Ways To Make The Gp2x Better


Steve Warner

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I know people's exepriences with the GP2X have been all over the map since it got released. There are plenty of "what do you like" and "what doe you hate" threads. But in the spirit of constructive criticism, I thought it might be good to start a thread that Game Park Holdings could reference for the "official" release of the GP2X (or the Second Edition if there's not enough time), to make the unit really shine. I'll start it off with these suggestions. Feel free to add your ideas as well.

1. First and foremost, stabilize the unit (hardware and software) so that it works as expected, doesn't crash, and can be easily updated. The fact that most of us are terrified to do anything to our unit for fear it will be "bricked" is not a good way to sell units. Fix the hardware issues and the firmware issues and ensure that the product which ships is rock solid. The last thing a user wants is a fragile toy.

2. Only apply adhesive to the four corners of the plastic screen protector. If you're going to ship the thing without the screen protector pre-applied, then only apply adhesive to the four corners, making it easier to pry off if needed. There's nothing like a large hair permanently stuck under your screen protector to drive you nuts.

3. Don't advertise features for the unit which aren't available, even if you think they'll be available sometime in the future, and especially if you're not developing those features yourself. I purchased my GP2X to watch movies and play games. Specifically WMV and Xvid movies and MAME games. Come to find out, however, WMV files don't play, Xvid has problems, and MAME is nonexistent. Telling me that MAME *might* be developed by a 3rd party doesn't make me feel better. So please, only advertise CURRENT features/games/applications.

4. Ship the unit with a working 64-MB SD card, a power adapter, and a set of 2500mAh rechargable batteries. You should ship the unit so that it's ready to be used right out of the box. Don't make your customers purchase an SD card. Ship the unit with one. 64-MB cards aren't expensive. Throw one into the package so that the user can start having fun right away. Don't include batteries that will die in 30 minutes. That's just asking for unhappy customers. Ship the unit with 2 high-quality rechargables. And for goodness sake, include the power supply. When you told us we'd get 10-hours of video playback, running off batteries didn't seem like an issue. But when your batteries only last about 2-4 hours, it's an entirely different story. Make the customer's experience a good one and they'll reward you for it.

5. Include high-quality sample games/pictures/music with the unit to show off its features. My GP2X came with an unmarked CD. When I finally got an SD card (which required the purchase of an external card reader to work) and dumped the contents of that mystery CD onto it, everything but the Text Viewer failed to work. The included Xvid video failed to play on the GP2X and the games wouldn't run. If you include a cheap 64-MB SD card (as described in #4 above), you can pre-load it with movies, music and games that people can use as soon as they turn the power on. The people at my work weren't the slightest bit impressed with my GP2X. That's because it failed to do everything it said it would. But if you include a few killer video clips, some great sample MP3s, and good working games, it will really shine.

6. Don't expect the user community to do the work for you. User communities are great. That's what made the Amiga such a wonderful computer to own. But don't expect the user community to do everything for you. I shouldn't have to go online and ask a dozen questions to figure out how to get a single game to run. It should just run. I shouldn't have to read through a user-built PDF Guide to teach me how to run the various components. That type of thing should be well laid out in a "Quick Start Guide" sheet that comes with the unit. If it needs to be done a certain way to get it to work, then make that well known. Let the user community focus on expanding the scope of the product. But don't make them act as the tech support and beta testing team for your machine.

When I think of classy products, I think of my Kanguru MP3 player. I got it for my birthday a few months back. It came in a colorful, sturdy, resealable box (with a magnetic lid). It came with a leather carying case and a pair of fancy headphones. It came with a USB cable and a detailed, printed manual. And it came with a working battery. When I turned it on, it was pre-loaded with sample MP3 files so I could hear how amazing the thing was. And everything worked right out of the box. It has featuers that I never expected and that weren't even advertised with the unit, making it seem even more impressive. And I've never been afraid that I'd damage the unit by plugging headphones into it. It's a solid workhorse that goes everywhere with me.

That's how the GP2X should be.
 
Haha I disagree with some of those comments.
Point 6 has worked so well for the GP2x/32 and really is the only interesting thing about a GP32/2X imo.
I think if anything the community involvement should have been increased more...

But really I think it is a bad idea to up the price by including all of those extra parts as well. That would add an extra £20 or so, which is quite a lot if something originally cost £125.
 
That was a very good read :)

I cant wait for the offical release of the GP2X in 2006, hopefully it will be a flawless PMP by that time.
 
:rolleyes:

You bought the consoles before the official start. Everyone buying that early should have know of the problems the unit comes with... so if the things you complain about are still there at the official release, I`m on your side.

But not now.
For example, no one ever stated it`s usable "out of the box". You had to knew that you have to buy an SD Card and better batteries.
 
Hanz™ posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:30 AM said:
Point 6 has worked so well for the GP2x/32 and really is the only interesting thing about a GP32/2X imo.
I'm not saying that community involvement is bad. On the contrary, it's vital. My point is that the community should be focusing on things like making applications, games, skins, etc. rather than having to do GPH's job of giving us usable information on the product's use. :)

Hanz™ posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:30 AM said:
But really I think it is a bad idea to up the price by including all of those extra parts as well. That would add an extra £20 or so, which is quite a lot if something originally cost £125.
The problem here is that I had to spend more than $20 just to get the thing to work. I had $20 in batteries, $100 for SD cards, and $20 for an SD card reader. The GP2X was cheap at $180. But I spent nearly that amount just to get the thing to work. I understand that some people may have stacks of SD cards lying around and may already have an SD reader. But it was an unpleasant surprise to find that my GP2X didn't work right out of the box and that I needed to spend extra money to get it to do more than just flip through the menus.

Perhaps a better idea would be to have two options. GP2X and GP2X-LE. The LE version could come as ours did. Stripped down. But the "full" version could come with all the necessary parts. That way the consumer has options when they purchase. :)
 
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Steve Warner said:
64-MB cards aren't expensive.

Then it shouldn't be a problem to buy one yourself.

Steve Warner said:
Perhaps a better idea would be to have two options. GP2X and GP2X-LE. The LE version could come as ours did. Stripped down. But the "full" version could come with all the necessary parts. That way the consumer has options when they purchase.

Craig (GBAX) will give you a 1GB SD for £45 extra, plus a free SD card reader if your USB connection won't work. And power adaptors are not expensive. I have three doing nothing at the moment. One of them will have a use soon...
 
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Quiest posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:33 AM said:
You bought the consoles before the official start. Everyone buying that early should have know of the problems the unit comes with... For example, no one ever stated it`s usable "out of the box". You had to knew that you have to buy an SD Card and better batteries.
Actually that's not the case. The GBAX site never said that the product I paid for was a pre-release. Go back and look. Even now it states that it can do things that it can't:
"It runs the free Linux operating system. This means a whole world of Games, Utilities and Emulators are at your disposal. Quake, Doom, SNES, Megadrive, MAME, Media players and Applications to name just a few."

To date, MAME is non-existent and there is only one Media player, which is buggy as hell.

It wasn't until I found this forum that I realised I was part of a grand beta-testing program.

While I certainly understood that I would need an SD card, I didn't expect to have to pay for a card reader because I expected the USB to work. Also, the info on the 64MB internal RAM was vague. I expected that 64-MB would be available to the user for core things that you didn't want to have to place on an SD card.

I'm not unhappy with my purchase. And the point of this thread isn't to bash the GP2X or GPH. It's to offer constructive criticism so as to make the final product better for those in the future. :)
 
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nickspoon posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:43 AM said:
Then it shouldn't be a problem to buy one yourself.
64-MB is too small for my needs, so I purchased a 1-gig card. My point isn't that I can't afford a 64-MB card. It's that requiring the consumer to purchase something additional just to get the unit to work looks bad. It would be like Dell or Gateway selling you a computer, but when it arrives, you find out that it's missing the power supply. Power supplies aren't really expensive, so it's not a big deal. But it sucks that you have this device that doesn't work right out of the box.

nickspoon posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:43 AM said:
Craig (GBAX) will give you a 1GB SD for £45 extra at plus a free SD card reader if your USB connection won't work.
GBAX did send me an SD card reader. But it didn't work with the 1-Gig SanDisk SD card that I purchased. There was no manual with the card reader. And no manufacturer information. It was just a small plastic USB device with no identifiable information to help me figure out why my SD cards were "locked" even though their "lock" tab was in the Writeable position.

Again, I'm not unhappy with my GP2X, so please don't flame me. I'm trying to provide ideas that will help make the GP2X a success beyond the core group of techies, coders, homebrew folk, etc.
 
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"You're new here, right?" ;)

GPL cuts all the corners; they're sort of goofy, but they do try to keep price down for a low distribution unit; they depend 100% on the community.. we're pretty much all they have. Its not a professional unit or way to operate, and you either deal with it or don't.. such is life with GPH.

But if you can handle the misery, theres much joy to be had for that community.. the professional products don't have a community at all :)

jeff
 
Steve Warner posted on Dec 8 2005 at 06:55 PM said:
nickspoon posted on Dec 8 2005 at 11:43 AM said:
Then it shouldn't be a problem to buy one yourself.
64-MB is too small for my needs, so I purchased a 1-gig card. My point isn't that I can't afford a 64-MB card. It's that requiring the consumer to purchase something additional just to get the unit to work looks bad.



.... but you bought a 1Go card anyway :p

so if GPH provided a 64Mo card, you would have paid 2 cards , so it's better the actual way, we can choose our own card and other things ;)
 
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Steve Warner said:
It's that requiring the consumer to purchase something additional just to get the unit to work looks bad.

There are loads of devices just like that. Take a look at all the SD MP3 players. You need an SD card. And taking this argument, you could argue that because the GBA was not supplied with a game (or batteries) it looks bad. Yet the GBA was one of the best-selling pocket consoles ever.
 
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I just wanna add in that the CD was not sent out by GPH but was added to the pack by GBAX or GP32z, depending on where you ordered from.

Otherwise, I agree with you.
 
I agree 100% with Steve Warner about the issues.

that's why I'm waiting 3 months at least to get my gp2x.

but every day I come on this website I see new things for it.. it's tempting.
 
Also, the software is slowly being released and developed.

We are not Sony, there is *no* promotion budget for the console. Its been made on a budget of orange peel and cardboard. But it exists now and can only get better.

Things are coming together, using the software does require a least a little computer knowledge (mostly in this case of linux) and the device was advertised as a linux handheld.

Guyfawkes is making an excellent user guide which will be included with future units, Megadrive/genesis is on the way, Mame is on the way etc.

You have became part of a pretty unique community, if you wanted slick marketing and smooth operating early on maybe a PSP would be a little better.

As for including extras we are considering it, you can already buy a pack with the SD card and card reader, so essentially what you asked for already exists...

We are getting there, and we DO listen to the community, already there are alternative GP32 style joystick top's being made.

-Craig

www.gp2x.co.uk
 
I agree with you on most points particularly 6. Sure, the homebrew scene is one of the most important aspects of the gp2x (maybe THE most important). But GPH shouldn't be relying on the community to do all the testing and stuff without saying so, or reducing price to compensate or something. And listing games and software they hope a 3rd party will develop/port (like MAME and Quake) is more than just a little cheeky. As it so happens, Quake WAS ported extremely quicly by Woogal, and Quake II followed, but GPH didn't know this when they made those banners. It's not right. My enthusiasm for GP2X is currently a little nulled by the current batch of actual hardware problems that you need to take your unit apart to fix (vinyl screen protectors for transit on the INSIDE of the screen?) maybe even void warranty. Firmware I could live with if there's always the promise of an update, and instructions for updating firmware etc. are a necessity, especially when the person who updates their english site writes in slightly "off" English which can lead to misunderstandings.

Hopefully this sort of problem will be fixed on the official release :s

EDIT: And it's not like I mind having to do a little more work with it to get it going- as long as I won't be frickin' brickin' it just by tring to update it! I mean, I don't mind messing about and having to get just a little more involved (though as far as I can tell, it's more or less just drag and drop onto the SD if you get over any other problems), it's just I don't really want to have to fuss around for hours over that, I'd much rather be playing/ starting developing. And it seems much too easy to permanently damage it and maybe brick it ATM, even just doing official firmware updates. And of course, said updates are apparently not too well documented, and if you run certain utilities before a flash, you cause damage, which you must fix, and so on... and SD compatibility needs a massive boost.
 
I totally agree with everything. And, I really did not quess it was this much trouble and unfinished. Paid a lot of money. Most ugly is the SD compatibility and the firmware update procedure making "bricks".
 
craigix posted on Dec 8 2005 at 07:51 PM said:
Also, the software is slowly being released and developed.

We are not Sony, there is *no* promotion budget for the console. Its been made on a budget of orange peel and cardboard. But it exists now and can only get better.



well the promotion of the GP2X is simply ........ the GP32! :D

peoples, news websites etc got interested in the GP2X because they knew and liked the GP32

and they knew the GP32 because this one had some kind of promotion , i have even seen commercial posters in akihabara! :)

so since the GP2X is kinda the new GP32, no need for marketing :D
 
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