There's party chat on vita. It is not a psn issue, it is a console os thing. There 360 has the advantage of being built with live in mind. Vita has the same if bot more features than 360, only tainted because of the power saving measures due to its portable nature. Regardingbthe op, yes xbl may have the edge, but not by much, and being a payed service makes it useless for many.
More features than XBL? Care to expand on this, as I can only think of Near and beacons on XBL is pretty much the same thing, but nowhere near as well done or as detailed.
Vita is a baby step in the right direction, but it's still too fractured/lacks the unified/connected feel that MS have nailed with XBL.
I log into XBL and I feel part of a community, one button press and I can see what my friends are playing, when I play a certain game, I'm told if someone is also playing, I can message anyone, even if I'm gaming/watching a film/whatever. PSN doesn't offer any of that, there's a disconnect, there's no sense of community. Maybe because Sony invested HOME to provide it? I don't know, but that's what they need to work on next gen.
@RoninChaos.
You're absolutely right, but to counter that, MS does have the online store and you can easily bypass the tabs by using the guide menu. I'm not trying to excuse the piss poor layout (which I don't particularly like), but there are workarounds. The same can't be said for Sony's service.
This wasn't intended as a mock Sony/Nintendo's online service thread (which is what I assume some people think based on my tag), I genuinely want one or both to bring their AAA game next gen and make MS sweat so they'll either drop the price of XBL or make it more competitive/value for money. Some of MS' decisions make me hate the platform, but I'm invested in their service and it's not easy to just abandon them when the competition does such a pisspoor job of their online offerings in comparison.