revised [2005/09/05 - 07 - see individual paragraph dates.]
The world is changing. It did not quite "happen yesterday." This change
is coming a bit slower. But it seems to be happening. I am talking about
how close the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) firmware update to version
2.0 comes to turning the PSP into a viable "thin client" for general
purpose, wireless Web browsing. It actually does come very close, though I
think it still misses this goal.
[2005/09/07]
PSP-1001K 6.7" x 2.9" x 0.9" 280 g. (including battery) CPU PSP CPU (clock 1 - 333 MHz) Main Memory 32 MB "Embedded DRAM" 4 MB Display 4.3 inch, 16:9 TFT LCD 480 x 272 pixel, 16.77 million colours Max Luminance 200 / 180 / 130 80 cd/m2 (on AC, 180 on battery) USB 2.0 Infrared Port UMD Drive (Read only) Memory Stick Duo(TM)[2005/09/07]
When the PSP came out, with Wi-Fi, but without an HTML browser, I felt
that its competitors had been given a reprieve, though I had wondered
for how long. Now we know. The 2.0 software upgrade features, among
other things, the PSP's first HTML (and Java) based Web Browser. Other
upgrades flesh out various capabilities, including better Wi-Fi
connectivity (for example, by extending encryption support). Clearly,
version 2.0 was intended to bring the device up to a minimum level of
general internet client capability.
[2005/09/04]
The short summary I can give, even this early, is that the result is still
not quite good enough to be relied on for people who really need Web
connectivity. The Web browser needs to be "written to". That is to say,
if one intends to specifically support PSP user, then one can write pages
and test pages that will work well on the PSP. However, random use of the
browser will result in finding a number of pages which will not display
well, or in some cases will not display at all on the PSP.
[2005/09/07]
These preliminary notes are based on a few day's worth of work using the
PSP, and comparing it to a couple of alternative devices. I will comment
on some other alternatives. These are not based on thorough testing.
Unfortunately, I do not even know if I will get around to finishing the
testing. That is why I am posting the current material.
[2005/09/07]
The use of the browser showed the problem of developing such software
for a device without an established, thoroughly developed operating
system environment. There is little support for scrolling controls
in the firmware. I emphasize that it is the software that is the
problem. There are sufficient buttons and physical controls to for
a programmer to use for scrolling.
[2005/09/07]
On the other hand, the hardware
is at the heart of the other problem for the PSP's browser. There is
no keyboard or handwriting recognition capability to aid text entry.
Browsing the Web with point and click really has not been enough since
pretty much the first days of Web, and there is no sign that it will
be in the future. Text entry is still too important for the Web
experience in general for this to be a really acceptable. Even the
cell phone companies are finding this out. However, it is a fairly
easily addressed problem. There are keyboards available for Palm and
Pocket PC devices that should be easily adapted to the PSP, and a
custom designed device is certain to become available.
[2005/09/07]
The Web browser is implimented as mainly a two mode environment using the triangle button (the right side top button on the 4-button pad) to toggle between the modes. A single touch of the triangle button switches between the modes. [2005/09/07]
In the control mode, the main menu options are shown by icons in a bar
which runs along the bottom, and a status bar across the top of the
browser. On the first level of the control mode, the left and right
arrow buttons on the right side of the PSP switches between the active
highlighted icons, and the meaning of the icon is shown in text in the
middle lower area of the screen.
[2005/09/07]
Touch the triangle button and the upper and lower bars
disappear and one controls either a cursor, or one can scroll the
whole screen by pressing the "square" button on the right side pad
(the "left" button on the right side pad) and using the left side
pad buttons to give direction. The cursor is controlled in two
ways. If one uses the left side pad buttons, then the cursor jumps
around the screen to links and objects. If this is used, then the
screen will scroll to the next link off the screen, or if there is
no object or link nearby, then the screen scrolls about a 1/2 screen
height. The other method of controlling the cursor is by using the
the joystick button on the left. When this is used, when the cursor
reaches the edge of the screen it just stops there and the screen does
not scroll.
[2005/09/05]
Since the only really predictable way of scrolling the screen is the
"full page" method, this is what I have been using. This is the major
fault of the software, which severely diminishes its usefulness. If
you are reading a complex thought in a long paragraph, you cannot
really scroll it up and down to read it naturally in context. It would
be similarly difficult to see a location on a map in the context
of its surroundings. Any other large graphic would have this problem.
This is why the PSP with its current capabilities is best used with Web
pages designed specifically for its browser.
[2005/09/05]
I have not found any ability to store off a currently displayed
HTML page but there is an ability to store a bitmapped image file
(which I tested and succeeded in downloading a JPG image), and the
ability to download a link target file (which I have not tested yet).
The browser can also download files to a MemoryStick card (tested by
downloading an MPEG4 video file).
[2005/09/07]
The screen is 480 x 272 pixels in 95 mm x 54 mm, which is better than
most pocket devices. The width is important. A 640 wide display on a
narrower screen, used on some Pocket PC devices, will not help a lot
of people because they might not be able to see pixels that small.
[2005/09/07]
The screen is fairly well used, with a couple of special screen
formatting options called "Just Fit" and "Smart Fit".
[2005/09/07]
I tested the PSP with a few of my own personal favorite websites. I
found that "cbc.ca" (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website)
worked fairly well. This is good because at bare minimum, it gives
me good local weather reports. Similarly "680news.com" (CFTR News
radio) worked fairly well, though the formatting was a bit worse.
Since the PSP is marketed as an "entertainment" device, I thought that
the nature Website for it to be associated with was TV Guide.
Unfortunately, not only did "www.TVGuide.com" not work (it reported
being out of memory when I tried to open a page to access "listings"),
but after trying TV Guide, it failed to open other Web pages until I
"warm-booted" it by removing the battery and power supply. This
might have been a problem with the Java implimentation, but I am
not sure.
[2005/09/04]
By comparison, I opened the TV Guide website with my Palm Tungsten C
without any apparent problems from the browser. The only problem I
had with the Tungsten C was that it tends to have problems connecting
to my Wi-Fi server.
[2005/09/04]
The Alphasmart device is not meant for this use, but is worth considering.
Its main drawbacks are the hardware. The monochrome passive LCD screen
is good because it does not need a backlight, but it is inadequate for
todays uses. It should be an active matrix TFT monochrome screen. Also,
the CPU is too slow for today. If the company stays with Palm OS, they
can still use an ARM RISC processor, which is what Palm uses, even in its
cheapest Zire 31. Overall, I have to say that I hope the Pepper Pad makes
it to market. The more I think about it, the better it looks. The size,
power, and even the button keyboard all look about right. It is possible
to criticize its slow IO ports (old USB, SD Card and 11b Wi-Fi), but it
might still be adequate. At least you can enter text reasonable to do
"online registration" and "password entry" without wasting a lot of your
"coffee break" time.
[2005/09/07]