Game Gadget

[gibberish]

i guess it can clock slightly higher than the dingoo (336mhz vs 360mhz in the gamegadget).


i don't know if the small spec bump will be enough to encourage all the developers away from the dingoo and onto the gamegadget...

 

[quartercast]

Hardware specs:


CPU core: 433mhz dual core CPU


Internal Ram: 64MB RAM / 2GB Flash RAM


Input: D-Pad, 2 shoulder, 4 face, Start, Select & Reset buttons


Outputs: Stereo Speakers, Headphones Jack & TV-out


Display: 3.5” LCD


Screen Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels resolution (16 BIT colour)


Battery: Li-Ion (rechargeable)


Additional Storage: SD/SDHC


Connectivity: Micro USB


Dimensions: 140 W x 75 H x 16 D (mm)

 

[DaMummy]

sweet jesus lord, be thy saviour, that looks ugly. that 800 must be in yen

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Even if it ever did emulate psx/n64, who the hell would want to play it on those controls?? :blink:


Maybe I'm just spoiled.

 

[Exophase]

According to the developer page on their site (http://www.gamegadget.net/developers/info_14.html) they are using Ingenic Jz4750.


You can see from the block diagram here: http://en.ingenic.cn/product.aspx?ID=59 that this isn't even a dual core SoC. They're probably simply referring to the VPU, which is nothing more than a media accelerator, as a second "core."


So all in all, outside of having 64MB of SDRAM instead of 32MB the hardware and layout is pretty much the same as the old Dingoo A320 released over 3 years ago. But with visibly inferior controls and about double the asking price.


What a joke.

 

[gibberish]

Hardware specs:


CPU core: 433mhz dual core CPU


Internal Ram: 64MB RAM / 2GB Flash RAM


Input: D-Pad, 2 shoulder, 4 face, Start, Select & Reset buttons


Outputs: Stereo Speakers, Headphones Jack & TV-out


Display: 3.5” LCD


Screen Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels resolution (16 BIT colour)


Battery: Li-Ion (rechargeable)


Additional Storage: SD/SDHC


Connectivity: Micro USB


Dimensions: 140 W x 75 H x 16 D (mm)

yeah sorry i wasn't clear. what i meant was that the jz4732 inside the dingoo can get as high at 430mhz, so the gamegadget should be able to get higher than that. the jz4750 inside the gamegadget is already overclocked from 360mhz though. either way, the spec bump isn't enough, which is a shame.

 

[elwing]

and be wary about dual core in Chinese product description... soc with a CPU and a GPU or DSP are frequently labeled as dual core...

 

[gibberish]

and be wary about dual core in Chinese product description... soc with a CPU and a GPU or DSP are frequently labeled as dual core...

we already know it's CPU and VPU. and it's not even a chinese product description, it's developed by a team in Doncaster (UK) - they should know better I guess.

 

[elwing]

they are technically quite right, core does not imply CPU... through it's just PR bullshit...


edit:I wonder how many tiny ARM core an actual device contains... there are all the obvious one, like the CPU, GPU, VPU, DSP. but most any chip now contains a core...

 

[Exophase]

Their site was recently updated again.


I read a little further what other sites were saying back in November and Game Gadget is being made by a company named Blaze Interactive, that is known for releasing handhelds playing Genesis games. So guess what GameGadget's launch library was revealed to be? That's right, a bunch of Genesis games! Pretty sad that they're not even trying to outdo themselves, when they weren't bringing anything new to the table to begin with. Just a fresh paint of deceitful marketing on the same old crap. I think we all knew this was going to be a joke from the start but with every new reveal it just gets sadder. I'd feel more sorry for them if they were at least visibly trying to do something new. I DO feel sorry for any users or worse, developers, who actually get suckered into this. But I don't think I have much to worry about..


Unfortunately it gets even worse. Included in the updates are media comments that third party web sites have made about the device. Thing is, almost all of them appear to be taken out of context, either quoting taglines or quotes that the article was taking from GameGadget themselves. Very few of them actually reflect anyone's opinion of the device, and most of the reports range from neutral to skeptical.


RetroGamer's article had some interview quotes. Here's a gem:

“We’ve used open source
code,” explains Mark, “but we


developed it specifically to work with


this device, so everything is pretty


much built from the ground up, and


while we haven’t got the emulation at


this stage, it will go up to 32-bit.”

Yep, everything built from the ground up, using other people's emulators to sell your game licenses. I'm not saying there's an ethical problem here, but it's pretty pathetic that they gloat about this. Developed to specifically work with this device? Doing what? The hardware is probably barely off from an Ingenic reference design. I wonder if even a single thing about it has to be specially coded for vs various PMPs released years ago.


And emulation "up to 32-bit".. we all know how good Dingoo is at PS1 emulation. Of course I'm sure they'll be using the same emulator code. Or maybe they just meant GBA ;p

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

It looks ugly as hell nor does it bring anything new to the table.so the question is why?

 

[Fzero]

They got some more pages on the site now, with a list of the 30 or so games that are available for free d/l once you have your device .... which looks to have been pushed back two days from today to the 6th.


They are all Megadrive games though.


I personally dont mind the shape of it, i think it looks alright, looks easy to pocket.


Not so keen on those type dpads though which dont have the diagonal bits shown

 

[Prometheus]

They are all Megadrive games though.

More specifically, they are the exact same bunch of Mega Drive games that AtGames always uses on its bad-emulator-on-SoC Mega Drive handhelds and home-consoles, most likely because this is probably a rebadged AtGames device*, and they don't want to use more-popular titles that will show up the emulators' massive flaws more than this particular selection already does.


*(It being a rebadged AtGames device would mean that it's really Chinese made and designed, in spite of GameGadget's jingoistic press releases that claim it to be the first British-made game hardware in 20 years - I mean, why, if it really was UK-designed, does the text reader support only English and Chinese, the same as all other such devices? Surely a European-made console would support at the very least, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and so on? You know, languages relevant to the region it was allegedly made in and for...)

 

[Fzero]

I suspect you are bang on the money there, that language support does sound like that eh.


I have one of these at home now, so will check it out in a few hours and see what its saying.

 

[Prometheus]

I have one of these at home now, so will check it out in a few hours and see what its saying.

I'll be interested to hear more about it, I must admit.

 

[Fzero]

I'll let you know in a bit, probably be back home and had unboxed it in about 2 hours

 

[Fzero]

Comes with a nice letter welcoming me, also a tv-out cable which isn't advertised but they bundled it as will soon have S/W to allow that feature.


Nice looking earphones. Cygnett GroveRazor if you heard of those, not heard yet but I got decent ones anyway but these look nicer than most bundled earphones.


The letter does contain a bug alert, discovered at final testing, the sound doesn't start at boot.... but there's a workaround.... turn it on with headphones in and it works... you can then remove headphones if you want and still works.


Obv a bit of a shame but I don't think that will bother me much.


the letter does apologise for this and says if not happy can have full refund.


Im literally reading this letter as typing this, and thinking I will break the Jack off some old bust headphones and just leave that plugged in when not using so will be ready for boot up and will only protrude a little bit.


These things happen.


Ultimately, this bug will be fixed with a future update anyway.


Says that's why earphones are included, so perhaps units shipped post fix will not get the earphones bundled?


enough of letter...


Box is nice.


Box is opened.


Screen looks 'taller than I'd thought.


It's very light too, just popped battery in and still proper light to hold.


manual included, and micro USB lead.


Going to charge it up now and read the quick start for any hazard to beware...

 

[Fzero]

OK page one says need to activate before can use it, also recommended to give a full 12 hour charge with device off...


I'll see how my patience lasts

 

[Prometheus]

I wonder if that's not just a "covering their backsides" bit of advice, about leaving it off and charging for 12 hours the first time. It seems to be the standard thing that they say with mobile telephones and other such things, too...

 

[wermy]

I wonder if that's not just a "covering their backsides" bit of advice, about leaving it off and charging for 12 hours the first time. It seems to be the standard thing that they say with mobile telephones and other such things, too...

I've never done that with any device I've ever owned, and never had a battery-related problem with any device I've ever owned... But I've heard lots of companies suggesting this. Is there any actual proof that it's beneficial to the lifetime expectancy of the battery?