GPD WIN 2

[ghostwheel]

I got in a USB-C dock adapter which had Power-In, HDMI out, 3 USB-A ports and SD card reader and it works perfectly fine within Xubuntu. I didn't make any video about this, but if anyone was curious if the USB-C port could be used as a dock, it works in both Win10 and Linux.

It was quite amazing to me, having tried so many other adaptors, but www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IUXA9YK allows hdmi out through usb-c on the gpd win (1) !!

 

[Phawx]

Really enjoyed your videos as well on the Win2.

I'm interested in the screen reflections (maybe with a comparison to a Pandora since you own one) when there is a window, a neon light, or outdoors.

Also interested in the headphone output quality, dpad quality, and battery life figures for several use cases: modern 3D gaming, modern emulation like Dolphin, old emulation like Sega Megadrive, streaming video playback.

I can take some photos soon and post them here to try and capture those scenarios. It is winter by me, so I don't know if I'll be able to capture sunlight all that great, but I'll make my best attempt XD

Headphone output quality = Output seems decent but I don't really have uber-highend IEMs that require much. (iirc Pandora uses BurrBrown dac and I do distinctly remember being impressed by Pandora 3.5mm output.) 3-pole does work. I.E. if you have a headset from a phone, you can use the built-in Mic on your headset and it will relay that Mic input via the single 3.5mm audio jack. Windows notices Volume up/down on my headset but it doesn't actually understand those signals and just puts in an audible pause when I press those buttons on my headset. Windows might require a thirdparty app to capture these events and do the thing you want.

Dpad Quality = the Dpad on the Win2 is good/average. 5/10 rating. Coming from GPD, it's the best Dpad they've ever made. The dpad on the XD and Win1 are awful. The dpad on the Win2 is a bit small, takes around 20 minutes to get used to but after that it's decidedly reliable. It's effectively an eight-way dpad, and hitting diagonals (after 20 minutes of use) becomes understood insofar as accommodating to the dpad itself. For example, NW/NE/SW diagonals are much easier to hit than SE diagonal. Pandora Dpad >>> Win 2 Dpad (I don't know if you have a Pandora but I assume you do, which is why I'm referencing it.) Additionally the only other thing I've checked is that dpad+face buttons have 120hz polling rate (8ms).

Battery Life: There is a giant answer to this as you can define a LOT of variables here, but I will speak as if you would be using it as defaults. So by default, max tdp is 7 watts. This TDP is for the SoC alone, not counting memory,fan,LCD,Wifi. So the following figures are wifi ON, LCD half-brightness

Playing a 3D game that requires max resources: 4 hours max.

Modern emulation (dolphin): A little bit over 4 hours, as we can satisfy Dolphin requirements at around 5-6watts (and the SoC handles power management automatically. I.E. even tho you have specified 7watts as max TDP, it will only use it if it's *required*) That 5-6 watts also assumes you are running at native resolution, not 2x internal resolution. If you wanted 2x internal (win2 can run Gamecube games at higher internal res) GPU freq starts going up and you'll hit 7w more often and bring battery life back to 4 hours MAX.

Playing classic emulation: It really REALLY depends on the emulator. Higan will demand max CPU frequency and push wattage up to 7w np. So it depends. It will vary from 4-5 hours of battery life.

Streaming video playback: As long as you can engage the built in decoder (7Y30 supports h.265 main profile and VP9, as well as older codecs) You should be able to hit 6-7 hours. Again, depending on if that is the only thing your system is doing.

Standby Time: Win2 uses S3 sleep mode. So everything but ram gets flushed and the only thing that requires energy is the ram, which from the tools I've used show that the ram auto downclocks to 533mhz and takes around 0.3 watts in that state. So at 100% battery you could be in standby for 120+ hours (I don't have any means of testing power usage in this state, the 0.3 watts is what I've observed the ram taking when downclocked and idle.) But it does seem kind-of correct on what I've noticed from my small sampling of 8 hour standby.

I know.... Shame on me for not having replied to your email from middle last year... I've not ignored it, but I want to wait until we least have a final unit (with cooling, etc.) before sending it out to reviewers.
You'll get one, no worries

BTW: if you're interested reviewing other stuff from my shop, let me know

Sent from my XT1650-03 using Tapatalk

I had figured it too early for me to ask, I just often like to establish the conversation early. We can discuss whenever it's right. Also I was actually looking to buy something from your shop soon anyhow (The FPGA stuffs)

 

[Stainy]

GPD Win not the 2... still.. this is neat https://www.thingiverse.com/make:441818

 

[Silent-Hunter]

@Phawx 3RVX is a good third party audio volume control app. It might work with your headphones.

 

[levi]

3-pole does work. I.E. if you have a headset from a phone, you can use the built-in Mic on your headset and it will relay that Mic input via the single 3.5mm audio jack.

FWIW it's 4 pole (3 ring+tip) headsets designed to be compatible with older iPhones that don't work on Pandora. 3 pole (2 ring+tip aka plain stereo) headphones work in every device that has a compatible socket that I've tested, so I'd expect those to work on GPD devices just fine.

 

[Phawx]

@Phawx 3RVX is a good third party audio volume control app. It might work with your headphones.

Nice! Thanks, I'll give this a whirl.

FWIW it's 4 pole (3 ring+tip) headsets designed to be compatible with older iPhones that don't work on Pandora. 3 pole (2 ring+tip aka plain stereo) headphones work in every device that has a compatible socket that I've tested, so I'd expect those to work on GPD devices just fine.

Ah! Thanks for the correction.

 

[MJPIA]

I have one of like 6 or 7 test units in the US currently and it definitely is amazing and blows the original Win out of the water.
I am very sensitive to PWM and have been able to see it on several other tablets I own but even at the lowest brightness I have never seen any flickering at all compared to the videos online.
I do have one issue with the Win2 and its something I never would have expected.
The Win2 only charges with 12v USB-PD chargers, you can plug in your normal everyday 5v charger and Windows will recognize a charger is plugged in but nothing happens.
No current flows.

I've tested various dumb 5v and qualcomm QC chargers and none of them charge the Win2.
One tester had the unfortunate luck of having an original Win charger included in his box instead of the Win2 charger and it won't charge it, so he went out and bought an usb-pd charger for $60 but that charger only outputs 5v or 15v so again the Win2 won't charge from it.
So now he's out $60 and waiting for GPD to send him the right charger.
This seems to be intentional going by the manual only saying 12V for charging and if it is they need to say it loud and clear.
Because most chargers and power banks in the world people own do not support the Win2 and the way its currently going GPD is gonna have a lot of angry emails from people who can't charge their device because they are using a normal 5v charger without knowing it won't work.

Also I just wanna say usb-pd battery packs are stupidly expensive.

Oh and all hail any glorious device with speakers that face the user, and I don't know what speakers they are using but the Win2's sound amazing.

 

[benoitb]

I can take some photos soon and post them here to try and capture those scenarios. It is winter by me, so I don't know if I'll be able to capture sunlight all that great, but I'll make my best attempt XD

Headphone output quality

Dpad Quality = the Dpad on the Win2 is good/average. 5/10 rating. Coming from GPD, it's the best Dpad they've ever made. The dpad on the XD and Win1 are awful. The dpad on the Win2 is a bit small, takes around 20 minutes to get used to but after that it's decidedly reliable. It's effectively an eight-way dpad, and hitting diagonals (after 20 minutes of use) becomes understood insofar as accommodating to the dpad itself. For example, NW/NE/SW diagonals are much easier to hit than SE diagonal. Pandora Dpad >>> Win 2 Dpad (I don't know if you have a Pandora but I assume you do, which is why I'm referencing it.) Additionally the only other thing I've checked is that dpad+face buttons have 120hz polling rate (8ms).

Battery Life:

Thank you for that feedback. I don't have a Pandora but I have an iControlPad which I believe uses the same Dpad. I really like its Dpad, as I like the PS Vita's and Sega Saturn's Dpads.
Battery life looks quite OK for such a device. I'm really curious to discover how the Pyra's battery life will compare, especially in sleep mode and sleep mode with cellular on.

 

[Stouffa]

I've preordered a Win 2 on Indiegogo, it sounds already like the charger issue could be very annoying for many. There's no UK option for the charger, so anyone testing the EU one will have to use an adapter, I was hoping to use chargers I already have (like the official Nintendo Switch one) to charge the Win 2. It isn't bother me too much if it doesn't charge at its fastest rate, I would be more annoyed about constantly having to juggle adapters!

Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk

 

[MJPIA]

I was messaging back and forth with Wade last night.
According to him 5V chargers are more used with devices that have a single cell battery unlike the Win2 with its 7.6v battery.
PD chargers do have a very small market share but with the iPhone X and Switch using PD chargers he thinks more and more of those chargers and power banks will show up on the market and prices will drop.
After the iPhone X was released various companies in China released chargers that also supported PD charging.
Z8750 supported 5v charging because Intel wanted it used in phones, 7y30 is a normal pc cpu and does not support 5v charging in realtime (relying on machine translation here since he's replying to me in Chinese so I'm not entirely sure what he means by realtime in this context).
He also said back when they were making the Win they were worried since there were no mainstream devices in China that used USB-C cables but eventually the market was flooded with them so he's predicting the same will happen again.

So I guess I got my answer, USB-PD chargers only but you gotta make sure it has 12V.
I've been bugging Wade that GPD needs to do an update on the IGG campaign to clarify this for all the backers.

Gotta say its nice having Wade join the GPD discord group, I can ask him technical questions about my test unit which he'll give technical responses back to and people have had several impromptu technical Q&A's with him covering everything from GPD's experiments on a backlight keyboard, their tests with Chinese clones of the Clickable Switch joysticks & various other things.

This is my prototype Win2 at 7W with stock settings vs my Win.

And this is the Win2 at 15W with the CPU & GPU downvolted to -0.050 using Intel XTU.

 

[Stouffa]

I was messaging back and forth with Wade last night.
According to him 5V chargers are more used with devices that have a single cell battery unlike the Win2 with its 7.6v battery.
PD chargers do have a very small market share but with the iPhone X and Switch using PD chargers he thinks more and more of those chargers and power banks will show up on the market and prices will drop.
After the iPhone X was released various companies in China released chargers that also supported PD charging.
Z8750 supported 5v charging because Intel wanted it used in phones, 7y30 is a normal pc cpu and does not support 5v charging in realtime (relying on machine translation here since he's replying to me in Chinese so I'm not entirely sure what he means by realtime in this context).
He also said back when they were making the Win they were worried since there were no mainstream devices in China that used USB-C cables but eventually the market was flooded with them so he's predicting the same will happen again.

So I guess I got my answer, USB-PD chargers only but you gotta make sure it has 12V.
I've been bugging Wade that GPD needs to do an update on the IGG campaign to clarify this for all the backers.

Gotta say its nice having Wade join the GPD discord group, I can ask him technical questions about my test unit which he'll give technical responses back to and people have had several impromptu technical Q&A's with him covering everything from GPD's experiments on a backlight keyboard, their tests with Chinese clones of the Clickable Switch joysticks & various other things.

This is my prototype Win2 at 7W with stock settings vs my Win.

And this is the Win2 at 15W with the CPU & GPU downvolted to -0.050 using Intel XTU.

So does that mean that an official Nintendo Switch charger should provide enough current to charge the Win 2? (sorry for asking this twice in quick succession)

Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk

 

[vcoleiro1]

CEMU - Breath Of The Wild on the GPD WIN 2. Video shows a test to see if it would run at all
Not my video

 

[WizardStan]

First thought: "Sweet! I'll be able to play BotW on the go!"
Second thought: "Wait a second... I own a Switch. I'm stupid"

 

[TheOldOne]

First thought: "Sweet! I'll be able to play BotW on the go!"
Second thought: "Wait a second... I own a Switch. I'm stupid"

You'll be able to play Modded BotW on the go!

 

[vcoleiro1]

GPD win 2 - Dolphin 5 0 6265 Smash Bros Brawl WII

 

[Askarus]

Some years back this would have been my dream device.
All Nintendo Games on the go and a mobile desktop.

Luckily Nintendo brought out the Switch and now I don't need the Win 2.
Being able to play Gamecube/Wii that well is really a hard competition for the Pyra in my oppinion.

 

[Faust]

Some years back this would have been my dream device.
All Nintendo Games on the go and a mobile desktop.

Luckily Nintendo brought out the Switch and now I don't need the Win 2.
Being able to play Gamecube/Wii that well is really a hard competition for the Pyra in my oppinion.

Not only Nintendo but many Sony games too!


Envoyé de mon 6039Y en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[txus]

Not only Nintendo but many Sony games too!


Envoyé de mon 6039Y en utilisant Tapatalk

And basically 99% of all PC games, missing some heavy and/or unoptimized ones from the last few years. I'm too lazy to select a video, just go on youtube.

 

[matzesu]

The Win 2 looks interessting, but as i use my Win 1 mostly for Old PC Games, and some of my Steam Stuff, and Youtube, there isnt a need for more Power..

By the Way: do the Win 2 use Tantalum Caps ?? Or are the Guys from GPD also aware of Crisis Materials like EvilDragon did ??

 

[vcoleiro1]

I was reading about tantulum caps, there seems to be a number of minerals mined and sold in that area of conflict. Tantulum I don't think was even the main one. I think gold was the main one. Could be wrong