The PlayStation 4 system software update 4.00 arrives Tuesday, September 13. There are a few things happening here.
One, an interface refresh, meaning a new look and "improved" notifications. The What's New tab loses the chaotic three-column look and gets a cleaner one-column scrolldown. You'll see who's playing what, who made friends with whom, trophies, etc., and the usual spammy overflow of Journey notifications telling you where everybody is at every waking hour of the day in that game.
There are some new standard system backgrounds to toy with. I usually plug a few in here and there, but just default back to the blue flowy one. I'm a default kinda guy, though.
A big selling point on this 4.00 update is folders. The video, for example, sets up a folder for just PS Plus Monthly Games. That's cool, I guess. Good to know what you'll be losing access to if you ever let your PS Plus subscription lapse.
The Library tab has some new sorting options. Like sorting games by what you've purchased. It still throws all your betas and demos in there alongside your actual purchased content, though, so I'm not sure, exactly, what this improves? It would've been nice to not keep flipping past all of those betas and demos.
Press and hold the PS button to reveal the new look of the Quick Menu. There are some customization options in there, so you can make visible (and invisible) buttons like Online Status, the Power button, My Communities, etc.
The updated Share menu supposedly makes a few things easier. Twitter videos can be up to 140 seconds long, as opposed to like the 14 seconds it is now. You can share screenshots directly to a Community wall. And it's nice that you will be able to reply directly to specific comments on those Community walls, instead of it just being just an endless scroll of people talking to themselves, pretty much. Oh hey, you can also customize your user profile a little bit, so you can have a backdrop behind your face/avatar when people look at your profile. Not a feature I was missing, but okay, since it's there.
A few things aren't mentioned in the video. One of those—but something I'll get plenty of use out of—is being able to get into Spotify (aka PlayStation Music) without leaving your game. There are several updates preparing the way for PS4 Pro, too. Not to mention making every single PS4 HDR (High Dynamic Range) capable; though you'll need an HDR-compatible display.
Not sure what hour the update becomes available for download, but it's not going to be optional. It sounds like these are all good changes, though. Again, the PS4 System Software Update 4.00 goes live tomorrow, Tuesday, September 13.
