Built-in Charger?!

[cHEM]

I'd much rather have built in USB.

I think charging batteries this way is actually easier, especially if your on the move. Most Digital Cameras work the same way, and no-one bitches about that, its only because PSP et al do it another way that you notice. for proper, portable gaming, the AA's route is best. And if your swapping batteries anyway, whats the big deal?

 

[gavie]

I've seen a similar topic like this a million times,

I just wished they used 4 batteries instead of 2, like most old gaming devices (gameboy, gba, gamegear, etc)..

 

[chaos engineer]

I'd much rather have built in USB.

I think charging batteries this way is actually easier, especially if your on the move. Most Digital Cameras work the same way, and no-one bitches about that, its only because PSP et al do it another way that you notice. for proper, portable gaming, the AA's route is best. And if your swapping batteries anyway, whats the big deal?

nice one! I guess the solution would be 4 AAs that can be charged over a built in charger.

 

[thumpgun]

while on the subject of batteries ,,,i super glued a small piece of ribbon into my batterie compartment under were they sit ...so i can easily remove the batteries and dont have to claw them out....off topic i no..

 

[kevcal]

while on the subject of batteries ,,,i super glued a small piece of ribbon into my batterie compartment under were they sit ...so i can easily remove the batteries and dont have to claw them out....off topic i no..

It may be, but a bloody good idea.
Most AA rechargeables seem to grow by fractions of a millimetre for every +200mAH!

 

[Sadistictoaster]

Carrying an external charger, an AC adapter, and extra batteries is the most annoying thing about GP2X <_<

. . . so don't bother?

Two batteries in the GP2X , and two in your pocket - as long as you're using decent ones - is all I've ever needed before.

Got to agree though , four batteries in it would have been better

 

[cHEM]

while on the subject of batteries ,,,i super glued a small piece of ribbon into my batterie compartment under were they sit ...so i can easily remove the batteries and dont have to claw them out....off topic i no..

Thats great! I'm gonna do this if Play-Asia ever return my console, those batteries are Toight!

 

[DaveC]

Well for one thing RCA (composite video) looks like living shit. It has bleedy colors, is blurry, is full of dot crawl, and shit color saturation and contrast. RCA is like the worst possible video output you can get, next to the "TV-GAME" RF switch. S-video looks 10X better. You should be glad they didn't give us the lowest common denominator rube shit. You can always downconvert to craposite but you can't go up.

Actually the output on the little cable that is supplied outputs S-Video, which is better than composite. Not as good as RGB or Component, but the reason for using S-Video on the standard video cable is that it's easier to plug it into your television.

I'm sure you're aware of the common standards, but for those who are not, here is a little list in order of quality. I haven't gone into depth here, I have just kept it simple..

That is what I said in my post I said that it would suck if they used Telco's method of just making the outputs RCA because the s-video that they gave is much better and "RCA" (craposite) is crap.

 

[Mudi]

I don't think a built-in charger would be worth the money it costs to put it in. Most devices that use standard AA/AAA don't have built-in chargers, because there is too much chance some idiot will try to charge non-rechargables, which always has interesting results

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

You feckers.

You actually get the chance to burn out a set of AAs?
Get a job

My set of 4 (yes four) AAs have never been depleted. Always got 2 on full charge.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

You feckers.

Are you this charming in real life? :lol:

 

[markiej]

I just wished they used 4 batteries instead of 2, like most old gaming devices (gameboy, gba, gamegear, etc)..

I heartily agree with the above. Though the current device has an optimal form factor, the added convenience of 4 batteries would be worth the added bulk and weight. I would imagine there are no serious technical hurdles to doing this for a device.

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

You feckers.

Are you this charming in real life? :lol:

Im as charming as 10 Prince Charmings doing charming things.

Anyway - this weekend was the first time I had to wait on batteries charging. So Ive bought another 4 2100s. Meaning I should get a part-time wekend job as I have far too much time on my hands.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

One of the previous posts about using a cable connected to the battery compartment has sparked off something, I wonder if I could build an external battery box that housed 4 AA's, with a little switch that you could switch from one set of two AAs to the other? This could then plug into the DC input, or into the battery compartment with the a custom adapter that replaces the actual batteries.

I would also put a capacitor on the switch so you should be able to continue playing without loss of power! This could allow you to replace either set without powering off the GP2X! 100% uninterupted playing as long as you had a good supply of batteries.

Just an idea.....

 

[Lint]

The problem having a charger inside gp2x are:

- If you make a quick charger, batteries can blow (you don't know if the person is charging 1600mAh or 2700mAh batts)
- Gamers are likely do disregard the memory effect on the batteries so they would play half of the batteries life and charge it again, but anyway NiMH batteries suffer little memory effect so no big deal
- Somebody could try to recharge an alkaline battery, but do the gp2x work any good with non-rechargeable batteries?!?

All problems can be easily addressed, they could at least put a single resistor between +3.3vdc and the batteries and that's done (best if they put also a zener diode, total pieces cost less than a HK dollar), a terribly slow BUT working charger
They also could build power from USB, would be less than 1 HK dollar too

By the end, GP2X is much more expensive than it seems, because you'll have to buy AC power adapter, rechargeable batteries and charger and a silly TV out cable that costs 10 (****ing) bucks, not to mention SD card or protective case...
It's also pointless to use AA batteries since you can't use normal batteries, so they should AT LEAST send the console with a pack of 2 AA NiMHs, you buy the console but if you don't buy an add-on you'll not be able to play it!

Anyone can easily buy a 3.6v Li-ion battery nowadays also..

 

[krosfyah]

I agree with Lint, the cost of the unit itself is artificially low when you have to buy a bunch of extras just to use it properly. It would probably work out cheaper for us if some things were included into the hardware or bundled with it.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

To be perfectly honest, I don't really care if the total cost is more than the PSP or DS or whatever. The GP2X is quite a special wee beasty, not aimed at the same market as anything else, and it's a lot more fun too!

You can't put a price on fun in my books :rolleyes: