M33’s CFW 5.00 M33-3 on PSP-2000 series

I’ve been waiting for a stable version 5.00 from team M33 and I think they’ve released one already. There’s this 5.00 M33-3 and because it is the firmware version 5.00, a couple of changes are made but only few made it to the PSP-2000 version.

THE NEW XMB WAVE

One of the noticeablt changes was the XMB wave. Instead of having the common two pair-waves, you now have a single pair of wave. The lower part of the waves are brighter than the part above. What’s more, you have the option to switch back to the classic wave from previous versions.

They also added few more colors since the effect of the new wave is quite spectacular. There’s even a new visualization in MUSIC that has the same wave but goes up as the music goes louder. It also darkens as you play the music so when you play your music with that visualization, you will be able to notice which is the real XMB wave and which one is the visualization.

SLEEP TIMER FOR MUSIC

Another feature offered by this firmware was the sleep timer option for the MUSIC. It is probably for people who always forget to turn off the player everytime they listen to music. I, as an example, always leave my PSP playing Jazz music every night. The thing is, I fall asleep without turning my PSP off so good thing this feature was released. Now I can set the PSP to turn off after 30 minutes or an hour. The sleep timer can be set in 30 minutes interval. 😀

NEW ICONS AND SMALL FEATURES

if you noticed, it’s not the NETWORK icon that is on the right-most part of the X-menu but PLAYSTATION NETWORK instead. This feature lets PSP users to access the network as well as the store of Playstation to download and purchase new and old PSP goodies. I had one attempt before to enter but I still don’t know of it’s my firmware version (m33-3) of it’s just the Wifi that’s rubbish that I cannot connect.

One small feature was also introduced and this is the USB Auto-connect. This prevents you from scrolling to Settings just to connect your PSP on your computer via USB. Now, you can plug your PSP and the system will immediately connect your PSP to your computer. Of course, like most features like this, it can be disabled.

QWERTY…

Yup, this QWERTY keyboard layout is also offered in 5.00. You can now type words on the OSK by pressing Select to change the layout. It’s easier for me to type words now unlike the previous layout but the previous layout is still the default one and you have to press Select to move to this layout. The layout works pretty much like a typical computer keyboard. If you press “SHIFT”, you’ll end up with this one:

Just like when you hold SHIFT in a typical keyboard. Pretty nice, isn’t it?

UNAVAILABLE FEATURES

There are some features that are not offered or not visible in the PSP-2000 series, probably because it will be introduced in the PSP-3000 series. Such features were the TITLE DISPLAY feature which gives you an option to disable the Title screen from showing up when you start your PSP.  The Backlight auto-adjust is probably for the PSP-3000’s new screen. Nevertheless, these features doesn’t seem to give players a big problem. For me, I don’t need those.

VERDICT

I think the new firmware is quite good. There are features that I liked especially the new XMB wave and the sleep timer. At least SONY is making something other people wanted the PSP to have. I wish they continue this habit. Although they are not releasing any new games yet but at least the new firmware made me happy.

PSP Firmware 5.00 complex

Okay, I’m already confused. I’m not the sort of person who would want to upgrade immediately when a new firmware comes out. Although I heard this new OFW 5.00 comes with “all-new” features, some of this caught my attention. Although I mentioned in my previous post that the new firmware is still under development and it might catch a little conflict on the way, Dark Alex announced yesterday (I think) that 5.00 M33-2 is already on its way, maybe by weekend. Whoah, I just saw the 5.00 M33 then M33-2 comes along? That’s fast!

Anyway, what are these features brought by 5.00?

• [Playstation Network] has been added as a category in the XMB
• [Playstation Store] has been added under Playstation Network menu
• [Account Management] has been added under Playstation Network menu
• Sleep Timer Function for [Music]
• A new full-screen keyboard; press [Select] when the OSK is displayed.
• Redesigned XMB Background
• A new video format is supported (MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) Video Main Profile (AVC CABAC) in 640 x 480 pixels)
• [Title Display] feature under [Settings]
• [Backlight Auto-Adjust] has been added as an option under [Power Save Settings]

I need the sleep timer for music since I always leave my psp playing music when I fall into sleep. Oh yeah, the new XMB design, I love it. The title display can also be turned off. I’m actually waiting for the M33-2 because it comes with the updated popsloader plugin. If the popsloader won’t work, I’m dead because I play Gran Turismo 2. Anyway, I’m looking forward to upgrading to 5.00, and to a stable one. 😀

PSP-3000’s BIG problem

If you’ve heard the news that the PSP-3000 is coming this year with new features, you might as well heard its new “screen” which features brightness adjustment, bla bla bla so on. Sony said it will be better than the screen in PSP-2000. Although that might sound reasonable considering the fact that PSP-3000 is the latest model, Engadget.com have tested this and it seems that a problem immediately came up.

Please take a look at this picture from Engadget.com:

Notice the interlacing in the screen of PSP-3000? It is clear that PSP-2000’s screen stands better compared to the latest screen. Sony is looking into this problem and an update into the engadget post was placed saying that this “interlacing” was just one of the features of the new screen and there are no plans yet of fixing this problem with a new software..

Visit Engadget : Sony “looking into” PSP-3000 interlacing problems
Man, that was close. My younger brother is planning to get the new model this Christmas as a replacement for his old PSP. Good thing my older brother convinced him not to get it yet, especially the firmware installed in the new PSP-3000 which is the Official Firmware 5.00 is still under DaX’s development. Although DaX has already released CFW 5.00 M33, we still don’t know how it works especially on a PSP-2000 unit. Whew!

New “Q”s.

I browsed the intarwebzzz again due to boredom and discovered that the “Q”s we have now, like Choro-Q and Q-steer, are not limited to cars! I saw a new one from Takara-Tomy and it’s called Hover-Q. It’s a small hovercraft R/C. Dunno how it works but I think this video can explain

Another one involves Pokemons. I thought pokemons are already dead except on Gameboy. Hahahah, well, this proved me wrong! There are also other Tomy merchandise involving Pokemon. I remember seeing Pokemon Tomica in one of the toy stores around my place and a couple of Pokemon stuff like keychains and small figurines. Well, this one really caught my eye:

Well, I heard that the Pokemon ones are already around the toystores here. better check it out. [or maybe I should say “gotta catch them all~!” to make it more appropriate. heheh]

Initial D Street Stage [PSP]

I’ve played this game before but this is the only time I took this game seriously. I’ve finished the first difficulty already and I’ve already started on the next difficulty. The game is pretty much the same as Initial D Arcade Stage 3. The reason why I liked it because my goody older brother said my PSP has something that will make things easier… and things became easier. Hehehe.

it’s a nice game. I already had my favorite cars tuned according to my preferences, something I cannot do easily in the arcade version. At least I have something to do in my boring month long sembreak.

New Gallery~!

Remember my review about this collection? I was not satisfied much with the pictures I used because they were shot using Nokia N80. The new pictures were taken using Canon 400D. Jump to Hangar to find the gallery~!

Nintendo DS – Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney

I’m curently playing this game and I played this because I was curious about the game. Actually I’m curious about all of the well-known DS games and I wish I can get a Nintendo DS so that I can play these games. I’m currently suffering from using an emulator with no save state feature. If it had that feature, I wouldn’t bother getting one. Unless someone gives me a unit, i will have to use my emulator. Anyway, this game is amazing because it’s one of those CSI-like games but most of the scene occurs in the court room but despite being in court room most of the time being in the defense position, you still get to investigate by yourself. Patience is the key to this game and IQ. hehehehe. I’m not yet finished with the game and there’s still 3 installments to finish.

2nd year, 1st sem Finals – DAY 1

For day 1, it was ELC 101.1 fifth long exam and it was fine. But I don’t know if I will be able to push my grade up. It’s already fine, I’m far from failing but I still want a better grade. I just hope that I will get a higher grade this time to put my grade one puny notch up.

It’s raining hard that time and I don’t even have my umbrella. Too bad, fever waves its hand to me again. Ish

Tomorrow will be my math 21 exam.  Good luck to me~!

New Q-steer released~!

These are now released internationally and now available at online stores. HLJ.com is now selling the QSRS series, the two Super GT GT-Rs and a new One Mat Circuit Xanavi Nismo GT-R.