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Update: The most recent firmware version is now v5.51.
This is just a minor update over v5.50 and adds no new features.
Sony's new firmware update for the PSP, rather than making any major
improvements, brings a number of neat little features to the PSP.
- The PS3 style information board is now available on your PS3.
Select your country and view PSP news from the Playstation network
that is relevant to you.
Located under: Playstation & Network
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- Subfolders added. It is now possible to create one more folder
level. Sony could have taken this a bit further, as it's not going
to help too much if you store music on your memory stick and you
organise your music like this Artist/Album/Disc1 , it's just not
enough
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New Internet search icon added to the menu bar. This is a shortcut
to search the Internet. Enter a search phrase and it takes you
straight to Google. It also caches recent search phrases with
is really useful.
Located under: Network
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New 'Internet Search' option menu item under current game icon.
You can now perform an internet search using the name of your
current game as the search phrase. My first search took me to
the official PSP site for Tekken which would not come up due
to a lack of memory. I had more luck with the Wiki site, but
the Wiki isn't the most interesting site for games.
Located under: Game | UMD | Options
(Press triangle)
- Free trial of web security services by Trend Micro. The services
include Trend Micro Web Security, aimed at blocking malicious
content and Trend Micro Kids' Safety to block inappropriate content.
This looks like another revenue generator for Sony, but how many
parents are even going to know about this update, let alone pay
for the new service. As for the service that blocks malicious
content, this is a games machine, you're not going to be storing
your bank details on there!
Located under: Network | Internet Browser
- Access the Playstation Store without a Playstation network account.
Before signing up for an account you can browse what games or
demos are available. This one makes sense.
- Less space required for game downloads. Before this update,
if you were downloading a game you needed free space on your memory
stick equal to twice the size of the download file. Now it is
only necessary to have the same free space as the actual size
of the download file.
The new version of the firmware is compatible with the PSP-1000,
PSP-2000 and PSP-3000. Although some features are only applicable
to the later PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 models.
Take a look at our price comparison page to find the cheapest
PSP 3000 deals available in the UK
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