Poll: Are You Happy with the PS4's Current Firmware?

I got one small issue and it's got to do with the friend notifications. As usual, Sony took 1 step forward and 1 step back for me. One the plus side, I can choose who I want to see online but on the downside, every time somebody comes online, the notification pops up with the sound effect. I hate the sound effect. The sound effect is nice on notifications for friend invites or party invites or game invites where I like to be notified in that moment and clearly see it. When someone comes online though? It's not AS important so that they have to notify me with the sound effect which can be extremely irritating if you have selected all your friends to pop up. PS3's notifications were silent, I'd like an option on that.

I still haven't gotten on yet, maybe tonight. But the separate hdd is what I want. And I'd spend so much more money. I really hope this comes next time.

I'm really enjoying remote play on PC.

The BEST New feature was the Non-Social one i.e Appear Off-line

I'm gonna be honest, I only use my consoles to play, no sharing, not app (aside netflix sometimes), not browsing, nothing, just play games. So to me PS4 is perfect, the standby function is great, the boot time is fine, load times are fine too. So to me the only concern is the PSStore's design which is very poor, the search tool which is bad too and mainly how slow it is.
That said, all in all, the firmware is perfectly fine to me.

Question for everyone, what is the benefit of remote play? Can you play from literally any internet connected windows laptop (fitting the requirement of course)

For me the ability to organise and tidy my own home screen would be the best improvement, folders or similar being the obvious move.

I wouldn't care if it went back to how it was at launch, it literally has had no effect on the enjoyment of my games. The ONLY thing I want, and need, is external HD support. If the WiiU can have it, there is no reason the ps4 can't. And yes I understand they are worried about hacks etc., but if that's the case then make a proprietary external HD that has the extra safety features. I would still get it and be happy with it. Get it done Sony!

@Frank90 Yeah the store needs a update. It's hard to find game and the stupid searching with the letters.

The only feature I want, is the ability to add an External HDD. With the fact that games this Gen have to be installed, its the ONLY feature I want. I couldn't care less about social features, Folders, Communities etc as these have very impact on my gaming - the primary reason I bought my PS4. The fact I have to 'juggle' games around EVERY time I buy a new game is frustrating and annoying. I know you can only play 1 game at a time but invariable I do return to games on an ad hoc basis. I don't like being restricted by just a few - I want to put ANY game I have into my console and play without having to delete some game(s) and reinstall the game I want to play. Games I think I won't play in the next week will invariably be one of the ones that get deleted and then find myself wanting to play it a week later. Some games do not work until fully installed - well some aspects of them so playing a game can take ages before being available to play again!
Being able to tidy up the Desktop doesn't bother me, seeing when friends sign in (I have notifications turned off as its annoying to have pop-ups - messages only) or ability to appear online isn't significant and has no impact in how I play or affects when/what I play.
Personally I would be happy if the Desktop just had 3 icons 1 for what's in my disc drive, 1 to access my digital game library and 1 to access my settings! Everything else is just 'clutter' and generally of no use to me. I wouldn't mind if the console had the game in the disc as the entire screen on start up and the current desktop was hidden behind a button press - although I think a floating menu bar to access any of the headings would be better than the way it is now from my PoV.

Better organization (folders), external hdd support, offline local remote play like that unofficial one and my vita. I can play not connected to the Internet with my Vita but I have to with my PC? Rather use the unofficial remote play since I have no internet at home anymore. A few others but I'm drawing a blank now.

Hell naw I'm not happy! I won't be either until we get external HDD support!

It's mostly good but there's some basic and obvious functionality missing that would make it better imo.

It's funny how when we get the launch of a new console it lags behind in features from the last gen but I suppose these things take time...

not having folders is unaceptable... really what's so hard about implementing folders?

@Frank90 I'm the same. Turn it on, play a game. It's perfect for that.

@wittypixel ...any tablet or laptop with a good Internet connection is all you need, just download the software from Sony and away you go. Oh, and I believe you need a usb port and have to plug in the dualshock, not sure whether you can connect the controller via bluetooth. Works great for my laptop when my missus is watching those stupid soaps lol

The PS4 now supports harddrives with up to 4 TB in size.

http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/08/ps4-update-hidden-features/

I put my disc in. I play video games. It perfect. It has the only feature i require.

@A1RB4G no bluetooth, sony would need to make drivers for that. I wasn't sure if it was a LAN only feature or just internet based so thanks!

I had no more NAT after that.

I'd love to be able to erase those stupid apps and entries from the menu. It would be nice if we could choose how to organise the menu tiles, too.

I wish sony fix the remote party chat. For some reason i cant chat with my friends while remote playing on my PC. Similar to the PS Vita.

I really just want external HDD support.Folders and wot not for organisation would be good too.

i want my screen shot from them!
why sony act like that? maybe i dont WANT To buy 5 dollar them!
iwant that fu*** icons be smaller like ps3
but who cares?
so i really hate ps4Firmware

@dellyrascal and how much does an internal 4TB HDD cost that would fit into a PS4? Fact is, currently there isn't anything larger than 2TB that 'actually' fits inside the PS4 so that's still the largest you can go without buying the docking station thing from Nyko (I think it was) I am betting it costs a LOT more (if they ever do become available) than the £100 I paid for my 5TB external HDD that I bought for my XB1.
I keep all my 'system software' on my internal HDD and games on my external. My storage capacity is virtually unlimited - I can plug in 2 externals at a time and just buy more and swap them over if they ever fill up. Its far quicker than deleting and reinstalling games every time I buy a new game or get the monthly freebies. I have MANY games that I have not completed and I may want to return to these at some point - I am far less likely if I have to consider which game(s) to delete, wait for it to reinstall and download any patches etc.
It maybe 'relatively' easy to switch internal drives but its not as easy as just plug and play.If you are worried about USB ports, You can always buy a USB docking station to charge your controllers - I just use my Laptops USB for this - You can even use you Laptop's USB to charge your controllers whilst playing - Only thing it won't do whilst plugged in to the Laptop is switch on the controller/PS4 but you can just unplug the USB, turn the controller/PS4 on and plug it straight back in again - simple!!

@BAMozzy Yeah ya right, in respect to the cost of 4tb drives, i personally dread to think.

My 2Tb drive (£65:00) is home to some 150 games with 270Gb plus left, 70Gb of that is save data alone, so i may come to the point that I will have to remove software myself.

That amount of software is since I bought the machine in the January after launch, so chances are i've either played specific titles to death or gone on to the next incarnation of said title, I highly doubt i'll find myself in a quandary when it comes to deleting games, when the time arrives, however that option that you have on the Xb1 , SHOULD be available on the PS4, as in this current day and age, its a big misstep to not allow such a simple thing to happen.

The worst bit is this sort of thing isn't even new, I had extra storage on my Sega Saturn, with the multi-layered save cartridges, that spawned the equivalent of six separate save places, through to my trusty old Xbox360 when it introduced the ability to run games off usb flash drives in its later life.

How the hell either company thought 500Gb was enough in the first place is beyond me, let alone the combined issues of not being able to replace a HDD (XB1) or add HDDs via USB (PS4)..... It is ludicrous with the tech readily available.

@MadAussieBloke You could install a 4TB internal - IF one actually existed that size to fit. The biggest capacity internal drive that actually fits is still 2TB. The only way to get 4TB (I believe) is with that hideous Nyko docking station.

@dellyrascal The difference with EVERY console in the past, was that you were not required to store games on any internal memory. Games ran from whatever media they were on. As game development has grown, we have required a 'save' status. Before this time if you died - game over - start again from the beginning. These save points were built in and stored on the actual cartridge as the 'console' had no internal storage. This is the only generation where we have to install games on to a console to play.

Its clear that Sony and MS had to put the 'minimum' HDD in to keep its overall costs down but at least MS allow people to buy additional storage. and run games from this to address that issue. As you say, your 2TB (the maximum drive size currently that fits) will soon become full. If you also download a lot of the IGC games (24 over a year) that could fill up very quickly.

I know some games may not be played 'regularly' but what if a friend says 'fancy a game on something you haven't played in a while'. Its not like you can just put in the disc - you have to consider which game(s) to delete - not always easy with 500GB, wait for it to install, wait for any patches to install etc before you can play. If its a 'digital' game, that can take longer if your internet speeds aren't great to redownload it.

It takes away the spontaneity of gaming - especially social gaming. In the past, it was a simple case of just putting the game in and loading it up.

@MadAussieBloke Because the 4TB's are 15mm tall and so don't fit into the cage or space available. Maximum thickness is 9.5mm!

@MadAussieBloke If they do manage to squash a 4TB drive to just 9.5mm (that's nearly half as thin), I have absolutely no doubt that the price will be higher than 15mm 4TB drives. Considering I paid £100 for 5TB's that was simply 'plug and play' - no need to download and install OS, no need to dismantle and rebuild a part of my console, not limited to a set figure (i.e up to 2 or 4TB) and of course there is the portability if it too - if people still go round to friends houses and take their games to play - like we did before online gaming...
I don't know how many games I have for the PS3, but I know that if I accumulate that many games for my PS4, even a 4TB drive will be full!! Also USB 3.0 has a faster data transfer than Sata 2...