The main crux of the matter is why they aren't used too often. The music player is limited as to what it can play, the video player is so specific on the encoding process that you tend to loose patients in making vids for the unit sometimes, and let's be honest here, the browser is just outdated junk.
So instead of all these newer features like the PSN store or connecting to the PS3, better money and time could be used to advance what's already there. I mean Sony wonders why we all head towards the Homebrew scene so much. Well your answer is that they don't make any attempts to get you interested in the machine. The best improvement they made is to allow flash ability to the browser, however keep in mind that's it's flash 6, a format barely used now a days at all. Let alone the fact that the number one unheard of issue.....
Well anyway we in the PSP Community have always taken the next step to fix whatever Sony cannot. Some simple solutions for the common problems, here are a list of the applications I use on a daily bases:
1: RSS reader can only view videos or audio podcasts. You cannot read whatever is written, "so what?" you say, well perhaps not all the information in the audio file/video may be enough or may be in the written info that the publisher of the feed was great enough to post for you. Well anyway the simple solution: Devour RSS Reader, you not only get to read the full post but you get to know if there is any downloading content for you. The main issue with this app is that it hasn't been updated since the day it came out so for now, you cannot download anything within the reader because it is what it is, just a reader. However I still feel it's more valuable than the built in RSS reader, so much that I delete the actual PRX file that powers it in order to fit room for a theme.
2: The internet radio feature added on firmware 3.00 was a grand idea but never really got launched too much into anything else. Seeing as you were heavily limited as to what you could listen to *Great idea Sony, "We tell you what to listen to"....yeah that will bring 'em in to use the feature."* until Freeplay came out with FreeRadio, an HTML portal that allows you to use whatever internet radio stream you would like. However it still uses the initial browser in order to play it which makes it kinda slow and heavily unreliable. It kind of cuts out here and there with no warning if there is a weak signal. Now I'm not blaming Freeplay here, it's Sony's issue. I thank him/her for being one to step out of the box and help the community. However we had something better way before the feature was added, PSPRadio. A nice little app that can not only play internet radio streams of any kind but can still play your own music and or podcasts you would like.
3: Video is not too much of an issue for the PSP however it is a little bit of a pain to do. When converting it's a little difficult if you don't have the right software, for my AVC video's I use PVC for Mac in order to create HQAVC videos using the purest Audio/Video Bitrate of course in doing so this means that only VLC can be used to play it on the computer lol. But still it's near DVD video on the PSP. I don't have a clue what to use on the PC side no matter what programs I use I can't get close. The only encoder that is nearly close enough to me is SUPER. Well anyway a simple solution is needed right? Well you don't get simpler than PMP. The PMP format allows you to use full resolution video on the PSP meaning that the video is only as good as the original file for used with PMP Player Advance. PMP formatted videos are also less in memory than AVC ones. Not to mention that you can just use the original title of the vide, no MAQ numbers. Even easier just make a small .png file for the thumbnail
4: With firmware 3.00 also came the addition of the PS1 emulator by Sony.... one of the only good things they have done for the unit in a long while. Well so you would think, but the one thing they forgot to mention is that you can only play the titles downloaded off the PS3 from the PSN store. Of course that was limited at the time, now you need to buy them online or off the PSP, well either way it's still a pain. So then what do you do? Buy titles from the PSN...or make them yourself for free? Well now the decision is rather easy, also it's not too difficult to do. With the Popstation you can make any PS1 game into a PSP playable one, with more detail work you can even make them have custom icons, music or even have it say something to you when you launch the game. The main thing you need to do is make your game into a file, this can easily be done with Toast Titanium on the Mac or Alcahol 120% on the PC side. Only issues on the Mac side is that the newer computers no longer read PS1 games, in fact they out right eject them. I don't know why, guess Sony let them know people where using them to make copies and such, guess it's reasonable. Again easily fixed with either an external CD burner or DVD burner. I use the iOmega SuperDVD or Lacie CD Burner. Well anyway after you make your game feel free to play it all you like. You can even make multi-disc games like Final Fantasy VIII.
5: Ah the PSP's web browser, now on to the finest of all the flawed features. Now I have nothing against the browser and I do feel that it is a good conceived idea but still it's not enough to say that's it's perfect. Sony did try to correct the problem with firmware 5.00 by adding memory filters to reduce the amount of data needed to use the memory but it can still happen if too much material is on the site or if the content is too new for the browser to handle like something in a higher flash format or bigger sized photos.
It's a great concept as the browser comes with a "Tabbed System" meaning that much like the Opera, Safari and many other browsers you can surf a page then open a tab to house another page so that you can come back to the others at another time. The PSP's browser is limited to three tabs at a time, which is good as the system may not take much more than that. But with the memory issues you can't even use the three. The best you can do is hope that things don't mess up with one. Loading pages takes far too much time on the browser than it should, even if there isn't a lot of content on the page it still takes a good amount of time. For my site it takes about 3 minutes to load even on 100% wi-fi connection, of course this is provided that I wait until the page loads before surfing on it otherwise it will run out of memory.
Well anyway for loading times on mobile devices it will take a little more time then on a computer but the PSP's browser sets a poor limit on this time. Another thing that's an issue that I have never understood is that you cannot charge the PSP while using the browser even though on many wi-fi applications and games it can charge. How this is a issue is when your downloading files or surfing for a while. The browser for some reason takes up a bit of power from the system. I'm not too sure why it does this as it's not a game but none the less it does. The browser in my opinion almost runs better with the features shut off than on. The only advantage that is still good about the PSP browser is that it allows you to download all sorts of items, even music all you have to do is direct them to the right folder and wham! Your all set to go with your portable media, it even alerts you to when your low on space. Also the addition of the Google Search?....come on, your kidding me with that right Sony? I mean can't you just go to google.com in the browser? It doesn't matter as half the sites off the search most likely with come up with memory errors.
Well now that I have done my litany of why the browser is a failure, let's move on the the solution shall we? Well again the simple solution is, toss that old browser aside and use the Opera Browser! Now most of you will be starring at this and saying "what is he talking about? You can't install the Opera Browser on the PSP, that's a computer app isn't it?" Well yes and no, Opera is a web browser that is well known but it's not just limited on the computer. We have seen this browser on a few different platforms already, the Wii, the phone, the DS and even a few PDA's. Well since January 21, 2008 PSPKVM has allowed you to do such a marvel. Sleepper and M@x brought to the PSP community a chance to enjoy a new form of internet browsing, for a long time people wondered if there was a homebrew browser aside from 2ch and the Tenchi No Mon browser but have always been let down by the results. Well what's better than an homebrew browser, a real browser powered by an homebrew app! Well in some cases that's not the best but in this case we have a real gem. This little app PSPKVM not only will allow you to install the Opera Mini but you can install other Java based .jar app's. The Opera Browser Mini is an intuitive browser that loads pages in a matter of seconds.
Best of all, no memory errors! I have been told that it runs off an emulated cache which saves a small bit of data which is deleted after executing an action, so it never takes up memory nor does it loose any. This does mean that it needs to load pages every time as the page data is not saved but still it's worth it as it loads very fast. You loose the ability of the tabs with this browser, which to me isn't too big of a deal as I tend to get lazy and leave other pages open forgetting to close them. So I end up one day launching the Opera browser with about 20 different pages I don't need open lol. The downloads system is a little tricky at first as it's not as direct as the PSP's browser but it's easy enough to figure out. The main issue with the Opera Mini is that you can not save any files from pop up windows, so if you were to go to a page with a Megaupload link your kind of at a loss. However it does allow you to save direct linked items if the link is on the page. For instance I can download items from the Phantasy Star Connect page but not from my DSH Media page, yes I suppose I should fix that for those using the browser.
Well anyway getting back on to the point, the better deal with this little gem is that you can use it to receive RSS feeds along downloading the items from them, you can add pages to the Speed Dial menu, which allows you to use pages in a quick menu so that you go to the ones you like right when you start. One of the better features I found out is that you can synchronize your Mini with the computer browser or anything Opera is on. Which means you may a bookmark on the PSP you can then go on the computer and use that bookmark without emailing it to you or writing it down as the moment you save it the bookmark it will show up on the Mini's folder within the computer browser, you can also access your computer bookmarks on the Mini as well. Same with the Speed Dial. It takes a little getting used to but it's nice to use. Especially when your in school, need to bookmark or save a page and then when you get home just continue on from where you left off. Of course you still can't enjoy sites like Youtube as there is no current flash version but at least you can actually load the page and download Youtube videos from this browser. Well that is to say the page loads so you can make comments and manage your account but you cannot view the video. On the PSP's browser you can't get pass the log in page.
Well anyway as a side note I should mention that you can use Youtube on the PSP via PSPTube, along with 23 other video websites to view and download videos....unlike on the iPhone *cough, cough, cough* not to mention it has support for Youtube's HQ versions.
As a nice added bonus Opera Mini takes little to no power, you can surf for hours before it needs to charge, I surfed on my PSP for about 4 hours before my battery got down to 83%. Granted I wasn't using it all the time, bathroom, dinner and all but you get my point. Well you can download images of any kind if they are on the page, this includes embedded images that you otherwise would need to go through the source to get. Now the downside the PSPKVM and Opera Mini is that your PSP is not a phone and so the control layout is not the same as a phone however you can fix this through the app's settings and even through the installed app's settings. Yes you can change the settings of Opera and PSPKVM. You can even edit the .INI file to change your locations for downloads and how the app works. Main point is that this an amazing app, not to mention that I always wanted to have Opera on my PSP. It's worth a try for anyone looking for a better browser than the PSP's.
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*To note, these programs are meant for use on the 1.50 Firmware or Custom firmware only, if you don't have these you'll need to research a way to use then via loaders and such.*
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By now your probably saying "Didn't he promise a download this post?.....enough with this blah, blah, blah....I WANTS ME DOWNLOADS NOW!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ....well alright, perhaps your not quite saying that but still I did promise that and I do keep on my promises.
Crystal Blaze ~Episode 1~ [147.8MB]
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ~Target 1 [What!? I'm the 10th generation Mafia boss?]~ [152.1MB]
Finally, a bonus - PSPS1: ~Megaman Legends~ [.MB]
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Lol, more from me....yes I know this seems a bit too long but why not add another sentence or two right?
Well anyway the only real rants I have for the Opera Browser would be that for the RSS feeds, the Mini browser unlike the computer version doesn't alert you when the feed has been updated where as you get a small popup window that appears when an update is made. You have to manually go into the feed menu and look for the update, however the updated ones are in a bold text. I would love to have a chime or something when a download is done because it's hard to tell when it's finished. Also some download accelerators may be a good thing to add, I did a testing on this already:
Download Speed Test for a 8.9MB File
PSP's Web Browser: 1:04:77
Opera Mini: 10:21:14
I mean it does the job and I should be happy as the PSP's browser had more of a chance of fragmenting the file where as with Opera it keeps it safely packed but come on, 10 minutes? That's a bit too much, well perhaps this will be fixed in the future on later versions of Mini or PSPKVM. The bigger advantage is that downloading a file with Mini doesn't drain the battery unlike the PSP's browser. At least the PSP's browser chimes when it's done but then again it would be useless if your out of the room at the time I suppose. Well anyway that is all....or is it? Nah, I'm just kidding.
Hope you had a Happy New Year and have a great day! More updates to come as we continue in this new year.
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