less than $400. (Most that we have spoken with suggest that the price will be $349 to start with.) Sony claims that they want a powerful machine, but still would like to make at least something on the hardware sales. They suggest that the price will be competitive with other options in the marketplace.

As for when you can expect to get one, as we told you yesterday we hold out little hope for it to come to North America or Europe this year; but Japanese consumers will be able to buy it first this holiday season with other regions to follow next year. This is still up in the air, but Sony says that they want it out this holiday season in at least one region.