The Bad About The Gp2x... Every Owner Chime In

[The Moose]

I dont own one yet, but ive heard a few things, such as...

-28 seconds to boot up? Thats new to me

-EASY to crash/brick, (can this be accomplised simply through playing around in the explorer?

-MP3 player very basic, any homebrew out yet?

I guess thats all I've heard so far. But the bricking scares me a lot, and the fact that it takes 28 seconds to boot isnt really appealing so far.

But I still want one.

 

[icurafu]

any homebrew out yet?

omg, how have you survived on the net this long? are you resistent to flame?

 

[mittens]

I've heard gizmondo has 60secs around for boot-up
And PSP also has more than 15secs. (18? I don't remember exact number)

If you try it, it's not that bad. I'm just okay with that.

And remember, this firmware need to be ironed.
Almost 4~10 secs we can expect to be reduced, I believe.


About crash.
If you use right format of video and well coded homebrew/emu,
It doen't seem hang so often.
With notorious internal movieplayer, last night I enjoyed movie with alot of pausing, forwarding and rewinding, then finally machine hung after more than an hour passed.


About brick your machine.
Just becareful when you try homebrews, cause they aren't polished commecial products.
I believe then you're just find. like me.


Oh, yes, remind your battery when you are upgrading your firmware.
It might brick your GP2X if the battery gone during upgrading procedure, I dunno.
But, again, that is not the fault of the GPH, GP2X nor Programs.

 

[nubie]

I guess I can agree with everything you say,

I've got one, it is completely worth it. You are absolutely right to want one .

Honestly, any PC takes at least 40 secs to boot, I haven't heard anyone complain about that lately.

I haven't crashed it yet (I can crash Linux on my PC 10 times the first day)

Don't update firmware without full batteries in it: 2500mah NiMH High quality.

It plays MP3s, has several equalizer presets, and plays all files in a folder succesively, and does a darn good job too!

I hope the firmware will get better, even though the loading doesn't bother me that much.

Also, I think people will have the "unbricking" cables soon. You really have to try to break it, just stop and think if you are unsure, just browsing menus can't brick it.

 

[greenmikey]

Here's what I think...

The bootup
good: you can turn it on, pee, and your ready to go. It builds anticipation.
bad: Sometimes it wont boot properly with a card in, firmware I assume.

Firmware
good: Easy enough to get around
not ugly
bad: There are many things that I would love to see in the firmware
free movement between icons on browser
more movie/music compatability
removing scanlines
flickering (I dont know if this was fixed last firmware, just updated)
battery indicator
boot time (but then I cant pee)
more control with explorer (would be REALLY nice to see a keyboard that we can edit things with, or edgewrite, even console)

Just make sure you use an adaptor, read the guides, and don't turn it off. It would scare me less if it didnt lock up on boot with the card in right after I flashed it, but it was fine.

Homebrew
good: It's all over..more by the day. Lots of ports as it is, but surely you can spot it.
bad: Whats bad homebrew>? (discluding the gp32's crap games compo, can't wait for round 2)

Extra
I dont like those rubber things covering the ports
the controller is..eh, but im used to gp32, that was the exact opposite

Battery life is bad if you use asscrappy batteries. Pick up some 2500mah name brand photo/digital rechargables, its worth every penny. I got 4 energizer 2500's and a charger for 15 bucks at walmart the other day..I was just going to buy an adaptor but with such a deal I decided to upgrade from my 1850's.

BUT...this system is just an infant, it's not even officially released yet. I am addicted to this little machine, like almost everyone else here. Patience is a virtue..and someday when I can play river city ransome and solomon's key on a nes emu I will have an abundance of patience for all the exciting developments comming up. FFS we have a psx emu in the works, how crazy is that!

P.S. Lacuna, I hope your making the transition. I love you.

 

[Alpha2]

It boots just fine for me with a card in every time. Actually if I boot it up without the card later on it wont see it when I plug it in. 27 seconds to boot for me but it's not too bad unless you sit there annoyed that it has to boot up.

Bricking is only an issue if you do dumb things like not use new batteries when upgrading. But I heard it was easy to fix. (well easier than GP32 atleast.)

I have atleast 3 hombrew games already I'm sure I'll be hanging onto for a good long time thanks to SDL.

MP3 player is fine, just as good, maybe better than the GP32 player.

 

[nubie]

P.S. Lacuna, I hope your making the transition. I love you.

​

Woogal is porting Lacuna ED left a teaser on the main page sometime today or yesterday

 

[bmilleker]

The worst thing about the 2X
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is that i dont get it until christmas .

 

[CoinOp]

Well got mine recently and have been giving it a nice shakedown. Lots of good about this little device; however there are some bad points imho that make me just shake my head. Now mind you a lot of the bad that I've read in the above posts really doesn't bother me a bit. The boot up time isn't an issue for me. The battery issue is non existent if you come with good rechargeables (I've used 2600mah Ansmann with VERY impressive results.). Some of the buggy firmware screen issues are hardly of notice on my 2x. Knowing that a "fix" is right around the corner is somewhat comforting as well.

So onto the bad ...

The joystick, some people say it doesn't bother them a bit. I have to wonder what kind of sticks they have been using in comparison. Left on my stick is a chore. The dead zone is huge. No amount of turning or raising the stick makes a bit of difference for action games. The fact is, the throw is so large that often your thumb will slip right off the tiny thing while trying to out maneuver the various baddies on screen. Yes, the stick is very slippery. No, I don't think it's something that I could get used to. Maybe someone will offer replacement sticks that do a better job. Perhaps the dead zone can be adjusted via a patch. If not I guess I'll just play rpgs and non twitch games like wheel of fortune.

On to the screen, it's nice. Over all I'm happy with it. But ... my 2x has the problem of joystick pressure. A few people have had this problem that when they rotate the stick the screen distorts. Mine distorts above center position. Tried loosening the screws with no change. Easier to notice on certain colors like the startup screens. What's funny about it is that the distortion mirrors the joystick movements. Almost like it was controlling some weird magnetic field under the screen. Some colors it's not noticeable at all on. I'm not convinced this is a pressure problem. It is still an issue for me and it goes into the bad column.

The hardware feels solid enough, it is worth noting that the 2x is a magnet for picking up dust and finger prints. Forget keeping this thing spotless.

Some other minor annoyances goes into the bad list but hopefully just temporarily. You can't move up and down in the UI directly. To make matters worse I always forget that you can't, and I always end up cussing it out.

One final note, if GPH can fix the stick issues that I mentioned I might even buy a second unit.

CoinOp

 

[torpor]

i love my gp2x, i really do .. it is the coolest bit of hardware i've had in a long time.

what would i change?

- the case. plastic blows. please GPH, make a brushed-aluminium case for "Edition Two", and make it a little smaller/thinner if you can.

- the joystick position. many people say that the joystick takes some getting used to - it does indeed .. i have found that the best 'style' of use of the joystick is to sorta hang your thumb way over the side, and be ready to throw that mofo' left, damnit, left left left ... arrrrgh! ah well. maybe it'll get better when i chuck the plastic-cap and bondo a little skull ring on there instead, for a knob ..

- the source release. sure, they did it. but darn GPH, if you want this thing to truly flourish, release full source to whats on the box. sort out the SD driver problem. give us a kernel we can unpack, build, and use just like the bins you ship.

other than those 3 things, i think the gp2x rocks ass, seriously. i can't stop playing with it, and i can't stop building things to do with it ..

 

[BBTroll]

CoinOp: Try pulling the plastic nub from the stick a bit, that removed most of my screen pressure problems.

torpor: what do you want, an Ipod nano or a gp2x?

 

[Oscaruzzo]

The bad:
- Joystick: it's slippery and STIFF
- No practial input device at the moment (i mean a keybord or a touchpad)
- The earphone plug: FRAGILE!
- Memory: only 64MB

The good:
- Everything else

 

[Iorgy77]

Bootup may be slow but you can quit back to the menu in a flash with most games/emus.

As for the homebrew that is out already in no way did I expect this much in such a short time.

 

[Eolair]

any homebrew out yet?

omg, how have you survived on the net this long? are you resistent to flame?

​

Maybe you should read the full sentence. It says
"-MP3 player very basic, any homebrew out yet?"

He's only asking if there's any homebrew _MP3 player_ out yet. What's wrong swith that? It's not like he made a post only to ask for that. And no there isn't one yet.

 

[nik166]

bad:
-i have a darker zone on the left of my screen !
-the joystick is slippery like hell! it's almost better to remove it and play with the metal pin, but it hurts
-i can't flash my firmware to fix my flashing problems
-the rubber protectors are WAY too soft, it's a bother to manage to put the USB/AC one at it's place
-usb not recognised under windows, works well with linux and my X5's host mode, but not XP


good:
-i have it
-someday i'll play with it

 

[DaveC]

The joystick has to be the biggest problem as it can't be fixed by the magic firmware that we are supposed to get someday.

Mine has to be coaxed to go in the "down" position. Huge dead zone. I have to press hard, real hard for it to wake up. It makes playing shooters nearly impossible. It is too bad because the screen has better contrast and deeper colors than the GP32 BLU

 

[fishybawb]

Yeah, the joystick's the killer for me too, it's horrible. Since I sent it back, I also came to the realisation that I wouldn't actually use it for much more than I use a GP32 for now... Yes, proper SNES emulation is more likely on the 2X, but I've always been more of a Megadrive fan anyway. I was pretty excited about the Amiga possibilities too, but the A500 I remember so fondly pretty much shared a game library with the Atari ST, which (thankyou Skeezix!) is emulated superbly on the GP32 by CaSTaway. So, I guess I'll wait a while before re-ordering a GP2X

 

[AireTamStorm]

Also at I think people will have the "unbricking" cables soon.  You really have to try to break it, just stop and think if you are unsure, just browsing menus can't brick it.

​

I figured. Those the serial cables? You'd think they'd come up with a way to flash it without actually pulling the chip off the board ;- )

Edit:

The bad:
- Joystick: it's slippery and STIFF
- No practial input device at the moment (i mean a keybord or a touchpad)
- The earphone plug: FRAGILE!
- Memory: only 64MB

The good:
- Everything else smile.gif

I saw a thread on rubberizer....

 

[OCA|]

Bad:
-My screen fickers a bit on the launcher, only on the launcher though
-Joystick isn't ideal (hasn't been nearly as bad for me as others have said it was)
-Sometimes doesn't boot with an SD card in

Good:
-The device feels solid, rugged and reliable
-Shoulder buttons have an excellent tactile feel - L1 is a great trigger in FPSs
-Quake is playable and actually enjoyable (wasn't expecting that =)
-Hexen (better when saving is implimented properl)
-Duke3d
-Emulation has progressed significantly faster than I thought it would
-When/if I get time, playing with the SDK should provide some good entertainment



-OCA|

 

[codeninja]

The bad:
- Joystick: it's slippery and STIFF
- Memory: only 64MB

​

Unscrewing joystick is not a solution for all the problems, but it did loosen up my joystick when I tried it on my unit. I think, it's worth the try if you think it's too stiff. Being slippery is the design issue, GPH should've used less slippery material and shape. Speaking of memory, are you talking about NAND? 64MB is more than plenty for mainRAM in a handheld, IMO. Is there other handheld giving more than 64MB out there?