About To Buy A Wiz, A Couple Of Quick Questions


Bromazepam

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Hello everyone, I'll finally be buying a Wiz (been wanting one of these things since the GP32 came out), but I have a couple of doubts about where to buy it.
My first choice was Play-Asia, since I already bought something from them, and they were quite reliable. Then, while browsing the forums, I heard that ThinkGeek's user support seems to be quite good.
Considering shipping prices, they're about the same since I'm in Central Europe (PA offers normal air mail for ~13$ less, but I'm not sure how do they treat it, the box I previously ordered came in pretty bad shape), but I found coupons for a 10$ discount on TG, while on PA they were only for 5$.
So, what I'm most interested in is to know if TG is really reliable on support, mainly replacing swiftly and without too much hassle defective units (I'm in a god-awful streak of bad luck, lately - I like to be prepared).

My other concern was about patching the firmware. It seems that there's a relatively high chance of breaking the Wiz while doing it, and that it isn't covered by warranty. Although, in a topic I read that TG ships model already upgraded to the latest FW: is this true?

Thank you in advance.
 
>Although, in a topic I read that TG ships model already upgraded to the latest FW: is this true?

Even the "restock in June" charge from PA had the latest firmware (1.1.0). It's highly unlikely that you'll manage to get one with older firmware - no matter where you buy it.
 
i ordered my WIZ from TG. I don't know anything about the support, because i had no problems with the console, but the were very fast with shipping (arrived to Canada the day after the order!) and you can track online the shipping, you will always know where your package is

about the firmware: upgrading it is very easy, and it won't die even if you have errors. once i didn't notice that the sd card was full, and i started the firmware upgrade with a 'half' firmware. of course i got an error message after 1 or 2 minutes, but nothing happened. so if the firmware is not OK, your WIZ won't use it

if you order it in Europe, don't forget the customs! I don't know where are you from, but in Hungary you usually have to pay customs for the packages outside from the EU, and it can increase the cost significantly, maybe consider ordering from a european dealer (of course the prices will be higher, but there are no customs/taxes)
 
I didn't buy my Wiz from Think Geek but I did order an electronic board game from them that was defective and their returns department was quick and painless. Got my new working board game pretty fast.
 
Thanks for the fast replies.
So far I never had to pay customs for stuff I've imported. And even if I had to pay something to let a Wiz "enter" Italy, it'd still be cheaper than buying it here, since they're selling it for 180 euros (while 180$ is less than 125E - yay for 1$ = 1E conversion!).

Edit: I started writing before the third reply. I guess it will be ThinkGeek, then.
 
Thought I could add a couple of my own newbie questions. My own Wiz is still somewhere between Finland and Hong Kong (ordered from Play-Asia almost two weeks ago):

- Can you use the Wiz for transferring files to the SDHC card from your PC or do you need a separate card reader for that?
- Has anyone tried if Transcend's 8 GB SDHC Class 6 card works? I could pick it up for only around 10 euros and I think the size would be reasonable.

Thanks for the replies beforehand! :)
 
Electric Moose said:
Thought I could add a couple of my own newbie questions. My own Wiz is still somewhere between Finland and Hong Kong (ordered from Play-Asia almost two weeks ago):

- Can you use the Wiz for transferring files to the SDHC card from your PC or do you need a separate card reader for that?
- Has anyone tried if Transcend's 8 GB SDHC Class 6 card works? I could pick it up for only around 10 euros and I think the size would be reasonable.

Thanks for the replies beforehand! :)

you can use the USB cable which comes with the WIZ for transferring files to either the SD card in the slot or the internal memory, so you can use it as a USB card-reader :)

i use it with a 16GB Kingston SDHC, and works perfectly
 
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glezmen said:
you can use the USB cable which comes with the WIZ for transferring files to either the SD card in the slot or the internal memory, so you can use it as a USB card-reader :)

i use it with a 16GB Kingston SDHC, and works perfectly

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply! :)
 
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glezmen said:
Electric Moose said:
[...]
- Can you use the Wiz for transferring files to the SDHC card from your PC or do you need a separate card reader for that?
[...]
you can use the USB cable which comes with the WIZ for transferring files to either the SD card in the slot or the internal memory, so you can use it as a USB card-reader :)
[...]

This is very slow though. If you want to copy 20mb or more a card reader is highly recommended. You can get an USB card reader for about 3-5 bucks.
 
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aho said:
glezmen said:
Electric Moose said:
[...]
- Can you use the Wiz for transferring files to the SDHC card from your PC or do you need a separate card reader for that?
[...]
you can use the USB cable which comes with the WIZ for transferring files to either the SD card in the slot or the internal memory, so you can use it as a USB card-reader :)
[...]

This is very slow though. If you want to copy 20mb or more a card reader is highly recommended. You can get an USB card reader for about 3-5 bucks.

Alright, I think I'll grab one then at the same time.

My Wiz arrived today, wohoo! Another quick noobie question: would it be better to let it first charge for like 6 to 8 hours in a row or does it matter for the lifespan of the battery? I've just heard that some batteries need to be recharged very carefully the first time and after that it really doesn't matter.
 
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Electric Moose said:
My Wiz arrived today, wohoo! Another quick noobie question: would it be better to let it first charge for like 6 to 8 hours in a row or does it matter for the lifespan of the battery? I've just heard that some batteries need to be recharged very carefully the first time and after that it really doesn't matter.

I'm interested in this fact as well. Let it charge or start playing right away?

Also, I ordered mine, they haven't shipped it yet.
 
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Well, I hooked up mine with the USB cable but haven't turned it on yet. Does the LED change from red to light blue or something else when it's fully charged? I've read somewhere that the options are: a] red when being charged but not turned on b] orange when charged and turned on c] light blue when on and disconnected from the USB cable (meaning normal use).
 
Electric Moose said:
Well, I hooked up mine with the USB cable but haven't turned it on yet. Does the LED change from red to light blue or something else when it's fully charged? I've read somewhere that the options are: a] red when being charged but not turned on b] orange when charged and turned on c] light blue when on and disconnected from the USB cable (meaning normal use).


I would recommend charging it for at least an hour before playing with it. The battery on mine came fully charged so I would assume yours is close to full as well. As for the led's you read correctly
 
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Electric Moose said:
Well, I hooked up mine with the USB cable but haven't turned it on yet. Does the LED change from red to light blue or something else when it's fully charged? I've read somewhere that the options are: a] red when being charged but not turned on b] orange when charged and turned on c] light blue when on and disconnected from the USB cable (meaning normal use).

it turns blue when fully charged
 
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glezmen said:
Electric Moose said:
Well, I hooked up mine with the USB cable but haven't turned it on yet. Does the LED change from red to light blue or something else when it's fully charged? I've read somewhere that the options are: a] red when being charged but not turned on b] orange when charged and turned on c] light blue when on and disconnected from the USB cable (meaning normal use).

it turns blue when fully charged

Alright, thanks. :) Still charging... :p
 
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I would highly recommend giving most new rechargable devices a good 8 hour initial charge. I have been doing this for donkey`s years with every new device i`ve owned, And still have a 5 year old mobile phone (Kept for spare) that will hold a charge for 2 weeks on standby, With 3 days charge during use.

Trooper
 
Well, it seems that I'm increasing the activity of the Wiz section by spamming stupid questions. :p

Is there anything to keep in mind when transferring stuff to the NAND memory? Is it safe to remove those crappy built-in games and such? I was thinking of installing all my emulators on the NAND and actual roms, mp3s and such content on the SDHC card. Or would it be wiser to leave the NAND alone and put stuff only on the SD card?

Edit: Well, I'll just leave the NAND untouched and place everything on the SDHC card only so that I won't fuck up anything.
 
Electric Moose said:
Well, it seems that I'm increasing the activity of the Wiz section by spamming stupid questions. :p

Is there anything to keep in mind when transferring stuff to the NAND memory? Is it safe to remove those crappy built-in games and such? I was thinking of installing all my emulators on the NAND and actual roms, mp3s and such content on the SDHC card. Or would it be wiser to leave the NAND alone and put stuff only on the SD card?

Edit: Well, I'll just leave the NAND untouched and place everything on the SDHC card only so that I won't fuck up anything.

you will lose everything you put on the NAND if you upgrade the firmware, so i would leave it as it is...
 
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So, my Wiz will be arriving tomorrow, and I can't hide I'm pretty excited about that.
While browsing around I found that there's a manual on the GPH site. Reading it I found (in a rather funny engrish) about the need to fully charge the battery before the first use, but it didn't say anything about another couple of concerns I have.

The first one is quite silly, but it never hurts to be sure: are there any issues with overcharging the battery? Can I just hook it up to the USB line, go to sleep and forget about it, or do I have to be vigilant, waiting for the charge to complete?

The second one is a typical question with electronic devices and their batteries: do I need to drain the whole battery before recharging it every time, or is it fine if I just do it whenever I get around a USB port? Some people say that Li-Po bats don't need that, others say they do. I never found a definitive answer for this.
 
@Bromazepam

I do not own a Wiz, But for all my electronic devices, Ni-MH, Li-ion, Li-Polymer or what ever, I always fully drain the batteries (Until they switch off) at every opportunity and have, And still have batteries that last very well on a full charge, Even after years of use.

As for overcharging, I`ve never worried about it, Most modern devices/batteries have built-in circuitry to eliminate the possibilities of overcharging, So unless GPH have done something untoward, Then you should be safe in the knowledge that everything should be fine. Just don`t leave it charging for weeks on end, As this will certainly shorten the lifespan of the battery.

Trooper
 
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