I''ve Just Got A Wiz

[Prophet]

I`m happy with the controls on my Wiz too. I had a blast playing through the first two episodes of Quake and they worked just as they should have.

Is that a beta unit or final production?

Also, how are the diagonals? 2D overhead shmups are usually good indicators. Reliable diagonals really can make or break a dpad to some degree. Sadly even Nintendo still gets that wrong.

 

[craigix]

Christ almighty, I come in and ask if it should be pivoted and next thing I know I'm being called a liar, which often seems to happen, including back when I said the Wiz had dual Dpads and we had to stop GPH from manufacturing it, remember that? If I'd wanted to kill the device I'd have just said nothing, I'd not have gone to great lengths to try to get that changed to make the device better.

So this is the end of my GPH comments on here, look back though my protests on the GP32, the GP2X and the Wiz, they were all genuine complaints which eventually got addressed by GPH. We even twice visited them in Korea to get the F100 tweaked in to the F200. But this time I just don't want to go though the hate for trying to have a device improved, since I'm a distributor it would make no sense at all to try to kill off these devices and lose myself money.

I'll still post my review and do my best to promote the Wiz in the UK in a professional way and provide the standard support where needed but I no longer have any interest in trying to get any improvements or tweaks done to the device or even software development, so there won't be any free consoles this time.

I'm sure Ed can sort you out if you want one for development, I've better things to do than support a console where a vocal minority seem to hate or be suspicious of me for it - you're shitting in your own nest when it comes to niche consoles.

 

[Prophet]

This reminds me of the enmity displayed in the Zodiac days.

All the accusations and suspicions are silly, and this is a small, niche community - we shouldn't be turning on each other.

And seriously, Craig has been a Gamepark distributor, developer and user for years. Wiz sales aren't going to impact Pandora sales IMO, he has no reason to lie, it doesn't even make sense to think he would.

He probably just got a screwed up unit, that does happen. Heck, even my first GBA years agao had such a stiff dpad, it was barely usable - and that was made by frikkin Nintendo!!!

 

[fyuno83]

i hope these silly accusations end with
a simply apology from peter_r

 

[rx_shorty]

Also received my unit.
No problems with the D-pad I must say!
It runs pretty nice only the flash player sometimes doesn't like to play a game, starting a other game solves this though.

ps. Craig, they don't know better... *sigh.... Hope you will stay active on the GP2X side...

 

[gaterooze]

Nah, the slipzone kiddies are like that. Orkie was originally (disingenuously) saying how great the original dual-dpad Wiz prototype was - it was Craigix and ED who made GPH change to the new controls, which everyone agrees is a huge improvement. But if you believed these other guys, you would have been stuck with flawed rubbish like the Mk1 GP2X.

GPH probably sent an old pre-production unit or just a genuinely flawed new unit (it happens). These are the same guys who put the joystick in the wrong way in the GP2X Mk1, remember...

So instead of hiding these things, calls for quality control and pointing out when it lapses can only be a good thing for the customer in the end, and help the Wiz be a success.

edit: I'm expecting the same from the first Pandora testers btw!

 

[EvilDragon]

I also got the production unit since a few days.
No pivot, no. But I never had any problems with that DPAD.
I can make circular movements and hit the diagonals fine, just tried it out in test mode.
If you press all four buttons at once, it doesn't register any button press.

There are only two things I don't like:
1. The battery is empty after 1 day if you don't play (looks like the clock needs power).
2. You need to unscrew the cover to change the battery.

Both together are pretty dumb

 

[Exophase]

I also got the production unit since a few days.
No pivot, no. But I never had any problems with that DPAD.

Okay, this is not good. I know you say it's not a big deal but I can't imagine there being no pivot being okay. Why would they remove the pivot now?
Why do you need to unscrew the cover to charge the battery? You can't charge from the ext port?
I know GPH has done a lot of stupid things in the past but I never thought they'd take a working prototype then make it worse in two obvious ways.

 

[fettouhi]

I also got the production unit since a few days.
No pivot, no. But I never had any problems with that DPAD.
I can make circular movements and hit the diagonals fine, just tried it out in test mode.
If you press all four buttons at once, it doesn't register any button press.

There are only two things I don't like:
1. The battery is empty after 1 day if you don't play (looks like the clock needs power).
2. You need to unscrew the cover to change the battery.

Both together are pretty dumb

So are those two things you mention a dealbreaker for the Wiz?

Regards

André

 

[Devilmandex]

Does it come with a charger? The description on playasia doesn't mention a charger and I was under the impression it was just USB charged. A Dpad with no pivot is just something I'd have to get used to as I haven't used one with out. Still if they are responsive like EvilDragon said then there won't be a problem. Also, I second GunPei2X's post about quality control. Rather than blaming the consumer we need to check with the manufacturer.

 

[fishybawb]

@Exophase: He said change, not charge

I've given up on all this speculation, I'm just going to wait for my Wiz to arrive. And then eBay it if it's shit. Just joking

 

[Devilmandex]

Disregard my last post. Several more were made while I was writing and things are now explained

 

[Pickle]

Ive put a lot of hours on my wiz, pivot or not ive never had a problem controlling any game. Only warcraft is a little rough having to use the shoulder buttons and dpad at the same time all the time, kind of cramps my hands after a while.

Screw on the battery is lame, the simple button push sliding cover was perfect. Its obvious they dont expect anyone to have more than one battery. Which does make sense since they are trying to run a rtc. Although I think they should have gone with a higher capacity battery.

The charging though the EXT was never a good idea. Has anyone seen the official charging cable yet?

 

[gaterooze]

1. The battery is empty after 1 day if you don't play (looks like the clock needs power).

Is this while in some kind of suspend mode, or while "turned off"? If it's a suspend mode, my DS Lite only lasts about a day too.

 

[Devilmandex]

Ive put a lot of hours on my wiz, pivot or not ive never had a problem controlling any game. Only warcraft is a little rough having to use the shoulder buttons and dpad at the same time all the time, kind of cramps my hands after a while.

Screw on the battery is lame, the simple button push sliding cover was perfect. Its obvious they dont expect anyone to have more than one battery. Which does make sense since they are trying to run a rtc. Although I think they should have gone with a higher capacity battery.

The charging though the EXT was never a good idea. Has anyone seen the official charging cable yet?

All I can say now is I'm waiting for my wiz. I'll see what happens from then on. Until then! Don't believe the hype!

 

[EvilDragon]

You can charge through EXT, there's no other way.
You can use cheap Samsung chargers though a cable for charging via USB is included (AFAIK).

The pad works fine in my opinion.
And it was OFF, not in suspend mode.

 

[gaterooze]

And it was OFF, not in suspend mode.

Ah, then that is really worrying. So if I leave it in my backpack for a day, next time I want to play it I have to charge it up again? Ouch. Is that the same for you other guys, or did ED get a faulty battery?

edit: maybe they can fix this in software?

 

[MWeston]

That's a pretty bad flaw ED. You should send me one of those production units and I'll probe it and find the hardware flaw so we can show them how to fix it.


GunPei2X: Generally, if the device is really in OFF mode, then all supplies should be off and the CPU should be as well. This means that software cannot fix it. The culprit is likely a pull up/down resistor missing to maintain a supply in off mode while the CPU is not able to control the enable lines. I'd enjoying probing the board with an ammeter on the battery pins to find the offending device.

 

[EvilDragon]

And it was OFF, not in suspend mode.

Ah, then that is really worrying. So if I leave it in my backpack for a day, next time I want to play it I have to charge it up again? Ouch. Is that the same for you other guys, or did ED get a faulty battery?

edit: maybe they can fix this in software?


Well, since the same thing happened on my pre-production unit as well, I don't think it's a faulty battery...

That's a pretty bad flaw ED. You should send me one of those production units and I'll probe it and find the hardware flaw so we can show them how to fix it.

I could send you one, sure. I wonder how that clock does take up so much battery power...

 

[rx_shorty]

Hmm going to check if my unit has the same
Thanks for letting us know ED.