Console browsing is still a dwarf compared to browsing on other devices (PC, smartphones and even tablets), nevertheless the share between these platforms is a nice indicator, which consoles are getting used a lot. People are lazy, so if you are already sitting in front of the console and want to check something online, you will be tempted to use the console for it, even if you have another device better suited for internet browsing. ;)

According to the worldwide StatCounter data, the PlayStation consoles have reached again a share of 67.4% after falling to 53% in July 2014; so 2 out of 3 console pageviews are from the PlayStation family. Nintendo and Microsoft were both at 16% early 2014, but since then Microsoft's share rose to 25%, while Nintendo's share shrunk to 7.6%: http://gs.statcounter.com/#console-os-ww-weekly-201401-201553

Now comes the interesting part. Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 of course have a much higher install base than their successors... but are they still often in use nowadays or are they mostly replaced by 8th gen consoles and only reactivated now and then for an older game?

Since early 2014, the PS3 browsing share has fallen from 61% to 16.5% while the PS4 browsing share has risen from 6.8% to 51%. So the ratio within the Playstation family has changed from 3.7:1 in favor of the PS3 to 7.5:1 in favor of the PS4.

The WiiU was already more popular for browsing than the Wii in early 2014... no wonder, the browsing experience is much much better! Since then, the Wii browsing share has rapidly fallen from almost 5% to 0.75% (the Wii is now dead for browsing the internet) while the WiiU browsing share has only slightly fallen from 10% to 6.8%. So the ratio within the Wii family has changed from 2:1 to 9:1 in favor of the Wii U.

Microsoft was problematic... since both Xbox 360 and Xbox One used the Internet Explorer, the data between them couldn't be separated. Together, their browsing share between early 2014 and October 2015 rose from 17.3% to 27% with spikes to even 33% in April and August 2015. Thanks to the "New Xbox Experience" and the switch to the new "Microsoft Edge" browser, that problem has finally gone away. The Xbox360 now has a browsing share of 5.5% while the Xbox One has a browsing share of 19.5%, which results in a ratio of 3.5:1 in favor of the Xbox One: http://gs.statcounter.com/#console-browser-ww-weekly-201405-201553

The transition from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge on the Xbox One has been quite smooth... in only 3 days the "Microsoft Edge" browser reached 15.4%, 10 days later it were 19%. These 19% are stable since then, so the transition to NXE on Xbox One seems to be complete since 23rd November. The dotted "other" line (~4% before the official NXE launch, ~1% after that) seems to be the XBO preview program with a different version of the Edge-browser: http://gs.statcounter.com/#console-browser-ww-weekly-201544-201553

Is the PS4 browser nice?

No. Its a pain in the ass to browse with.

That said, I still use it for pornhub sometimes. 

Better than the PS3 browser. ;)

Sony improve the browser

I use the ps4 browser almost every day. it's much better than the ps3 version.

Well yeah since the PS3 browser is pretty much useless its barely better then the Sega Dreamcasts browser which was actually pretty decent for its time and at least got a decent amount of updates to make it better. I'm pretty sure there are even ancient cell phones that have better browsers then the PS3.

Ps3s browser is what you would expect from a 10 year old device. Clearly its not going to run the latest internet standards such as html5. With that being said the ps4 browser is much, much improved and leaves little to be desired given the context of its application.

Honestly though, I've never been fond of browsing the web on consoles or smart tvs. At home if I'm not on my pc, the browsing happens from my smart phone. I can easily say <1% I rely on the ps4 for that task and I think it's silly that someone would be lazy enough to choose otherwise.

The Browser on the ps4 is terrible.