80G PlayStation 3 on the way

Stephen Withers
Friday, 30 March 2007 03:59

Your IT - Entertainment

A US Federal Communications Commission filing made earlier this month by Sony shows the company is planning to introduce a new version of the PlayStation 3 with an 80G hard drive.

The FCC filing was a request for a "Class II permissive change" required due to a variation in the PlayStation 3's Bluetooth module and the addition of a reverse F antenna.

The interesting point is that the application (spotted by Playfuls) includes the following lines:

"Addition of model: CECHE01 (Original model: CECHA01)
"The model: CECHE01 is to be added by the difference of the capacity of hard disk drive.
"There is no influence to RF characteristics by above mentioned difference.

"*CECHA01 (Original Model): 60GB Hard Disk
"*CECHE0 (Addition Model): 80GB Hard Disk"

Even an 80G hard drive is still well behind the 120G unit provided in Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox 360 Elite.

The extra storage is needed for downloadable content, especially high-definition video.

The new PS3 Bluetooth module still uses a Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) chip. Sony and other vendors using CSR's Bluetooth chips are being sued for patent infringement by the Washington Research Foundation.