PS4 4.00 Firmware beta announced

Sony has announced that the PS4 will soon be receiving a new 4.00 firmware update, code-named Shingen in a new post on their blog .The update is touted to be bringing in a number of new features as well as a general UI refresh! Don’t worry though, the look and feel is going to remain similar to the current UI. Sony has just made some tweaks to help usability and make the system easier to use.

The UI
Sony have reported a number of changes to the general UI of the PS4; nothing too drastic though. The What’s New tab has been updated, pop-up notifications are now smaller and a number of icons have been redesigned.

The Quick Menu
As you may know, holding down the PS button brings up the quick menu for power controls, volume and system features. But with the 4.00 update, Sony is making it a bit more like the Xbox One’s guide.
The menu is being compressed to a left-hand side fly-out and will allow users to quickly jump to friends, change their online status and other features.

Share Menu
Following the Quick Menu’s new fly out style, the Share menu now takes up much less of the screen; and reported to be faster to load and allows for much faster sharing or saving of screenshots and footage. Twitter video clips have also been extended up to 140 seconds from 10.

Folders and Library
Sony has added a long requested ability from fans to organize games and apps into folders! They appear to work similar to how the TV Apps folder works now, working as a drop down from the horizontal app list.
The Library is also getting a few changes, the biggest and most desperately needed is a Purchased tab.
This is where all the games or demos you’ve participated in will live, only currently installed Games and Apps will appear under their respective tabs and everything that’s ready to be downloaded will now be under Purchased.

This is in addition to some new sorting and search tools that the Library now sports.

Trophies
There have been improvements to the Trophy experience too! There’s a new “Offline Mode” which allows you to view your entire Trophy collection without being connected to the internet. Hidden Trophy content management has had some changes and the icons representing rarity have been updated too.

Profile
The profile screen has undergone a face lift, putting the most relevant details first, adding a cover image and some more personalization.

Sony has stated that there are even more features coming to the public that they haven’t announced yet in the 4.00 update and I’m excited to see what’s up their sleeves. So far this seems like a pretty major update for the PS4 and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.