It’s been over a week since the release of the 3.0 firmware update for the PS3, and still many people really don’t know what it is really updating. After researching for a while, I found a nice list on Wikipedia that had all of the update histories of the PS3’s firmware updates. This is the complete list of what the 3.0 update contains.

System changes

• [Information Board] replaced by a [What’s New] feature.
• When the system is started it will display the [What’s New] screen by default instead of the [Games] menu.
• A [Status Indicator] added to the top of the screen showing the user’s online status, the number of friends online and an icon indicating if there are unread PSN messages.
• The swirling activity indicator has been replaced with an analog clock (hands rotate quickly to show activity).
• The [Friends] list has been redesigned.
• Messages from specific friends can be accessed from the sender’s profile screen.
• Increased font and icon size.The default theme has been changed to an updated version of the ‘Original’ waves theme (the original theme has been renamed ‘Classic’)
• The ability to take screenshots has been added to the [Internet Browser].
• Support for new avatars to be downloaded.
• [Remote Play] now supports mobile phones such as the Sony Ericsson Aino.
• The controller battery indicator has been moved.
• The copy/paste functionality has been expanded.
• A slider appears when scrolling through a large list.

Game changes

• A new feature added allowing game developers to display Trophies in different ways, such as grouping them by add-on pack, etc.
• A [PlayStation Store] icon added under the [Game] category.
• Platinum trophies no longer count towards the total percentage of each game.

Media changes

• A BBC iPlayer application for users in the UK/ROI.[7]
• An ABC iView application added for users in Australia.[8]
• A [PlayStation Store] icon added under the [Video] category (where PlayStation Video Store is available).
• Added the ability to upsample audio stored on the internal or USB hard drive to 88.2kHz or 176.4kHz.
• During Video playback, the right analog stick can be used to play content in slow playback, fast reverse, and fast forward.

Settings changes

• Support for new Dynamic Custom Themes.
• [Display What’s New] added to the [Settings] menu to allow the user to change what the system displays by default on startup.
• [Audio Multi-Output] allows audio output through multiple connectors (e.g. HDMI and optical) simultaneously.
• [Audio CD Output Frequency] has been renamed [Output Frequency] and now affects all music content.
• Settings have subtitles for reference.
• Ability to check internet connection upload/download speed in [Network Settings].

There have been problems, of course, dealing with the new firmware update. For example: Uncharted seems to have some problems with the trophy updates and has cause the game to freeze at a dramatic rate. Usually when a system updates, problems like these are to occur, and Sony says it is currently trying to fix the problem.