8 More PS5 Features That’d Make It an Insta-Buy

In a recent interview with Wired, Sony went over some small details concerning their next PlayStation console, the PS5. We learned some neat details about the next controller, the launch window, and several other tidbits of information, but there are still some much-wanted features that have not been brought up yet that we would love to see come to the PS5.

Better Battery Life and More Controller Options

Let’s be real. The DualShock 4 is just an OK controller.

Sony changed up the game by adding a unique touchpad to the front, a speaker, and a glowing light that can change in color, but the battery life for this controller is terrible and since there is no option to shut off the light completely, it drains the life from this thing quicker than you can say “let’s play a game.”

The next controller for the PS5 sounds really cool in design when you talk about the haptic feedback and the sensitive triggers, but what does that mean for the battery life of this thing?

And if the controller has that blue light bar again, Sony needs to give us the option to turn it off completely to save the life of the potential DualShock 5.

Honestly, it can get very tiring to have to constantly charge the DualShock 4 after short gameplay sessions so let’s hope that there is a feature for the PS5 that allows for longer sessions and less charging time –hopefully, USB-C can help with that.

Crossplay for Every Single Game

It took Sony forever to finally let developers utilize crossplay for their respective titles on the PS4, but let’s hope that every game that comes to the PS5 will be able to take advantage of this feature because not being able to play with friends on other platforms is a catastrophe.

It’s going to be 2020 once the next Xbox and the PS5 launch and if crossplay isn’t a staple across every big AAA title, then there’s going to be a problem.

Let people play together, Sony –just let it happen.

Faster and Snappier UI

This might be an obvious choice here, but the UI for the PS5 needs to be faster, snappier, and easier to get around. Thanks to several updates from Sony, the PS4 UI has dramatically gotten better over the last 6 years or so, but it could be better.

Slowdown happens when you have too many things going on at once, the download speeds are terribly slow, the PSN store takes a minute to open up, and the more stuff you have installed, the slower it gets.

A nice feature for the PS5 to have is a totally revamped user interface as well as more options when it comes to your “dashboard.”

Backward Compatibility Without Streaming

Sony promises that the PS5 will, indeed, feature some sort of backward compatibility option for owners of the console. We’re not entirely sure what that entails but there will be a way to play at least most PS4 games on the PS5.

The PS Now subscription service allows subscribers to do that right now but most of the titles are played over the internet via streaming and if your internet isn’t up to par, there will be latency issues and frame rate hitches, which is not how people want to experience a video game.

The PS5 should have a native backward compatibility option that lets people insert a PS4 disc into the console and then play that game from the disc without any other issues or downloads.

Streaming is just not possible for everyone just yet, especially those in rural areas so let’s hope that when Sony says that the PS5 is backward compatible, they aren’t just talking about PS Now.

Quieter Console

Anyone else’s base PlayStation 4 sounds like a jet engine going off whenever you start up a video game? Yeah, it’s a big problem that even PS4 Pro users are facing.

The PS5 will most likely be quieter due to it having a Solid State Drive and because it’s simply a more powerful console that will easily handle demanding titles, graphically, but what happens down in the line in 4-5 years?

Will the PS5 start to make noise as well because it can’t handle late-gen games? Let’s hope not.

Frame Rate Options

This is a feature that’s already prominent for those that game on their own PC’s and we’ve seen a handful of console games utilize this option, but it’s still not a mainstay that’s in every video game, but it should be.

Being able to choose between higher resolution or higher frame rates is a great option for those that want to see games in their best form and also for those who prefer tight gameplay with locked frames, even if it means the game’s graphics take a hit.

Considering that the PS5 will be exponentially more powerful than the PS4, there is no reason for this option not to be there for most games.

As someone who prefers frame rate over visual fidelity, it’s crucial for the feature to be implemented in the next-gen of consoles, at least for someone like me.

Game Time Tracker

Nintendo has always been the company that excelled at keeping track of your video game playtime. The Wii kept track of your hours played, the Wii U did the same thing, and even the 3DS had an application dedicated to time logs.

There is actually a way to check your playtime on the PS4 for your favorite games but you have to jump through hoops and set up parental controls and whatnot, which can be a hassle.

The PS5 should have a feature that simply lets you see the total playtime for every game individually, making it easy to see how many hours players have sunk into hunting monsters, going on raids with friends, or watching Netflix –it’s neat to have and isn’t a feature that should be glossed over.

Bluetooth

It’s 2019 and there still is no way to connect my Bluetooth wireless headphones to my PS4 –it’s a travesty.

There’s not much else to say about this much-wanted feature except that the PS5 should definitely have Bluetooth so that players can connect any sort of headphones to their console, regardless of brand or type.

Having a headphone jack in the DualShock 4 takes away some of the issues that I have with using headphones (and I hope the “DualShock 5” has a headphone jack as well) but Bluetooth is a common feature in most tech devices now and Sony needs to find a way to implement it fully for the PS5.

For more on the PS5, check out some of our other features related to the new console such as seven games that would make for the perfect launch and three ways that the PS5 controller can be a game changer.