PlayStation Portal's first gentle software update

PlayStation Portal, launched late last year, continues to sell well according to the limited information available and is now regularly available from online stores (but mostly still on limited stock) after the early sell-outs. 

Sony also has news that Portal will arrive across wider Asia from the 4th September 2024 in Singapore and on 9th October 2024 in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, offering more commuting or office-based play. 

As more users take it further afield, tweaks to the OS are needed, and Sony is on the case. 

First up in this relatively minor update (now 3.01 after some extra connectivity tweaks)  is a rather clunky feature to help users sign in on public WiFi networks, for gamers to look cool in their local coffee shops, assuming there's enough bandwidth available. 

With this new update, PS Portal will also connect to a range of public Wi-Fi networks* that may require additional validation steps beyond entering the network password. This includes Wi-Fi networks with sign-in screens that can often be found in hotels, cafes, and airports.

To connect to these public Wi-Fi networks, PS Portal will display a QR code for you to scan with your smartphone or tablet. Once scanned, you’ll be able to use your mobile device’s web browser to complete the additional validation steps on behalf of your PS Portal. As a reminder, PS Portal requires a Wi-Fi connection with at least 5Mbps, and for a better play experience a high-speed connection of at least 15Mbps is recommended.

Additional tweaks include showing the power left as a percentage on the status bar, visual feedback on the touchpad. 

Sony doesn't mention what version number the update is, and since I still can't afford one, guess I'll have to wait a little longer to see what the fuss is about. Hopefully, future updates will come soon allowing greater play options across the PlayStation ecosystem.