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28th July 2005:
Hands On PSP Browser
The PSP 2.0 upgrade we reported on is better than we anticipated, and we tell you all about it now!
Posted by Chris Barnett - - UK and Europe

With the release of the new 2.0 update for the Japanese PSP yesterday (the US is still waiting for confirmation that it will be released there anytime soon), we have been toying with the new features on our import console.

The features added were discussed in our news feature yesterday, but since gaming is very much hands-on these days, we felt it required a good test to prove that the features were as good as they sounded. We are happy to say that we were not disappointed.

The minor features such as an improved 'bookmark' function on UMD movies (that allows a given section to be returned to at any time) and added MP4 file playback (the console can now read different types of MP4 file that it couldn't before) are nice additions. But the major features really impress. In fact, if they were released as a retail product, we would not hesitate to actually purchase them.

The first major feature is the ability to change the wallpaper on the main menu (that you see every time you play items other than games). The change can be from a selection of 12 colours (pre-determined, so you can't mix your own) or from an image stored on the memory stick. This may sound like a minor feature, but imagine how you would feel if you were forced with the generic wallpaper offered when you first setup your PC. You would be pretty angry. Since the PSP can already read bitmap and jpeg images, it is just a case of selecting one that will look good on the background. In fact, we found the best backgrounds to be pictures designed to be Windows wallpaper, as they are already formatted to be displayed in the horizontal fashion of the PSP's screen. Movie posters were not good as they were stretched too much; Tom Cruise on our Vanilla Sky poster looked more like Fred Elliot from Coronation Street. In the end, we found that the best thing to do is exactly what we do on our PC; change the desktop to suit your mood. So currently, our PSP is displaying the desktop for The Devil's Rejects in anticipation of its release next Friday.

The other major feature added in the update is a revolution for handheld gaming. It allows the PSP to act as a web browser. With a screen layout similar to an Internet Explorer window, it is possible to enter web addresses into the bar at the top of the screen. This is done using on-screen buttons that act the same as a mobile phone keypad - each button can be toggled for different characters and prefixes (.com, .co.uk and many more are some such pre-defined items). This is not as smooth as a keyboard, obviously, but it does appeal to the text-message generation of mobile people. With the default settings, we visited Silicon-Fusion and was surprised with the speed and quality of the display. It took around 17 seconds to load with all images intact. The analogue disc then serves as a make do mouse pointer to select links, which worked perfectly. The only gripe was with the lack of the page on the screen at once (due to the large font size that was very clear, may we add), but we quickly realised that by holding down the square button and moving the analogue disc, the pages can be scrolled much like when a mouse-wheel is pressed in on a PC. Flash animations do not work, but they are recognised, hinting at future support. Even cookies act correctly. Bookmarks for favourite sites are easy to add and return to the desktop is always one button away.

Overall, this upgrade is amazing and transforms the PSP into a true multimedia machine. With video downloads already available (movies and clips of around 30 minutes) for download via the PSP website (quite easily with the correct web address) this looks certain to sway the online vote in its favour (the DS has no planned browser yet).

Chris Barnett

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