Sony has confirmed that it will be launching the PS Vita Slim in the UK on 7 February and pre-orders are being taken now. The price will be £180, £50 less than the recommended retail price of the existing PS Vita model.

The PS Vita Slim was launched in Japan at the end of last year. Differences between it and the original Vita are that it is 15 per cent lighter, 20 per cent slimmer and the display has been swapped from OLED to an IPS LCD panel.

Sony claims that the Slim's battery will give up to six hours of play time before needing a recharge, which is considerably more than the current model. There is also 1GB of storage on board so physical games can be played without needing an additional Memory Card, unlike the original.

READ: PS Vita Slim vs PS Vita: What's the difference?

The model released in the UK will be the Wi-Fi-only version and in all other respects it is the same inside as the current PS Vita. It features a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 Core processor, SGX543MP4+ GPU, 512MB of RAM, 128MB of VRAM, and the screen has a resolution of 960 x 540.

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It measures 183.6 x 85.1 x 15mm and weighs 219g. Front and rear cameras and built-in stereo speakers are on board, as well as a microphone for video calling. It is capable of being used to play PS4 games remotely, which is a great new feature for owners of both consoles.

The PS Vita Slim is a sexy-looking device, but some might prefer to opt for the original as it's currently available on sites such as Amazon for around £170 with free games and Memory Card.

Pre-orders start from 31 January.