White Demon
Sandy Wich's Boy
Yeah I know, there's probably been a million threads like this before, but bugger it, I want my say.
Ordered my GP2X from PlayAsia on 25 March and it arrived today (April 3). The bloody postman nearly drops it as he's getting me to sign for it.
So I open the box. Happy Candy. Hmmm, PlayAsia sent me a free little extra. So, to the main attraction in this box then. Open the GP2X box, pull out the card inserts - and the bloody things falls out (about 6 inches) onto the table. I don't really like the way they packaged this thing, the GP32 wasn't packaged to fall out as soon as it's opened.
There's only a thin sheet of film covering the screen and a separate bit of hard clear plastic with black outline which I guessed was/is the protective screen. So I carefully lift the film away and peel back the backing from the protective screen and place it on. It wasn't until after I put it on that I see the bloody thing is absolutely horrible - there's scuff marks all over it, with some scratch marks and this bloody awful scratch mark diagonally across the screen. Bloody hell, what sort of quality control goes on a GPH, honestly?
Most of this can only be seen when it's off, although they may become apparent again under bright light (such as daylight). But there's a couple of bits off gunk on the inside of the protective screen that can be seen on almost any lit screen (especially white/bright coloured screens) and can get rather offputting sometimes (although being an owner of a afterburner GBA that's full of dust I sort of - at least try - to ignore it).
Why did I put the screen on with all these things then? Simple - I couldn't see this stuff when the screen was still on the off-white protective backing that it came on - these scuff marks etc are only visible when the unit is off (even on black screens when the unit is on I can't see it). Of course, when I saw this and tried too see if there was a way to take the screen off, I caused a 2cm scratch at the bottom right of the screen. Bloody hell I'm doing well so far.
So, to try and get some files on it. I don't have a card reader yet (it's on the way), so I hooked the USB connection up to my PC and get the following message: A problem occurred during installation. Your new hardware might not work properly. Huh? A quick check on these boards reveals it does not like USB2.0, but might work with 1.1. So on my Laptop with 1.1, it detects the hardware and says it is working properly. So where's my drive letter then? How am I supposed to put anything on the SD card if there's no drive letter? What the hell is going on here.
Out of desperation then, I hook it up in Linux. Perfect, except that when I put files on they wouldn't stay there after disconnecting. Pah. An unmount problem & solution fixed that. Bloody annoyance though, having to get files transferred across to Linux just so I can use them.
So far I've tried DrMDx and Beat2x. I also tried a couple of anime movie files. Audio & video go out of sync a little (it's on Firmware 1.2.1). Must try upgrading to 1.4 sometime (the thought of bricking it scares me though). The joystick I thought is not as bad as some people (eg DaveC) have made out to be, but is far from perfect. The worst I've experienced so far is trying to select menu options in DrMDx. But anyway. MP3 playing is lovely - listening to some tunes now through headphones.
I don't know how long exactly batteries will last in this, as I don't have any yet! (and there's no way I'm trying the ones that came with it). I've been powering it off a (regulated) 3V 1.5A (max) power adapter. There's been no problems with that, but the placement of the DC plug makes playing games hellishly hard (my jack comes straight out too, there's no 90 degree angle, this makes it even harder to play). I'll get me some 2500mAh energizers tomorrow, although major testing probably won't come until the weekend (with any luck my card reader will have arrived by then too).
So, looks like I need to get a replacement protective screen. I notice than GBAX and GP32Z are selling them (won't get it from PlayAsia). But how easy are those screens to get off once on? I've already tried that and left a 2cm scratch mark on the (lower right hand corner) screen. I obviously will need to get it off once I've got a replacement, but how can I get it off without wrecking the unit and/or LCD? Do the replacements from GBAX/GP32Z come with any little thing to help get the old screen out? Can anyone give me any tips on this?
Other than the small niggles above (and one bigger problem) the unit looks pretty good, and I'll be putting it through it's paces thoroughly once I get a bit more spare time (tests coming up at TAFE). Looks like a pretty good little handheld though.
Ordered my GP2X from PlayAsia on 25 March and it arrived today (April 3). The bloody postman nearly drops it as he's getting me to sign for it.
So I open the box. Happy Candy. Hmmm, PlayAsia sent me a free little extra. So, to the main attraction in this box then. Open the GP2X box, pull out the card inserts - and the bloody things falls out (about 6 inches) onto the table. I don't really like the way they packaged this thing, the GP32 wasn't packaged to fall out as soon as it's opened.
There's only a thin sheet of film covering the screen and a separate bit of hard clear plastic with black outline which I guessed was/is the protective screen. So I carefully lift the film away and peel back the backing from the protective screen and place it on. It wasn't until after I put it on that I see the bloody thing is absolutely horrible - there's scuff marks all over it, with some scratch marks and this bloody awful scratch mark diagonally across the screen. Bloody hell, what sort of quality control goes on a GPH, honestly?
Most of this can only be seen when it's off, although they may become apparent again under bright light (such as daylight). But there's a couple of bits off gunk on the inside of the protective screen that can be seen on almost any lit screen (especially white/bright coloured screens) and can get rather offputting sometimes (although being an owner of a afterburner GBA that's full of dust I sort of - at least try - to ignore it).
Why did I put the screen on with all these things then? Simple - I couldn't see this stuff when the screen was still on the off-white protective backing that it came on - these scuff marks etc are only visible when the unit is off (even on black screens when the unit is on I can't see it). Of course, when I saw this and tried too see if there was a way to take the screen off, I caused a 2cm scratch at the bottom right of the screen. Bloody hell I'm doing well so far.
So, to try and get some files on it. I don't have a card reader yet (it's on the way), so I hooked the USB connection up to my PC and get the following message: A problem occurred during installation. Your new hardware might not work properly. Huh? A quick check on these boards reveals it does not like USB2.0, but might work with 1.1. So on my Laptop with 1.1, it detects the hardware and says it is working properly. So where's my drive letter then? How am I supposed to put anything on the SD card if there's no drive letter? What the hell is going on here.
Out of desperation then, I hook it up in Linux. Perfect, except that when I put files on they wouldn't stay there after disconnecting. Pah. An unmount problem & solution fixed that. Bloody annoyance though, having to get files transferred across to Linux just so I can use them.
So far I've tried DrMDx and Beat2x. I also tried a couple of anime movie files. Audio & video go out of sync a little (it's on Firmware 1.2.1). Must try upgrading to 1.4 sometime (the thought of bricking it scares me though). The joystick I thought is not as bad as some people (eg DaveC) have made out to be, but is far from perfect. The worst I've experienced so far is trying to select menu options in DrMDx. But anyway. MP3 playing is lovely - listening to some tunes now through headphones.
I don't know how long exactly batteries will last in this, as I don't have any yet! (and there's no way I'm trying the ones that came with it). I've been powering it off a (regulated) 3V 1.5A (max) power adapter. There's been no problems with that, but the placement of the DC plug makes playing games hellishly hard (my jack comes straight out too, there's no 90 degree angle, this makes it even harder to play). I'll get me some 2500mAh energizers tomorrow, although major testing probably won't come until the weekend (with any luck my card reader will have arrived by then too).
So, looks like I need to get a replacement protective screen. I notice than GBAX and GP32Z are selling them (won't get it from PlayAsia). But how easy are those screens to get off once on? I've already tried that and left a 2cm scratch mark on the (lower right hand corner) screen. I obviously will need to get it off once I've got a replacement, but how can I get it off without wrecking the unit and/or LCD? Do the replacements from GBAX/GP32Z come with any little thing to help get the old screen out? Can anyone give me any tips on this?
Other than the small niggles above (and one bigger problem) the unit looks pretty good, and I'll be putting it through it's paces thoroughly once I get a bit more spare time (tests coming up at TAFE). Looks like a pretty good little handheld though.
