PS3 Type

The recent news that the BBC's iPlayer had been optimised for Sony's PS3 media device / games player actually got me watching bits of TV again. But it also highlighted the awkwardness of using a joypad controller to input text. 'Like painting the hall through the letterbox' is an old but apt metaphor, and it certainly applies here. So I did some searching.




I didn't like the official Sony add-on for the joypad which adds a mobile-phone-sized keyboard, but I did like a USB add-on laptop keyboard that cost the vast sum of £5 / $10. My only regret is that the efficient manufacturing techniques used in the 21st century mean that the top part of the casing is used as the mounting for the keys, and so you can't pull it apart, spray the silver fascia black, and so get a nice match with the PS3's glossy black exterior, but this is a minor point.




The photos tell it all. I used blu-tack to hold the keyboard in place, leaving enough room for the socket cover to flip up, although more recent, matt chrome, PS3s won't require this, but they may require a USB hub. Because my bright chrome PS3 has 4 USB sockets, plugging in the keyboard was easy.






So now I have a PS3 that plays games AND can accept typed input for URLs and any other time you need text. Very useful, and very low-cost. Recommended.







( I got the mini keyboard from the wonderful people at SVP, but I'm sure there are other sources, I just didn't use anyone else, and I didn't want more than one keyboard! )