According to the latest announcement, the Japanese console giant Sony will be sending out a new beta for PS4 and PS5 users. The beta will be second in line after the internal storage expansion slot for PS5 was added a few months back. Meanwhile, in between the beta and the mighty PS5’s launch,` fans wonder when Sony will add VRR to PS5, as marketed by the company when the console’s launch.
The second beta for PS5 and PS4 users will start to roll out on Wednesday, February 9th, 2022. Currently, the beta is scheduled to roll out for a few users. However, the newest features will be available to the global audience later this year.
Meanwhile, Sony has failed to address the elephant in the room, VRR for PS5. Regardless of using the feature for PS5’s marketing, even adding the feature to a bullet point on the PS5’s box, VRR is nowhere to be seen after more than a year of the console’s launch. In the meantime, let’s look at all the features Sony is adding to PS4 and PS5 with the new beta.
Hey PlayStation!
The highlight of the newest PS5 beta is the integration of voice commands for the console. While the feature was present on PS4, the console needed a working microphone connection to make use of the feature.
However, with the newest feature, PlayStation 5 owners will need to say “Hey PlayStation” to get the service working. In addition, PS5’s beta voice command feature will let players launch games, open settings, and control music playback with every app on the PS5.
The new voice command feature on the PS5 is set to be released for US and UK beta participants. In addition, the voice command on PS5 will use the controller’s inbuilt microphone and the unused microphone on the PS5’s media remote, which Sony announced it would use in the future.
PlayStation 5’s UI changes
Apart from the voice commands, Sony is bringing some changes to the PS5’s UI with the new beta. Players will now filter the game by genre in the console’s library. Another handy feature is the “keep in-home” future. It will allow users to pin 5 games to their home screens, allowing for less time searching and scrolling for a game in the console’s library.
Along with this, the beta brings new changes to PS5’s UI. Players will use the screen-share option right from the create menu, making things easier to broadcast and share the screen. Furthermore, the new Trophies UI update brings forward new visuals for trophy cards and trophy lists.
PS5 game base improvements
First off, with the new PS5 beta, voice chats on PS5 are now called parties. Along with this, the game base is now divided into three categories – Friends, parties, and messages, making things organized. Players will now search for current friends or accept or decline friend requests through the ‘friends’ tab. Moreover, creating groups and adding players to groups, sending texts and media is easily manageable from the game base.
PS 5 party chat enhancements
The new PS5 beta improves the party chat on PlayStation 5; players will now be able to manage to keep the party open or closed. Also, players can now easily report voice chats if someone says something inappropriate. You can learn more about this feature here.
Still no VRR for PS5
Now for the issue at hand – “VRR for PS5.” Amid all the good features for the user base and contribute to the console’s betterment, Sony has once again disappointed users waiting tirelessly for the VRR to be added to the console.
For the uninitiated, VRR or Variable Refresh Rate is the dynamic refresh rate of the display output that varies to eliminate screen tearing while playing games. Sony announced the feature at the PlayStation 5’s launch and promised to launch VRR with future PS5 beta updates. Much to fans’ dismay, VRR is nowhere to be seen; even Sony’s latest blog post does not mention it.
Meanwhile, fans are growing tired of the promised update and Sony’s poor communication. With over a year of the promise of VRR, Sony has failed to deliver what fans wanted. Meanwhile, the company has continued to add relatively small and useful updates. However, both of these updates are region-restricted, and not all PlayStation owners will get to use the “Hey PlayStation” or other features Sony has rolled out.
Lastly, we only hope that Sony will bring the feature soon with a new PS5 beta. Meanwhile, we won’t be surprised if the company goes another year ignoring the user base.
