Yeah, that's true. The battery does last pretty long on the PSP. Probably the longest lasting for any portable all-in-one device I've ever owned. Heck, it lasts longer than my old CD Walkman.

Years ago, I installed an internal light in my GBA and it made my batteries die like every hour or two... and no standby mode to keep my game going!

Agreed. A spare regular battery is more preferred for me.

i honestly think the silvers more popular then the white here in the states at least but i do agree that it was stupid they didn't make a white cover with it.

Sony doesn't need to disallow Pandora batteries because they've already done that with the current crop of processors. The latest PSP2000s use TA-88 processors and the 3000 use something even later. No one has been able to get past the TA-88 with a Pandora. They're going to have to resort to mod chips, which will make homebrew far less practical. Modding won't be on the same easy level for the average user.

Courtesy of jx233 from MaxConsole:

"Custom/unsigned IPLs fail to load off the MemoryStick because of new CPU/TACHYON IC chip that only accepts IPL signed by Sony.

Battery EEPROM writing functions removed, but PSP can only read the Battery serial. (Battery EEPROM writing is impossible in Official Firmware 1.51 or later + new PSP models cannot write to battery."

@Frasto- you have heard of a Magic Memory Stick/Pandora combo, right? The Slim is just as easily hacked as a phat.

Yes, he knows. The TA-88 board was a recent preventative measure put into the 2000 models to try and stop Pandora, which it did for a while. It has already been circumvented.

The 3000 is a complete redesign of the battery port, likely which has no data transfer capabilities whatsoever. This is likely why the batteries were discontinued, to create a new battery that will work across all models.

koehler83: I've been reading about the new crop of 2000s for months (TA-88 is up to v3, I believe). I have yet to hear anyone else -- at any technical level -- state the issues with both gens as simply and clearly as you. Because of the quality of your post, I tried looking up others by you.

Yes, Schyler, I've used the combination you mentioned and am aware of it. The processor change I mentioned is very recent.

So far as I know, TA-88.3 has yet to be beaten. This was posted today:

"If you do have a TA-088v2 then DC7 [Despertar Del Cementerio v7] will be able to d/g it, if you have a TA-088v3 nothing can at the moment." -- January39

From DC7's dev:

"Battery and ms will work on all psp *except the very latest ta-88*."

Until recently, I'd been toying picking up the GoW 2000 as a backup PSP. Pity, that.

koehler83:

I've been reading about the new crop of 2000s for months (TA-88 is up to v3, I believe). I have yet to hear anyone else -- at any technical level -- state the issues as succintly as you. Because of the quality of your response, I'll be looking up other posts by you.

Yes, Schyler, I've used the combination you mentioned and am aware of it. The processor change I mentioned is very recent.

So far as I know, TA-88, version 3, has yet to be beaten. This was posted yesterday:

"If you do have a TA-088v2 then DC7 [Despertar Del Cementerio v7] will be able to d/g it, if you have a TA-088v3 nothing can at the moment." -- January39 [user name, not the date of the post]

From DC7's dev, Dark Alex himself, on his latest work:

"Battery and ms will work on all psp *except the very latest ta-88*."

I happen like the DS Lite. Now that I have two copies of Korg DS-10, I actually own two DSs for chaining.

But I can't see comparing the DS's dual screen to a PSP-2000's widescreen (far better even with ghosting), let alone, a 3000's. They're not even in the same category of kit.

and maybe the 5000 will finally have new games and features.

PSP has tons of games and features as it is. It even does more than 360/PS3