New Gp2x F-200

[Rivroner]

I have a question, and this isn't meant as a troll, but rather as a call for comparison:

Why would I buy an F200 instead of a Nintendo DS? Both have dpads, both have touchscreens, both have homebrew development. I bought one of the "first edition" F100s and was never happy with the thumbstick, so this time around I want to clue myself in completely about all alternatives before I buy something that's just going to end up in a box in the garage.

Emulation is more advanced in GP2X than in DS.

Emulators are running much faster in GP2X for instance.

 

[DaveC]

I have a question, and this isn't meant as a troll, but rather as a call for comparison:

Why would I buy an F200 instead of a Nintendo DS? Both have dpads, both have touchscreens, both have homebrew development. I bought one of the "first edition" F100s and was never happy with the thumbstick, so this time around I want to clue myself in completely about all alternatives before I buy something that's just going to end up in a box in the garage.

Well what are you going to do with it? If you are looking for all of the latest commercial games than yes by all means go for the DS.

If you are going to use it for emulators then the DS is a joke. What the hell are you going to emulate on a small 3" screen with only 256 x 192 resolution? Unless you really like Speccy, not much.

 

[slypie]

I can't believe they didn't use a rechargable battery instead of AA's :angry:

 

[Null]

I can't believe they didn't use a rechargable battery instead of AA's :angry:

What's wrong with AAs? :huh:

 

[rooster]

What's wrong with AAs? :huh:

What's right with them?

Having started to dev a game on the GP2X that's taken months (and continues) I got a DS just for variety and couldn't believe how much easier life was using it's built in rechargable battery. So much less hassle than the gp2x.

I'm disappointed with this new unit. The touch screen is a definite step forward, as is the D-pad.
I was hoping for a power boost really. The F100 has come so far with all the emulator efforts, if one thing was abundantly clear it was that a bit more power could make a big difference. Full speed PSX emulation for a start.

All we've got here is a rudimentary redesign. If I had shares in GPH i'd be spitting feathers at whoevers making such dumb commericial decisions No power increase? man its a real let down.

 

[Lithosphere]

What's wrong with AAs? :huh:

What's right with them?
...
No power increase? man its a real let down.


With 2 pairs of AA batteries I can get 10 hours of gaming/video playback, for me this means I have to recharge each 2 weeks. When I develop things for the GP2X, I just use the power supply, since you already connect using usb, connecting the power cable isn't a lot of work. If I should need more power, I would just buy some extra pair of batteries and extend the duration I can work without recharging.

 

[codesmith]

I have a question, and this isn't meant as a troll, but rather as a call for comparison:

Why would I buy an F200 instead of a Nintendo DS? Both have dpads, both have touchscreens, both have homebrew development. I bought one of the "first edition" F100s and was never happy with the thumbstick, so this time around I want to clue myself in completely about all alternatives before I buy something that's just going to end up in a box in the garage.

Well what are you going to do with it? If you are looking for all of the latest commercial games than yes by all means go for the DS.

If you are going to use it for emulators then the DS is a joke. What the hell are you going to emulate on a small 3" screen with only 256 x 192 resolution? Unless you really like Speccy, not much.

Ah, that's the thing. My primary use for it is going to be emulation (hence the homebrew requirement ), but the F100's joystick is so atrocious (I even bought one of your replacements, but that didn't help as much as I'd hoped) that it lets down everything else on the handheld. Some games I can play, but for example Fist on the C64 uses diagonals for half of its moves and it's unplayable on my F100. Given the choice of crisper graphics and a decent stick, I'd say give me the stick!

Speaking of screen, I heard some bad things about interlace flicker on the Mk2's and it seems like the F200 is going to have a Mk2 screen. Is it bad enough to be noticeable? How good are the "flicker fixer" programs people have written? As a point of comparison, I never noticed any flicker on my First Edition F100, so if the flicker on the Mk2 is the same as on that, I don't care

 

[DaveC]

Speaking of screen, I heard some bad things about interlace flicker on the Mk2's and it seems like the F200 is going to have a Mk2 screen. Is it bad enough to be noticeable? How good are the "flicker fixer" programs people have written? As a point of comparison, I never noticed any flicker on my First Edition F100, so if the flicker on the Mk2 is the same as on that, I don't care

There is no interlace flicker on the MK2. The interlace flicker as well as scanlines, was an MK1 problem. The problem with the MK2 screen was a reduced viewing angle. If you tilt the unit too much the contrast will change alot on the MK2. I have both and like the MK2 better, the contrast and color saturation is better.

 

[codesmith]

Speaking of screen, I heard some bad things about interlace flicker on the Mk2's and it seems like the F200 is going to have a Mk2 screen. Is it bad enough to be noticeable? How good are the "flicker fixer" programs people have written? As a point of comparison, I never noticed any flicker on my First Edition F100, so if the flicker on the Mk2 is the same as on that, I don't care

There is no interlace flicker on the MK2. The interlace flicker as well as scanlines, was an MK1 problem. The problem with the MK2 screen was a reduced viewing angle. If you tilt the unit too much the contrast will change alot on the MK2. I have both and like the MK2 better, the contrast and color saturation is better.

Well, that's one less thing to worry about then - I liked the constrast and saturation on the MK1, so if that's better on the F200 then great (how "reduced" is the viewing angle though?)

Seems like the F200 will be better than a DS then, the only "Doh!" I can think of is the lack of a stylus slot - but I bet someone will come up with a way of dealing with that I'll still wait until the first set of reviews of the final product (especially after EvilDragon's description of the dpad buttons as having 4mm travel - that's like keys on a PC keyboard!), but it looks like I'll probably be buying one.

 

[Null]

What's wrong with AAs? :huh:

What's right with them?

I was hoping for a power boost really.


Inexpensiveness + quickness of charging 20mins compared to over 3hrs for my ds battery.

You won't get a power boost until GPH bring out a totally new handheld, we don't want to break compatibility with the other GP2X models do we.

 

[rooster]

You won't get a power boost until GPH bring out a totally new handheld, we don't want to break compatibility with the other GP2X models do we.

that's why I was thinking of perhaps a unit with a faster basic clock speed...

cos as you said "we don't want to break compatibility with the other GP2X do we"

Back in the day when I started coding ARM on the Acorn Archimedes they managed to bring out a whole series of machines with increased clock speeds... sure, they did stuff like replace the ARM2 with ARM3 and ARM250 and then strongARM.

Compatibilty wasn't broken doing that, there was the odd occassional OS issue that affected compatibility here and there - but nothing major.

I don't think its that much of a collasal ask to expect a slight upping of the old CPU power really.
What about wifi? this new beast doesn't have wifi does it? right that's it, i'm going away from the forum i'm going to punch somebody in the face because to not recognise these basic requirements in 2007 is just bollocks for want of a better word.

and this talk of 10 hours video playback on one set of AA's - that's bollocks too. I'll bet I've used my GP2X for more movie playback than most and no way does it deliver 10 hours with 2 AA's - That's 2700mah Uniross to be precise. So dunno where you're getting your 10 hours from, is that with some Kryptonite AA batteries or something? Hydrogen power cell AA's? It just doesn't tally with my own results at all.

oh man, looks like I've completed my journey to the dark side. the DS is clearly underpowered VS the gp2x but you know what, its way more fun. join us

 

[Null]

Back in the day when I started coding ARM on the Acorn Archimedes they managed to bring out a whole series of machines with increased clock speeds... sure, they did stuff like replace the ARM2 with ARM3 and ARM250 and then strongARM.

Compatibilty wasn't broken doing that, there was the odd occassional OS issue that affected compatibility here and there - but nothing major.

Tell that to the businesses whose software stops working.

+ read Lithospheres comment again they mentioned 10hrs on 2 pairs of batteries, which at my last count comprises 4 batteries.

 

[rooster]

Ahh you want me to re-read a post that mentions 4 batteries. Yes I thought 10 hours was a bit much on 1 pair.

Tell that to the businesses whose software stops working.

What businesses? 99.9% of people who owned the Acorn Archimedes were schools and school teachers. So it didn't really matter that 1 in 100 of their games required a tiny patch to the BASIC V boot program to start working again.

Also, this "tell that to the businesses" argument is even more invalid in the context of the GP2X - how many businesses do you think rely on the GP2X. Just how many currently use the GP2X to run their SAPS infrastructure? None really. Thanks.

 

[Alex.]

It would still be pretty bad to have a hardware revision break compatibility, even in the slightest. Look at the GBA vs. GBA SP, NDS vs. NDS Lite, and PSP vs. PSP Slim - they all have perfect backwards compatibility. The GP2X is a console, which means developers can depend on standard hardware and can be confident that their software will run the same on all units. You want more power, and you'll get it, won't you, with Craig's thing?

 

[atlewis]

Hi, I'm new to this forum been looking at GP2X's for a while and like the look of them, I'm only 18 myself, currently studying game design at college, know nothing at the moment, but hey, who knows? I could be making games in the future *Fingers crossed >.>* Anyway, introductions a-side, I recently purchased a GP2X paid about £80 for it with a 2gb SD card, its in the post and due to arrive tommorow, now I've just found out theres a new model being realised soon, it looks nicer, D-pad buttons look really nice, has touch screen (Does anyone know if this can be used in emulation?), sadly still doesn't have wi-fi and probs a few other nice features, will the cradle off the old model fit the new one? And is it worth selling my GP2X as I can probs get 70/80 for it still on ebay at the moment. Also whats the cheapest people have seen for the new model? This is the cheapest I have found so far:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-d1-49-en-70-277b.html
Anyone know if they are genuine? Thanks for your response,
Aaron.

 

[sparr]

What's wrong with AAs? :huh:

What's right with them?
I carry dozens of charged (and rechargable) AAs with me any time I travel. I need 4 for my camera (lasts for ~400 flashes), 6 for a pair of radios, and 2 for my GP2X (before it was stolen). Then I recharge them all overnight. Having one standard battery form factor means that if I use one device more, or less, than planned, then I can just swap fresh batteries in. Sure, a compact lithium battery would last longer for a given volume, but when it DOES die, youre SOL until you can plug in again. With AAs, I just reach into my backpack and pull 2 more out.

 

[Null]

What businesses? 99.9% of people who owned the Acorn Archimedes were schools and school teachers. So it didn't really matter that 1 in 100 of their games required a tiny patch to the BASIC V boot program to start working again.

Also, this "tell that to the businesses" argument is even more invalid in the context of the GP2X - how many businesses do you think rely on the GP2X.

Private schools are businesses + what if the school didn't have a technical person on hand to apply the patch they'd be up shit creek then, but then it doesn't really matter after all.

A few, i'd guess mainly companies that create games for the GP2X.

 

[woogal]

I don't think its that much of a collasal ask to expect a slight upping of the old CPU power really.

The GP2X is based around the MMSP2 System on Chip, which means the CPU and just about everything else is built into one unit. A better CPU would mean getting rid of the MMSP2 and using a different SoC, not just swapping one little processor for a slightly faster one.

 

[Squidge]

I thought the MMSP2 was available in several clock speeds, but with the highest being 266Mhz, it's not going to be a lot of difference, as most 2X's can clock that high anyway. Maybe you could get 300Mhz out of some of them then though?

Still easier to use a different processor entirely which has a clock in the region of 500Mhz+, even if it does break compatibility.

 

[atlewis]

Can anyone answer my question please? Not sure what to do.