The Caanoo And It's Community.


cinaed666

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Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
179
I've been aware of these line of handhelds for years, but I never actually got one. I remember being very excited about the Wiz.

Now, I've been lurking on the openpandora forums for a long time now, and I think it's a brilliant console, albeit a bit of a steep price. But I understand why things are the way they are.+
Anyway, I remembered the caanoo exists, and I -might- be interested in getting one. Now looking at the forums, I'm not so sure. How active is the homebrew scene?
Are there Dev kits available?
How easy can applications be ported from say linux to the caanoo? It's also a shame the wifi isn't built-in. I'd imagine I would carry this in my pocket, a bit hard with an outsticking dongle.

What's the battery life, and are there any commercial applications available?
How comprehensive is the games library? It all seems a bit dead-end to me.

And last but not least, the caanoo has been announced over 2 years ago. Is there any news about a possible successor?

Oh, and it worries me that the actual website that is printed on the back of the units is down... veeeeery bad vibe. :s
 
cinaed666 said:
I've been aware of these line of handhelds for years, but I never actually got one. I remember being very excited about the Wiz.Now, I've been lurking on the openpandora forums for a long time now, and I think it's a brilliant console, albeit a bit of a steep price. But I understand why things are the way they are.+Anyway, I remembered the caanoo exists, and I -might- be interested in getting one. Now looking at the forums, I'm not so sure. How active is the homebrew scene?Are there Dev kits available? How easy can applications be ported from say linux to the caanoo? It's also a shame the wifi isn't built-in. I'd imagine I would carry this in my pocket, a bit hard with an outsticking dongle.What's the battery life, and are there any commercial applications available? How comprehensive is the games library? It all seems a bit dead-end to me.And last but not least, the caanoo has been announced over 2 years ago. Is there any news about a possible successor?Oh, and it worries me that the actual website that is printed on the back of the units is down... veeeeery bad vibe. :s
What's the battery life, and are there any commercial applications available?
3-5 hours is what I get of battery life. And no, there were some commercial applications/games, but you can't get them anymore.
How comprehensive is the games library? It all seems a bit dead-end to me.
Sadly, that's quite a realistic rating of the situation.
And last but not least, the caanoo has been announced over 2 years ago. Is there any news about a possible successor?
There are some succesors, but none of them has anything to do with GPH. So, the right answer would be: No
Oh, and it worries me that the actual website that is printed on the back of the units is down... veeeeery bad vibe. :s
That's because GPH stopped development and I guess any kind of support for their handhelds.
Sorry, that I don't have better news for you, but I can't recommend the Caanoo anymore. Maybe the GCW Zero or any of those chinese android handhelds fits your needs. If you can get your hands on a second-hand Caanoo for a suitable price and are content with its current situation, it's still a nice device, though.
 
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cinaed666 said:
It's also a shame the wifi isn't built-in. I'd imagine I would carry this in my pocket, a bit hard with an outsticking dongle.
These wifi dongles are tiny and work fine on the Caanoo. I use them for MAME multi-player sessions.

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless/client-adapters/airstation-n150-ultra-compact-usb-20-wireless-adapter-wli-uc-gnm/
 
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Thanks for the replies. Sad to say I'll keep away from the caanoo, then. What are the current alternatives? (Links?)
 
I use it for emulation of SNES and older PSX games and watching some series when I travel by train or bus. Works pretty fine for me. I paid 80€ (including wifi stick) for a new one from a seller named camera girl on ebay. I am not sorry for buying it. Some commercials game like Breakout and other are avaible at evil dragons shop I think. New homebrow stuff... well the scene is tiny and sleepy. Not sure if it will appear.

I am very happy with the caanoo and even bough a bigger SD card a week ago.

If I would be it again now? Not sure, this android devices from china looks like they have a lot of more power then the caanoo. But I know how optimized the software for the caanoo is. The quality of the product is good. So not sure what you should get.
 
I got a caanoo end of last year.

It does seem the community is a bit down these days, probably split on the many alternatives around.

But I got it for one purpose, to develop some games into it.
I currently use GLBasic and it works as a charm.

So you better think about the reason you may want one. Mine, is to have a portable GLB capable handheld, and so far I´m happy with it.
There is also a set of productivity tools, music making, drawing etc which I do use too.
 
If you want something that you can pick up and play a lot of old school games, the Caanoo is excellent. That's a simple answer for a simple device. I love mine. Don't play it as much as I used to but I still do. It seems to be built well as I haven't had any problems with it, compared to the Wiz which had a button break and then the D-pad followed suite.

I just ordered an Android handheld so I'll see if I like it better than the Caanoo.
 
When you guys say "android handheld" what exactly are you talking about? Could you provide some names or links please?
 
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