Sony adds web browser to PSP in new firmware upgrade

Sony has announced a free-to-download version 2.0 software upgrade for the Japanese PlayStation Portable that will introduce a web browser and increased versatility in other areas of its multimedia support.

It's due out in Japan next Wednesday, 27th July, and most expect it to be released in North America around the same time. Europe may even see it pre-installed on PSPs. The update will be downloadable through Sony's website (to be installed via USB cable connection) and will be made available on future game discs as well.

The new software introduces a wireless internet browser with unspecified security features (presumably support for cookies - the bits that remember your settings on certain pages) and support for HTML 4.01. Flash is not supported, but the PSP can apparently detect it, so we may see that in future. The web browser will be housed in a net network menu.

However, the web browser isn't the only new feature being introduced in the update, which also adds a raft of functionality to the console's existing features.

A desktop wallpaper style feature is being introduced for the PSP menu, and the system will allow you to trade your stored pictures wirelessly. This feature will only be available via ad-hoc wireless networks to begin with (i.e. PSP to PSP direct) but it may be expanded to allow the general sharing of pictures someday. Watch out Hillary Clinton, eh?

In terms of multimedia support, there's now full MP4 (AVC) playback (for better video using the H.264 codec, which is the new standard being adopted across the industry for high quality video), ATRAC3plus, MP4, AAC and WAVE audio support, and the ability to read TIFF, BMP (Bitmap) and even GIF image files, although whether animated GIF files will be supported is unknown.

The introduction of support for ATRAC3plus is particularly interesting, since it means that if you use the SonicStage v3.2 PC software, you can effectively use the PSP as a portable playback device for music purchased from Sony's Connect Music Store - reinforcing Sony's apparent positioning of PSP as a competitor to iPod and Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Playback of UMD video and music will also gain a skipping feature so you can move to different points, and there will also be an A-B repeat mode, an as-yet unexplained 4:3 video mode (slightly puzzling as everything is in 4:3 really - they may mean Zoom or Stretch?), and an audio adjustment feature to mute or adjust the gain on videos.

Further under the bonnet we see things like WPA support for more secure wireless networks and a new character set (details of which are sketchy), as well as Korean language support.

Sadly, some previously rumoured features like an email program, word processor and, er, calculator, have not been mentioned in connection with the version 2.0 upgrade.

However the volume of interesting features is likely to put it firmly on most people's radars - particularly given that it's free. The big issue for some of the PSP's most vocal users however will be the fact that by installing the update in order to use the new features, they'll also patch the security hole that allowed homebrew - and pirate - software to be run on the machine.