Ever since buying an R4DS and a DS Lite back in 2007, I've been interested in "homebrew" mobile gaming, but I've wanted something with more power and more flexibility. The Pandora looks incredible, and I've wanted one for years now... but they're just too expensive for me and I think widespread availability of reliable and well-tested units is still quite far off.
So, lately I've been looking at other handhelds. The dingoo looks alright for the price but doesn't seem to have the same level of flexibility and community support, and most reviews seem to consider the Caanoo a decent step up in quality and features from the Wiz, which is practically the same price, so after lots of research I've pretty much decided that I want to buy a Caanoo very soon.
But I am a bit concerned about the issue of a few rows of pixels on the top and side being covered up by the bezel surrounding the screen, because I tend to notice things like that. If there isn't any hope for a "fixed" version to be released any time soon, I'll probably just buy one anyway, but if GPH is producing new ones right now that don't have this issue, I definitely do not want to buy one that does. Do both the black and white systems have it? Does every unit have this issue or is it inconsistent? It isn't a horribly big deal to me... if it really irks me I can always fix it myself (though I'd hate to void the warranty).
I'm also curious about the analog stick, though after reading lots of comments about this I guess its just something I'll have to test for myself. I never play fighting games so I'm not concerned about having a super precise and responsive d-pad, but I've always preferred the "playstation style" d-pad in older games because of the well defined direction buttons. The pad on the SNES was always pretty good too. I have used Playstation and Xbox 360 controllers in recent years to run emulators on my PC and the analog sticks weren't bad for most games and created far less "fatigue" after intense play. Does the Caanoo's stick feel similarly to the one on either the 360 controller or the Playstation?
Some random other questions:
*If I hook the Caanoo's TV-Out cable to an old NTSC tube TV will it actually be rendering\displaying something close to 640x480 (or 720x480 for a modern wide screen) or does it just internally scale everything from 320x240 to fit your TV? I'm just wondering if its possible for games\apps to be programmed to support higher resolutions via TV-Out, even if the Caanoo's screen is only QVGA.
*Is it possible to use the touch screen when using TV-Out? For example, if I want to use ScummVM to play an old adventure game and I decide to hook it up to the TV, will I be forced to use the analog stick?
*Do any current emulators (Genesis, SNES, MAME...) support multiple players by connecting a controller to the Caanoo's USB port? If so, what controllers are currently supported? I'd love to use a wired 360 controller (or one of the Playstation 2 adapters I have laying around).
*Does the Class of the SDHC card I use have a significant impact on how the Caanoo operates? I'll probably just go with a Class 6 8Gb card, but I figured I'd ask, just in case I find a smoking deal on a Class 4 or 2.
*And the big question... how far away is the Caanoo from being compatible with most\all previous GP2x\Wiz software? I realize that it's a very new system, but I'd really like to be able to play most of the cool stuff that's been released over the years. I've read that Ginge is very useful for this, but so far hasn't been ported to the Caanoo... is anyone working on this?
Anyways, thanks for any replies. Any info you can offer will just help to solidify my choice of buying one of these handhelds. My poor DS Lite's shoulder buttons no longer work properly and the homebrew scene seems to have almost completely died in the last two years... so, I'm going to need a new device to waste time on when I'm on breaks at work.
So, lately I've been looking at other handhelds. The dingoo looks alright for the price but doesn't seem to have the same level of flexibility and community support, and most reviews seem to consider the Caanoo a decent step up in quality and features from the Wiz, which is practically the same price, so after lots of research I've pretty much decided that I want to buy a Caanoo very soon.
But I am a bit concerned about the issue of a few rows of pixels on the top and side being covered up by the bezel surrounding the screen, because I tend to notice things like that. If there isn't any hope for a "fixed" version to be released any time soon, I'll probably just buy one anyway, but if GPH is producing new ones right now that don't have this issue, I definitely do not want to buy one that does. Do both the black and white systems have it? Does every unit have this issue or is it inconsistent? It isn't a horribly big deal to me... if it really irks me I can always fix it myself (though I'd hate to void the warranty).
I'm also curious about the analog stick, though after reading lots of comments about this I guess its just something I'll have to test for myself. I never play fighting games so I'm not concerned about having a super precise and responsive d-pad, but I've always preferred the "playstation style" d-pad in older games because of the well defined direction buttons. The pad on the SNES was always pretty good too. I have used Playstation and Xbox 360 controllers in recent years to run emulators on my PC and the analog sticks weren't bad for most games and created far less "fatigue" after intense play. Does the Caanoo's stick feel similarly to the one on either the 360 controller or the Playstation?
Some random other questions:
*If I hook the Caanoo's TV-Out cable to an old NTSC tube TV will it actually be rendering\displaying something close to 640x480 (or 720x480 for a modern wide screen) or does it just internally scale everything from 320x240 to fit your TV? I'm just wondering if its possible for games\apps to be programmed to support higher resolutions via TV-Out, even if the Caanoo's screen is only QVGA.
*Is it possible to use the touch screen when using TV-Out? For example, if I want to use ScummVM to play an old adventure game and I decide to hook it up to the TV, will I be forced to use the analog stick?
*Do any current emulators (Genesis, SNES, MAME...) support multiple players by connecting a controller to the Caanoo's USB port? If so, what controllers are currently supported? I'd love to use a wired 360 controller (or one of the Playstation 2 adapters I have laying around).
*Does the Class of the SDHC card I use have a significant impact on how the Caanoo operates? I'll probably just go with a Class 6 8Gb card, but I figured I'd ask, just in case I find a smoking deal on a Class 4 or 2.
*And the big question... how far away is the Caanoo from being compatible with most\all previous GP2x\Wiz software? I realize that it's a very new system, but I'd really like to be able to play most of the cool stuff that's been released over the years. I've read that Ginge is very useful for this, but so far hasn't been ported to the Caanoo... is anyone working on this?
Anyways, thanks for any replies. Any info you can offer will just help to solidify my choice of buying one of these handhelds. My poor DS Lite's shoulder buttons no longer work properly and the homebrew scene seems to have almost completely died in the last two years... so, I'm going to need a new device to waste time on when I'm on breaks at work.