-Menu

I'm a sucker for nice GUIs, and the PSP excels in this department. Equipped with XMB, or "Cross Media Bar," the same GUI Sony has loaded o­nto the Playstation2/Digital Video Recorder hybrid "PSX," the PSP's menu gets far more attention than does the menu of the PS2. In fact, inserting a game doesn't automatically start it anymore -- you'll need to go under "Game" and select "UMD." Here's a quick breakdown of the main menu items and their submenus.

1. Settings
-Network Update: Connects to wireless LAN to download the latest PSP firmware (I think, because mine says "latest version of the system is already installed").
-USB Connection: You'll need to go here when you plug your PSP into your PC.
-Video Settings: Self-explanatory. Options include Menu Language, Audio Language, Subtitle Language, and UMD Video Volume. As far as I can tell, none of these options apply to video stored o­n Memory Stick.
-Photo Settings: The o­nly setting to adjust here is the Slideshow Speed.
-System Settings: Self-explanatory. Use this option to change your PSP's nickname (used for netgames), set the system language, check battery information, format the memory stick, and so forth. Also, includes Restore Default Settings, System Information, and About PSP.
-Date and Time Settings: Self-Explanatory. Options include a Date Format, (YYYY/MM/DD), Time Format (24 hour), Time Zone, and Daylight Savings Time. The PSP is also loaded with a pretty cool feature that automatically changes the GUI background color depending o­n the month. I've got a video of all 12 colors the PSP will cycle through, so take a look. I haven't found a way to manually set this color (besides changing the date, of course). Click the image below for that video (DivX 5, 1.98MB, 0:43)

-Power Save Settings: If you want your PSP's backlight to turn off after 5 minutes instead of 10, see here. The WLAN Power Save mode, which turns the wireless LAN o­n and off as needed, is in this menu.
-Sound Settings: Includes AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiting System, I think), and Key Tones. That "click click" sound while navigating menus can get old, fast.
-Security Settings: Set a Password, set a parental control level for all of those porno UMDs that are bound to exist someday.
-Network Settings: Includes network connectivity settings. The first choice you are faced with is whether to setup AdHoc networks or Infrastructure networks (see 802.11b). Ad-Hoc's o­nly option is what channel to use; I just left mine o­n Automatic. In Infrastructure setup, you have the option to create a number of connections the PSP can use (much like Windows' Networking). Options to setup the connections include setting an SSID, Encryption, manual configurations for DNS, IP addresses, net mask, default router, and a proxy server.
2. Photos: Self-explanatory. For now, my menu includes "Memory Stick." See the "Imaging" section.
3. Music: Self-explanatory. Here's where you'll go to play MP3s and ATRAC3 files. See the "Music" section.
4. Video: Self-explanatory. This is where you'll go to play video from your Memory Stick or UMD-Video, I presume. See the "Video" section.
5. Game: Self-explanatory
-Game Sharing: An option I haven't been able to test myself. When I select it, it says "Searching for players" and turns o­n the wireless LAN. I guess I'll have to wait until more people pick up a PSP to find out what this does. I'm thinking it's along the lines of the Nintendo DS's game sharing feature.
-Saved Data Utility: Works almost exactly like the saved data utility o­n the PS2, except a bit easier to work with. Saved data can be viewed, deleted, copied, and so forth. o­ne interesting though laborious feature here is the Copy feature, allowing save games to be copied from o­ne Memory Stick to another using o­ne PSP. You're required to swap memory sticks three times during the process, so let's hope it's a save game worth copying.
-UMD: You'll go here to start your game when you insert a UMD. A small introduction will play depending o­n the game you've inserted, giving you a chance to review your selection before you decide to play.
-Memory Stick: Memory Stick games? Yes indeed. I don't know of any that exist yet, but I do recall a Sony person dropping hints about game demos being released for play from the Memory Stick.

Click the image below for a video of me navigating through the PSP's menus (DivX 5, 2.82MB, 1:10)

Continuing, we go into the PSP's image playback functionality.