When I reviewed the PlayStation Portal, Sony’s dedicated handheld solution for PlayStation Remote Play streaming that essentially sandwiches a gorgeous 8″ display between two halves of a DualSense controller, one of my biggest and most pleasant surprises was that I could fairly reliably play my PS5 at home in Melbourne from a hotel room in New-York-bloody-City.
What wasn’t as helpful though, was the inability for the device to connect to any Wi-Fi network that required a web sign-in, with no browser functionality to speak of to allow for it. Now, with a new firmware update that’s rolling out over the next day or so, the Portal will finally be able to do just that.
The solution is quite neat, essentially giving users a QR code to scan with their phone or other mobile device to complete the sign-in step on behalf of the portal, with the only notable restriction being that this functionality doesn’t extend to 5GHz networks.
The new update also adds some other handy improvements like better visual feedback for touch functionality and battery life now being optionally displayed as a percentage so you can more accurately keep tabs on it.
Here’s the full rundown on the new features from the PlayStation Blog:
PlayStation Portal June 2024 Update
Sign-in screen support for select public Wi-Fi networks
While we recommend PS Portal to be used in your home as you have control over the quality of the Wi-Fi, it can also be used outside of the home in places where a fast and stable Wi-Fi connection is available – and we’ve seen many players take advantage of this.
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.
New visual feedback for touchpad areas
The emulated touch pad on PS Portal’s vibrant 8-inch screen is getting an update. We’ve added new visual feedback to the touch pad areas. The new effects will be displayed when using the touch pad areas during remote play.
Display battery level in percentage
You now have the option to display the remaining battery level percentage on the status bar at the top right corner of your screen. To use this feature, open the quick menu, go to [Settings] > [System] > [Battery], and then turn on [Show Battery Percentage].
