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PSP v4 Released

Posted by Zealot on June 19, 2008 – 6:35 am
closeThis post was published 1 year 5 months 7 days ago.
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massviedmg The newest firmware version for the PlayStation Portable was rolled out for download today by Sony. Not many changes as far as users are concerned, just the ability to load Google from the main screen (soon when your alarm clock rings you will be given a menu asking if you wish to wake up, or load Google…it is EVERYWHERE these days) as well as use the arrow keys to speed up or slow down video.

The PSP has always struck me as a very interesting, if a hard to classify piece of tech. I have always mistrusted the way that Sony makes everything they touch proprietary, but it does give them the ability to fully control the user experience. Sometimes it works for them (PlayStation and Memory Sticks), sometimes it doesn’t (ATRAC), and sometimes, the jury stays out forever (Mini-discs). The PSP is certainly not as configurable and adaptable as even the simplest PDA, but perhaps that is part of its charm. It has that warm, comforting Sony experience built in, like milk and wasabi-flavored cookies.

As the PSP has become more then just a portable game machine, embracing more and more PMP elements (the video is very very pretty) I have been more and more tempted to finally break down and buy one. What about all of you? Do you own one? If so, do you do more then play God of War on it? Is it a worthy tech purchase, or just a toy?

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Zealot (473 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).


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  • hyedipin
    Believe it or not, I still have my PSP 1.5 and never touched the firmware. I love to play old GB and GBC games on it. However the regular PSP games were great as well. Non of the improvements to PSP was enough for me to cave in and upgrade to latest firmware. They were just not there for me. I rented a lot of games and played almost every game that did not require 1.5+ firmware. There are some great games available, but PSP just is not given enough attention to make it a milestone. It could have been the next Original Game Boy in the way it revolutionized handheld gaming, but it became a piracy machine.

    Only if Sony opened it up completely and allowed more customization, it could have been much more competitive.

    Oh and PSP SLIM was completely unnecessary.
  • Zealot
    I know Sony has a wretched history with tech fans, including the rootkit fiasco and the way they killed their Clie line of PDAs.

    However, at least for me, the Vaio line makes up for a lot of stupid...perhaps the PSP is another thing in their favor.

    Z
  • Dennis Kan
    hmm...idk if its worth it cause i wouldn't do much with it. but the bundle thats coming out or something with the red psp and god of war looks so sexy. it just might make me buy it xD
  • Personally I resisted the PSP for a LONG time. In fact, I have a personal moratorium on all Sony products since the whole RootKit on music CDs disaster a couple years ago that just about destroyed my mother's home computer. However, I came across a brand new PSP Slim at a yard sale a couple weeks ago for under $80 and finally caved. The thing was brand new, looked like it had been used maybe twice, so I bought it. I have to sya it does make a nice gaming device on the go, but I haven't really tried to do much else with it yet. If you can get one cheap (I think brand new ones are down to about $170 now), it's probably worthwhile.

    Q
  • Zealot
    You are all making it very likely that I finally break down and buy a PSP after the summer...

    the only problem is that even I can't justify two and if I buy one for myself but not him my son will kill me.

    Gadget aquisition vs responsible parenting...DAMN YOU REALITY!
  • Ernesto Estrada
    I had 1st gen PSP and traded it in to upgrade to the 2.0 version.

    I personally love this thing. Beyond the spectacular games, this fits my needs as a media device. I have a 4gb stick loaded with movies for my kids to watch at doctors offices or other boring places. I also have an 8gb stick loaded with hours of music and loads of photos. Organizing the music isn't the most intuitive process, but I usually just shuffle everything.

    Streaming games, music and video from the PS3 to my PSP is fabulous. I don't use the Skype function and rarely use the web browser, but it's nice to know they're there if I ever decide to use them.
  • Uhm, seeing as how Sony very recently released the PSP 2.0 (Lite), I don't see another version coming anytime soon.

    The new version fixed a lot of things "under the hood" and is said to be smaller, lighter and faster.

    That's the version I'll be getting.

    If anyone is interested, I got my first one used (the original PSP) in case you want to try it out on a more limited budget.
  • I thought it was a handy do "almost" everything kind of device. I never modded or "home brewed" it.

    What it needs is a decent calendar/PIM app and some type of keyboard, then it would make a pretty good PDA replacement IMHO.

    Oh, and an e-book app. Maybe they could port the one from the Sony Reader for the PSP? :o
  • I really enjoyed my PSP when I had mine (long story on why I had to finally part with it :(

    I used it for a lot more than gaming, although the games were awesome. The screen was brilliant.

    The MP3 player was decent, not great, I used it instead of my WinMo phone at the gym and around the house.

    I never watched full-length movies on it but did watch short video podcasts.

    Keeping pictures on it was pretty cool.

    The web browser and RSS feeds was handy once you took the time to enter the URLs. After that, a quick check was easy. Some type of add-on keyboard would be really beneficial.

    Did I mention the games?

    All in all, I miss it and am planning to get the new version soon.
  • CrezyMunky
    I use my PSP quite frequently, but not for what you might think. I have the following setup at home, so your milage may vary - C2D 2.6 GHZ pc OC'd to 3.0 GHZ running nero media server. This sends my music, movies, pictures and Tv tuner card signals to my PS3. Using remote connection on the PSP, I can access this stuff form anywhere onthe road without needing to figure out comlicated netowrk settings. Video plays wonderfully, Music streams without hiccup, and I can even play some games and browse the PS store. I despise the Umd's, and hope they release more games throught the PS store other than PSP greatest hits and PS1 games. I very much recommend buying a PSP, but at this point, i wonder if a new one is around the corner?
  • Paul
    I enjoy my PSP for gaming but really do not use the rest of the features. I experimented with playing videos and music but I really do not enjoy watching videos on the small screen and already have a MP3 player. I was hoping they would allow text messing via Skype but keeping it voice only cripples it IMHO. The PSP is a solid gaming device and I like the games on it (sorry no God of War yet) but for anything else I already have a much easier to use PDA (Axim x51v). IMHO it comes down to what you want to use it for gaming device (perfect) or PDA (misses the mark).
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