Ocs1 Tc (Tiny Computer) Official Specs Revealed!

[Nintendo]

Sorry, I haven't been online lately, because I'm still in Japan buying Nintendo shit.

Anyway, just thought everyone would like to know how f*cking powerful this now 5" screen, OCS1 TC thing is.


Below are the official "recently released" specifications. <<< More info here >>>

 

[Exophase]

That display doesn't look 1024x768 to me. Looks a lot wider than that. No real surprises otherwise. Have you noticed that the keyboard layout is not the same in all three pictures? I still think both look pretty bad, though.

To me this is mostly just another UMPC - the controls may work out to be novel and possibly even quite a substantial alternative, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't really see a lot of potential in dual analog/d-pad being useful for console-style input. Couldn't really tell you how it works out for PC games, which of course is going to be what it's mostly targeting. There's going to be so little content that's optimized for this kind of GPU on PC, it might be stuck with only playing games that are several years old. I could be underestimating it since 400MHz SGX 535 is at least a lot better than what's in Pandora, but I also wonder what kind of battery life you'll get on that at full tilt. I've seen people claim that Atom netbooks can run Halo 1, so at least that might not be way off the mark. Everyone knows Starcraft II isn't going to fly. I hope people just don't end up with unrealistic expectations for this one.

It's still good that an Oaktrail UMPC is forthcoming. That can at least be considered significant progress.

 

[Asmo]

Speaking for myself at least, the big draw of this - gameswise - is emulation.
A vast pre-existing library of mature, stable emulators. That I already have. The rest is a bonus.
Then the HDMI out - you have the ability to play stuff like Playstation games with better visuals on a modern TV than the original console can deliver.

I agree that it could look better (Hate the 2-tone silver/black, like some 80s kitchen accessory) but it varies in the many images of it, so hopefully someone more aesthetically inclined can at least get them to make it all black with matt trim or something.

 

[Exophase]

I just don't see the control scheme working well for console/handheld emulators. Pivot point d-pads are not proven to be good replacements for face buttons (see pre-release Wiz). Having an analog slider underneath it as well seems like it'd exacerbate any problem.

It'll probably at least provide the best Dreamcast emulation on a handheld. Word is that nullDC works alright on Atom netbooks.

 

[DaveC]

Windows 7? I can see this being a big battery sucker. Windows 7 isn't known for being exactly "lean and mean".

I wonder what the play time will be? 2 hours? The standby time could be pretty awful too like the PSP. I guess we will see but I have some doubts.

 

[second exodous]

I'm wondering about battery life also, Intel and AMD are making strides to compete with ARM in power usage since this is where the market is going but they aren't quite there yet. I'd wait for a few more x86 architectures aimed at this market before I would expect much. Also emulation wise ARM is pretty close to running my entire childhood, so for me at least I'm not that excited when I see something like this. I have to admit that I'm biased since I use mostly open source software, Linux, and everything is being ported to ARM so for me there is no advantage to get a power hungry x86 powered handheld when a lean ARM chip can power everything I use on my desktop. I'll keep x86 for my desktop to do the heavy stuff and use ARM powered handhelds on the go for now.

 

[Popcorn Dave]

It looks pretty sweet but I agree with the concerns raised in this thread.. I think I'd have to try one myself before making up my mind. I like the idea of having "proper" Windows in a pocket system though; could be extremely useful for travelling and suchlike, since even the best smartphones and PDAs have their limits and even the smallest notebooks can be a pain to carry around.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

The screen's aspect ratio seems to match that of a 1024 by 600 pixel resolution. I think they might install a "lite" version of Windows 7, like Starter, like they do on netbooks. If I would ever purchase this, I would install Windows XP or maybe Ubuntu (if possible).

 

[SNESFAN]

ughhhhhhh..... those controls look painful to even look at

it's shitty like the wiz... but it's like they managed to make it somehow worse

my hands are getting all cramped up just watching him hold it

a decent handheld x86 machine finally pops up... and they found a way to fuck it up... why god why!?!?


EDIT:
and starcraft 2 really??? that game is fucking fat as hell 10+GB.... my XPS laptop I got a year ago kinda struggles to keep up with that game, there's no way in hell that little handheld is going to be able to play that.... i can see halo maybe... but not starcraft 2

EDIT2: and don't you need the cd to play halo? I'm sure it's possible with a virtual cd rom drive but I'm just saying... the game needs a CD to play!

 

[WizardStan]

ughhhhhhh..... those controls look painful to even look at

my hands are getting all cramped up just watching him hold it

You know people have said very similar about the Pandora without ever having tried it. Just saying...

 

[Popcorn Dave]

Good point, and everyone thought the Caanoo's analogue stick would make retro-games unplayable, but it turned out to be perfectly fine. It doesn't look like a great interface but it wouldn't have got so far into production if it weren't at least decent.

I always wish it were easier to borrow these things, like test-driving a car, because you never REALLY know if it's any good until you can use it yourself, no matter how good reviews are (phone reviewers mostly just compare everything to the iPhone 4 anyway, I reckon these pocket computers will suffer the same fate even though they're not phones). Little things like how the buttons feel can make a huge difference, and everyone's got slightly different needs. Just one third party program that's not compatible might be a deal-breaker for one person, while another person won't even notice it's missing.