Sony PS3 Firmware 2.0 is available, first Impressions

Nov 8 2007, 1:37am CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Start your Sony PS3 and you will see a notification that the Firmware 2.0 we reported about yesterday is available for download.

The download will take about 10 min to complete.
The feature highlight of the PS3 firmware 2.0 is the ability to turn a PS3 system on and off remotely, using a Sony PSP. With the ability to turn your PS3 on and off from Wi-fi connections, there is now the opportunity to listen to the music, look at the photos and watch the videos saved on the PS3 Hard Disk Drive from anywhere in the world.

The first thing i did after playing around with the new firmware 2.0 is to disable the information board. The scrolling text window annoyed me within 2 minutes. To disable just select the information board icon under the Network category, press the triangle button and choose do not use.
There seems to also be a problem with the information board not being able to display English on a Japanese PS3 console set to English. I switched my accounts to connect to the U.S. store, but the information board did not start using U.S. servers. In any case this feature is not that important.

The XBR customization features are nice, but you need to bring your own wallpapers to really leverage the customization options as there is only one custom wallpaper bundled.

I also tested the remote on/off feature. After registering the PSP with the PS3 via USB, I was ready to use remote play. The PS3 needs to be in Remote Play mode to actually be able to switch it on and off via the Sony PSP.
I had some strange effects though after switching the PS3 off from the PSP. The PS3 switched off and after a couple seconds switched on again. I have to do more testing to see how consistent this behavior is.

The option to switch off the PS3 is available when you hit the home button on the PSP in Remote Play mode. To switch on the PS3 you just enter remote play.
One other thing I didn't care for is the connection error message after you switched off the PS3. A specific message that the PS3 is now off, would be more user friendly.

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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.