More than a workweek and a half after it was first expected and almost a month after it made its debut in Japan , Sony has finally released its 2.0 firmware for the North American Playstation Portable ( PSP ) . The firmware update adds some long - awaited capabilities , such as the plus of a built - in Web internet browser , but takes other things away , such as the ability to run home brew software .

You ’ll need to have at least 16 megabyte of free infinite on your PSP ’s Memory Stick Pro Duo carte du jour to download and deploy the firmware update , which can be done either by using the PSP ’s internet Update purpose or through a USB 2.0 connection on a Mac or PC .

Browsing the entanglement

One of the most obvious changes to the PSP with the 2.0 update is the young World Wide Web web browser app , accessible through the “ connection ” icon that come along alongside other horizontally - place main bill of fare interface icon like Game , Video , Music , Photos and preferences .

The PSP Web internet browser is pretty decent : It generate light looking epitome and anti - aliased schoolbook , and render you with options to reflow Sir Frederick Handley Page to fit the PSP ’s show — which , while widescreen , is narrower than a information processing system show .

A meddlesome icon will flash in the humble right handwriting turning point to let you know that a page is load — ready to hand , since the web internet browser lean to freeze while it ’s loading content . The PSP ’s web browser take longer to download Sir Frederick Handley Page than a Mac or PC .

The PSP does n’t have a keyboard , so Sony ’s applied scientist have created a key ingress system that ’s remindful of a cellular telephone telephone computer keyboard . They ’ve tool vane - specific lineament ( .com and http:// are only a keypress or two away ) , but it ’s still a slow pain in the butt .

The PSP internet browser displays aliveness and play JavaScript ( you could turn that off too ) . you may even save images and other Indian file to your Memory Stick if you want . That even include MP3 files , which means you’re able to even habituate your PSP to download podcasts , for example . What ’s miss is backup for Macromedia ’s Flash engineering .

The browser app even supports tabs , so you may have multiple pages charge into memory . A File bill of fare lets you gain info about the pageboy you ’re look at , show certification and more . you could also save bookmarks , a discrete home page and take in your web web browser ’s chronicle .

The PSP ’s Web browser app is n’t double-dyed — some page that have specific browser app requirements wo n’t load . Some pageboy seem to exceed the PSP ’s memory limitation , as well ( MacCentral ’s , for example ) , and turning off images does n’t avail . So there ’s still room for improvement . But for now , it may prove useful to some PSP users .

Video and image backing

Mac users have been hearing about H.264 , or Advanced Video Codec ( AVC ) for quite some time . It ’s built in to QuickTime 7 , and it call higher lineament video at smaller data file sizes than other television applied science . The PSP supports AVC too , but up to now that bread and butter has been limited to the Universal Media Disc ( UMD ) the PSP can act as movies and games from . Now you may trifle back video encoded in AVC from your Memory Stick card , too .

you could also force video saved to a Memory Stick Duo card to be played back in 4:3 facial expression proportion . An A - B repeat feature has been tot , so you may play back sections of video or music you ’ve copied to your PSP repeatedly . And you could now specify chapter ( on UMDs ) and time sequences where you ’d wish to start video playback .

This updated firmware also sum support for TIFF , GIF , PNG and BMP images , so you’re able to view a wider array of still images than you could before . you’re able to also apportion image files between PSPs using Wi - Fi , in Ad Hoc mode . Selecting an effigy from your Photo subroutine library now let you station it , or , alternate , you may receive an image from someone else , as long as you have your Wi - Fi connexion turned on .

It ’s frivolous but fun : PSP 2.0 sum up a “ Wallpaper ” modality . In fact , there ’s a new “ Theme preferences ” function that lets you manually configure the background signal colouration of your PSP ( previously it would change to a unlike colour monthly ) . Alternately , you’re able to select a photo or image on your PSP ’s memory stick lineup to serve as your wallpaper . A number of PSP wallpaper archive have popped up on the Internet since the 2.0 firmware ’s release in Japan last month . I now have a nifty Transformer Autobot logotype wallpaper serve as my background .

euphony improvements

You could already expend your PSP as a digital euphony player if you wanted , thanks to a build - in MP3 player . It ’s substantially bigger and bulkier than an iPod , and with Memory Stick Duo carte topping off at 1 gigabyte , you do n’t get any more storage than an iPod make , but some exploiter like the married couple of convenience and secret plan playing power .

Sony has enhance the PSP ’s audio playing power with the addition of Advanced Audio Codec , or AAC sustenance . I convert all my MP3 file to AAC when iTunes first added that support to help save hard parkway space ( hey , with more than 3,000 songs at the prison term on an senior G4 , it made a big difference ) , so I can now listen to that music on my PSP .

Unfortunately , AAC songs you download from the iTunes Music Store are still verboten , thanks to Apple ’s use of FairPlay , a digital rights direction ( DRM ) scheme that renders the single file useless outside of iTunes or an iPod .

The raw release also tote up support for Sony ’s ATRAC3 plus digital euphony encoding format . This is n’t really relevant to Mac users , since Mac financial support for ATRAC service and computer software is non - existent .

Other options

A few other changes have been made , such as the addition of Korean terminology funding . An Internet internet browser Start Control single-valued function let you password - protect the entanglement internet browser . Wi - Fi connectivity has added Wired Protected Access Pre - Shared Key ( Temporal Key Integrity Protocol ) , or WPA - PSK ( TKIP ) financial backing , which ply considerably stronger authentication reinforcement for wireless networks .

Mac connectivity

PSPs continue to work as before when they ’re connected to a Macintosh using a USB 2.0 cable — the Memory Stick pops up on your background as a aggregative storage gadget . And the third - party software already available for the PSP , such asNullriver Software’sPSPWare , RnSK Softronics’iPSPandPocketMac for PSP . Some of these public utility company have been updated to take advantage of newfangled features in the 2.0 microcode , as well , so if you ’re using them , check to verify you ’re using the latest versions .

Homebrew bust

There are a lot of great improvements to the PSP in the 2.0 firmware update , but there ’s one really important caution for PSP substance abuser fond of “ homebrew ” software — that is , game and emulation computer software that ’s been developed to run from the PSP ’s Memory Stick .

Such software has been kill up with regularity since the PSP first debuted . There ’s an obvious ingathering in getting something for nothing , and PSP enthusiasts also care to see what developer unconstrained by corporate limitation can do .

Homebrew efforts are n’t supported by Sony . Like any console manufacturer , they want company to pay their licensing and royalty fees , and they want consumers to bribe them : That ’s one of the big ways that console Creator make their money , peculiarly in the other days of a unexampled console ’s fabrication and statistical distribution .

This is the third microcode update since the console first debuted in the United States this part March . Sony has taken efforts to lock out homebrew computer programmer from course their software at each footstep . The 2.0 firmware update is no exception — it ’s tougher than ever for hoi polloi to run home brew games on their PSPs now .

So if you ’re still lead an unadulterated PSP with 1.50 firmware ( you may check by visiting “ System Information ” in “ System configurations ” ) , you ’ll need to settle what ’s more important to you : Running homebrew software system , or surfing the Web , viewing unexampled image formats , playing AAC medicine an the other improvement the 2.0 firmware upgrade offers .

At least until the homebrewers figure out a way around the unexampled confinement .