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The Sony PlayStation 4 has an intuitive web browser

Kristopher Saber
UX Collective
Published in
3 min readJan 21, 2019

Accessing the world wide web through a browser is one of those experiences that is best left to a PC or desktop. Even with the advent of smartphones, you’d rather interact with a mobile app than through the smartphone’s browser.

A functional web browser on a video game console would be considered a peripheral feature in most circumstances. Yet, despite the lack of necessity for a good browser, the PlayStation 4 under Sony has delivered a surprisingly good interface.

The PS4 Web Browser Keyboard

One of the best components is the keyboard. Navigating on a console keyboard is often tedious and time-consuming, but Sony did a very good job of labeling frequently used buttons with shortcuts. The search button is “R2” after you’ve inputted your keywords. Sony also tries to predict your search words, but it usually failed for me. If, however, I trained it to my typing habits, it would sometimes pick up on some neat patterns.

There’s also an easy way to get to Google search right away. To get to Google search, which is used very frequently compared to manually typing in the URL address, you have to press triangle. This makes it a lot easier than having to navigate over to the…

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Published in UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. Curated stories on UX, Visual & Product Design. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Written by Kristopher Saber

Senior UX Researcher. My opinion is my own, and does not reflect the business that I'm employed to.

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