ROG XBOX ALLY

ROG XBOX ALLY

I
have come to the conclusion that I now have to purchase technology,
specifically handheld consoles, second hand, a very conscious
decision, and a decision that has been forced upon me due to present
state of, firstly, RAM prices and now storage prices affecting the
excessive prices of new handheld consoles, for example below, just
for comparison past and present of the Steam Deck pricing:

 
 Release Date 
 Price 
 Steam Deck OLED 512GB 
 16/11/2023
 £479
 Steam Deck OLED 1TB
  16/11/2023
 £569
 Steam Deck OLED 512GB
 25/07/2026
 £649
 Steam Deck OLED 1TB
 25/07/2026
 £779

So,
just the other week while passing Cash Converters I stopped to have a
nosey in the window, as I do every time I pass Cash Converters which
is then usually followed by saying “let's just have a quick look
inside”, on this occasion they had an Asus ROG Xbox Ally and I
couldn't resist. So the money is handed over and I take my new toy
home.


Well
you would think I would rip the packaging open and setup and play for
hours, not the case. I opened it, did all the setup that was needed
and then put it back in its box and put it away, that was weeks ago.
Today I thought I'd pick it up again to see why I originally bought
it and this time I played a couple of my favourites games for a
while, Quantum Break and Alien Isolation both of which I could play
for hours on end but the battery won't allow.

I
thought I'd do a quick specification check and comparison with two
other Windows handhelds I have:


 Asus
 Anbernic 
 Ayaneo 
 Model 
 ROG XBox Ally
 Win600
 Ayaneo 2
 Release
 October 2025
 July 2022
 December 2022
 OS
 Windows 11
 Windows 10
 Windows 11/Linux 
 CPU 
 Ryzen Z2 
 Athlon Silver 3050e 
 Ryzen 6800U
 GPU
 Radeon
 Radeon RX Vega 3
 Radeon 680M
 RAM
 16GB LPDDR5
 16GB DDR4
 16GB
 Storage
 512GB NVMe
 1TB M.2 2242 
 1TB PCIe 4.0 
 Display
 7"
 5.94"
 7.02”
 Resolution 
 1920x1080 16:9 
 1280x720 16:9
 1920x1200 16:10 
 SD Slot
 1 microSD
 x
 1 microSD
 Wi-Fi
 Wi-Fi 6E
 Wi-Fi 5
 Wi-Fi 6
 Bluetooth
 5.4
 4.2
 5.2
 Battery
 60 Wh
 9000 mAh
 50.25 Wh

As
you can see the ROG XBox Ally stacks up quite well between the three
of them, however it does fall behind on storage space compared to the
other two but this is fixable if you have a little money, time and
patience. The Asus ROG XBox Ally is also a little heavier than the
other two, at 670g compared to Ayaneo 2 being 647g and the Anbernic
Win600 being 493g.

Once
all the setup is complete and I'm actually using the Xbox dashboard I
can say I am very impressed and it is very easy to navigate and you
will never need to see Windows ever again on the ROG Xbox Ally. Not
having to use Windows makes this feel a lot more like a dedicated
handheld console, almost, I would think, very Steam Deck like.

I
won't lie to you, not all PC/XBox games are compatible due to not
necessarily being optimized for handhelds but there is a built in
compatibility program that notifies you if a game is compatible
before you install and there are also performance indicators to state
"This game should play well" (≈30 FPS) or "This game
should play great" (≈60 FPS). So I now have a handheld that is
compatible with most Windows 11 PC games and Xbox console games.

Playing
games is just as smooth as playing games on an Xbox, if you were to
cut an Xbox controller in half and fit in a screen between the two
halves with controls that are as enjoyable to use as any official
Xbox controller.

There
is also the ability for game streaming using a Game Pass
subscription, this gives you access to hundreds of games without
having to install any. Should you wish emulation is also a
possibility, something I haven't tried and probably won't, using
EmuDeck which gives you access to dozens of retro games machine and
thousands of games.

It is unusual to find a handheld that can be upgraded and I will definitely be upgrading the storage as I think 512GB, in this day and age, for a Windows handheld is a little shocking and I do have a 2TB NVMe drive available an Acer FA200 PCle M.2 SSD, I have even bought myself a set of screwdrivers with prying tools STREBITO Mini Electric Screwdriver Set, 67 in 1 Electric Precision Screwdriver. I'm not certain if the RAM can be upgraded but as it comes with 16GB of RAM which is the same as an Xbox Series X I don't think there is a need.

I can think of one thing I would like and that would have been a full size USB port, such as the one on the Anbernic Win600, this may sound mad but there are low profile USB flash drives that would aid in increasing storage space if you don't fancy opening up a handheld.

Would
I recommend the Asus ROG Xbox Ally?
That's a yes but a rather rocky yes as I think the 512GB NVMe drive is a big let down, although this is fixable and I will be upgrading the hardware which is a bit of an expense, especially in this day and age with the ever growing price of RAM and storage. What I would say if you want to get hold of one is to shop around a lot.

Is it the best Windows handheld?
Probably not, however it is probably the best Windows handheld I own. Gaming sessions may be a little shorter due to the weight of the console. On doing a quick search you may find on many sites that the ROG Xbox Ally is listed as one of the top five, not necessarily the best but damn close.

Follow and comment below

Michael

MIYOO MINI+

MIYOO MINI+

The Miyoo Mini+ is only my second Miyoo product but as a product the specs are 3 years old at this stage so I get to have a play and tell you all if the hardware is still as good today, of course I'm not going to compare it to Windows handhelds or the likes of the Ayn Odin 3. I have to admit that I have come to realise that vertical handhelds are probably not really my thing but I'm always willing to give one a go.

What's
in the box?
The
Miyoo Mini+
Instruction
Manual
Flat
USB to USB-C Lead
Tempered
Screen Protector
Wet/Dry
Wipes
MicroSD
Card
USB
MicroSD Card Reader
A
Hard Shell Case


In
the hand it has a very plastic feel and very toy like which I would imagine is
part of its appeal for some. Miyoo definitely know their market and aim squarely at that. It's a very diddy handheld and the 3.5”
screen takes up more than half the height of the Miyoo Mini+


 Miyoo
 Anbernic 
 Retroid 
 Model 
 Mini+
 RG353M
 Pocket Mini
 Release
 20/02/23
 01/01/23
 14/05/24
 OS
 Linux
 Android 11 
 Android 13/Linux 
 CPU 
 SigmaStar SSD202D 
 RK3566
 SD865
 GPU
 x
 Mali G52
 Adreno 650
 RAM
 128MB
 2GB
 6GB
 Storage
 x
 32GB
 128GB
 Display
 3.5"
 3.5"
 3.7"
 Resolution 
 640 x 480
 640 x 480
 1280 x 960
 SD Slot
 Yes
 Yes
 Yes
 Wi-Fi
 Yes
 Wi-Fi 5
 Wi-Fi 6
 Bluetooth
 N/A
 4.2
 5.1
 Battery
 3000mAh
3500mAh
 4000mAh
First
thing to do is get the Wi-Fi switched on and get this online to see
if there are any updates, and surprisingly there are no updates, very
strange for new technology. Let's have a look at the themes included,
thinking I'd change it to make it more me, there are 25 themes to
choose from and after tyring every single one I end up back at the
“Default” theme, there 2 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.

Into
the “Apps” folder and that only contains two items, a file explorer and
RetroArch, neither are of any interest to me at present so I exit out
of that folder and there is a RetroArch folder which when opening has
27 icons across 3 pages to choose from, representing different platforms.

Going
back to the main menu and there is a “Game” folder and in there
are 8 platform folders listed over 2 pages: Arcade (which contain other
folders as well as games), FC, FFPlay (empty), GB (which contain folders
for GB and GBC), GBA, Mame (which contain other folders and games), MD,
NEOGEO (containing folders and games) NGP, OpenBOR (empty), PCE, PS1,
SFC, SMS, Shoot (appears to be shoot 'em ups) and WSC. I never
understood why the games in these folders are numbered rather than just left in
alphabetical order, if anyone knows please tell me.

Let's
give gaming a go and I'll try one of my favourite retro handheld
consoles, Game Boy Advance, there are 908 ROMS to choose from so I'll
have a quick scroll and see what there is, I see the usual suspects
like numerous Pokemon games and plenty of Donkey Kong games but also a couple of Lego games and one
of my all time greats Broken Sword-The Shadow of the Templars. Lego
Star Wars 2 it is, let's play a bit and see how it handles.

Well
the screen flickers so bad I can't play it so I tried a couple of the other Game Boy Advance games and they all suffer with the same flickering.
I thought I'd try and fix this, not knowing what I'm doing, so went
into the options and saw “On-Screen Overlay” so I turned this off
and guess what, the flickering stopped, however coming out of the
game and going back in and the on screen overlay is back and the
flickering is back along with it. This fix is on an in game basis so
would have to be done for each game and every time each game is run,
there may be an overriding fix but I'm not sure what or where it is.

I'll
try a different platform, PlayStation 1 with 53 games, I'll choose
Tekken 3 and see how that handles and playing for a couple of minutes
I can say I'm pleasantly surprised, the graphics are sharp, and it is
smooth to play no stuttering. Need for Speed III played just as
smooth and with a real feeling of speed when driving, I can safely
say PlayStation 1 emulation is excellent and a very big surprise.

Most of the systems work without any issue: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Mega Drive, NeoGeo Pocket, PC Engine, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System, WonderSwan Colour, however I am unable to get any of the arcade emulators working: MAME and NEOGEO they appear to load but just take you back to the main menu and then as mentioned earlier the issue with Game Boy Advance.

A
bit of a downfall if you want to play vertical shoot 'em ups, the
screen is just too small, so no Galaga for me on this. You just have to face the fact that logistically some games and platforms are just not playable due to screen size.

Would
I recommend the Miyoo Mini+?
Most
definitely, as long as you keep in mind it's not a high end gaming
platform and see it for what it is, a toy that can play up to
PlayStation 1 games and play them well.

Are tweaks needed?
I would say, yes. The flickering when playing Game Boy Advance games was a very big disappointment but I there are custom firmwares that could prevent this, options are OnionOS, MinUI, DotUI and AlliumOS, one of these may be worth giving a go to improove the experience.

I now just need to spend a little time sorting out which ROMS I want and for which platforms and get a MicroSD set up.
Follow and comment below

Michael

AMIGAOS 3.X - AMIGAOS 4.X - AROS - MORPHOS

AMIGAOS 3.X - AMIGAOS 4.X - AROS - MORPHOS

Well where to begin? The battle of all battles for the Amiga community. All Amigans seem to have a preference of which operating system to use and for which hardware, such as classic, next generation, Apple hardware, Apollo Standalone V4+ or emulation, the choices are pretty much endless. Over the years I have tried all variants of operating system and pretty much all variants of hardware (not necessarily all types of accelerator that are available). This may disappoint, but I have no favourite as I think they all have pros and cons.

The holy grail for me is and always has been an Amiga/Amiga like laptop which can be achieved, with varying success, using MorphOS, AROS or Amiga Forever (Emulation). I have used MorphOS on Apple Powerbooks and always had a most enjoyable experience, I've tried AROS on Netbooks and laptops which wasn't quite as enjoyable as MorphOS, I found AROS quite the struggle to set up and I have used emulation to create E.M.M.A. running AmigaOS 4.1 with much more success.

AmigaOS 3.5

AmigaOS 4.x

Amiga Forever (Can Be Made to Look Like 4.x)

MorphOS

AROS

The choice you make may depend heavily on what you want to use your Amiga for, such as applications, games, web browsing or a bit of everything, including something that has been the bane of Amigans everywhere, watching YouTube in a browser at full speed. I guess for me at the moment it would be nice to do my blog on an Amiga which means I would need a graphics program, a notepad type of program and be able to get onto the Blogger website.

I believe the main reason there isn't a unified Amiga operating system stems way back to 1994 when a certain company went bankrupt, the buyouts, the lawsuits causing the fracturing of the community, hardware and software. Recently there has been a truce between Hyperion and Amiga Inc. which could lead to potentially good things or, has often been the case, the bickering we have seen so many times due to who owns what intellectual property and who has what licenses. It would be nice if it could lead to good things, even if they just resurrect the Alice laptop, the hardware exists, the software exists, just do it.

I have a Sam440ep and a Sam460... I could list the collection of hardware I own, but let's just say I am able to run AmigaOS (OS1.0 through to OS4.1) natively, I am able to run AROS natively and I am able to run MorphOS natively on a Powerbook.

PROS AND CONS OF HARDWARE

 Sam440ep 
 PowerBook G4 
 Netbooks 
 Release 
 2008
 November 2002
 Various
 OS
 4.1
 MorphOS 
 AROS 
 Cost
 X
 X 
 X
 Availability 
 Out of Production 
 Second Hand 
 Second Hand 
 Wi-Fi
 Yes
 Yes
 Some
 Bluetooth
 X
 Yes
 Some
 Memory
 1GB
 1GB
 Varied
 USB
 4 (USB2) & 1 (USB1) 
 2 (USB1.1)
 Varied
 Ethernet
 2 Ports
 1 Port
 Varied
 Sata
 4
 Installed HD
 Installed HD
 Resolution
 Depending on GPU
 1280x854
 Varied
 Sound
 X
 X
 Varied
 GPU
 Various
 ATI Radeon 9000 
 Varied

Which would I recommend?
All options are very good and indeed worth a try but my preference, considering what is available at the moment, would be a laptop emulating an Amiga running AmigaOS 4.1 which I achieved with E.M.M.A. although the PowerBook G4 running MorphOS is a very close second.

Hypothetically what would be my ideal Amiga?
Unfortunately my ideal doesn't exist, not at the moment, I would like AmigaOS 4.1 running natively on X86/ARM architecture with all the bells and whistles of a modern day operating system, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, modern browser including running YouTube at full speed is needed.

Follow and comment below

Michael

TRIMUI BRICK HAMMER

TRIMUI BRICK HAMMER

I
was trolling through Amazon, mainly because they were having a sale,
and I noticed this little thing and thought this looks rather smart,
the TrimUI Brick Hammer has an all metal chassis so I thought I would
treat myself, but which colour? Black, Space Grey, White, no let's
get something a little more colourful shall we, the other two colour
options are Wild Green and Rose Gold, I'm not a big fan of green, so
pink it is and why not, I don't possess a Rose Gold handheld.


The
box consists of the TrimUI Brick Hammer, USB-C cable (a rather short cable)
and for some reason two sets of replacement trigger buttons, no
instructions, no screen wipes, no screen protector but the handheld
does have a plastic film over the screen to take off.

My
thought with the TrimUI Brick Hammer is to do a little research and
see which machines emulate best on it, get some ROMS on to a microSD
card, insert and play. I have no intentions, at present, to tinker
with the OS, I have no intentions to mod, just plug and play and see
what the performance is like. Unlike the majority of my handhelds,
this runs Linux.

I
already have a TrimUI Smart Pro (November 2023) and a TrimUI Brick
(October 2024) but I didn't really spend much time with either of
them but from what I know the Smart Pro, the Brick and the Brick
Hammer are exactly the same machine, only the chassis has changed, I
wonder how long TrimUI can get away with rolling out the same innards
with a different coating. The TrimUI Brick Hammer is not a
particularly powerful handheld but it is a rather smart looking
thing.

I
understand the complexities of finding all the correct components,
there is no point in putting a 5.5” screen on a handheld that is
only powerful enough to emulate Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy
Advance and there is no point in putting a 3.2” screen on something
that is powerful enough to emulate PlayStation 2 and Switch, so the
question is has the TrimUI Brick Hammer got the specification balance
just right?

So,
the first time I switch on I have the TrimUI splash screen followed
by a loading screen which takes me to the games page showing zero
games, so let's do some set up, Wi-Fi first, well that's it, that
took no time at all. I now need a microSD card and some games. So I
now have a few steps to follow, switch off the TrimUI Brick, insert
the microSD card and switch back on, now use the SD card formatter
built into the firmware, once formatted move the microSD card over to my laptop.

The microSD card now has folders for multiple systems so I placed some ROMs onto the microSD card and re-inserted into the
TrimUI Brick and switched it on only for the games section to show,
absolutely nothing, no games, no systems. So what now? Well, there
are some custom firmwares available for the TrimUI series of
handhelds such as SpruceOS, NextUI, MinUI, muOS and KNULLI. I have
tried KNULLI.

I
had promised myself that I was going to use the stock OS and no real
tinkering but... While doing a bit of searching online I found RetroGame Corps set up guide for MinUI an operating system I hadn't looked
into before so thought it would be worth a go, nothing to lose. Apart
from losing a bit of time the end result seems really good,
minimalist, no box art, no game description, just white text on a
black background for the menus.

I
went for some early system that would play best on the 3.2” screen:
Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, NeoGeo Pocket, Nintendo
Entertainment System, Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master
System, Sony PlayStation, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PC
Engine and Nintendo Virtual Boy. I know these systems don't really
push the boat out with high end gaming but that wasn't the real plan
anyway, some nice gentle 8-bit and 16-bit gaming was the plan all
along.

Would
I recommend the TrimUI Brick Pro?
Yes.
At first glance it is quite diminutive, everything just seems to
blend well together, the quality is top notch with the all metal
chassis it has a very premium feel and the power of the processor
matches well with the screen size which is a good fit for the systems
that I would most want to run on this handheld. I couldn't get the
TrimUI OS to recognise the ROMs on the microSD card but that was
fixed by using MinUI.

Would
I Recommend MinUI?
Yes,
MinUI is a great accompaniment to the TrimUI Brick with its
minimalist look, no colourful box art, no long game descriptions, it
literally does exactly what it says on the tin, the game title in white text on a black background,
nothing more is needed.

Follow and comment below

Michael

ANBERNIC CONSOLES

ANBERNIC CONSOLES

Anbernic was founded in 2017 and they started producing handheld consoles in September of 2020, their first console was the RG351P with a Cortex A35 CPU running at 1.5GHZ, not very powerful when compared to today’s processors when you consider the latest CPUs being used in Android devices is the SnapDragon Elite, but you must take into account the emulators available at the time the 1.5GHZ processor was more than enough.


Anbernic have a very large range of handhelds with varying CPU processing power, varying GPU speeds, varying stick/D-pad layouts (stick above D-pad or stick below D-pad), no sticks, varying triggers (some in-line and some stacked), vertical handhelds and horizontal handhelds, slide open configuration, overall size of handheld, clam shell and now clam shell with dual screens.

Anbernic are probably the worst culprit when it comes to flooding the market, releasing a handheld and then a month or so later releasing their next and then a couple of months down the line releasing another that is just a slight upgrade of the first (a repeating pattern). There are a few shown in the links page “Handheld Consoles”. I would list all their consoles here, however from September 2020 to date they have released a total of 35 different consoles released over a 69 month period which equates to just short of 1 every 2 months. Shall we just say they have been prolific in their releases.

From the selection of Anbernic consoles I own most have been extremely easy to set-up, however the Anbernic Win600 is a little more time consuming when setting up as Windows doesn't lend itself well to handheld consoles. Over the years many modding opportunities have become available, more so with the introduction of 3D printers, such as stick replacements, 3D printed cases, 3D printed grips, official cases and the many official and unofficial pieces of merchandise.

It would be nice to think that every incarnation of an Anbernic console would produce ever more powerful consoles, however this has not been the case and Anbernic keep revisiting the same processors which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Anbernic might not have the most powerful handheld out there but I would say they have some of the most successful. Shall we just say they know their market and how to price their consoles accordingly.

RG557 - One of Anbernics More powerful Consoles

If you were to purchase an Anbernic console there are many things you could do in helping your selection, most would look at the specifications to determine which best suits your needs and the following are things to keep in mind for your purchase: Battery size, Screen refresh rate, CPU, GPU, RAM, Onboard Storage, External Storage, Screen Size, Screen Resolution, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, OS Android/Linux/Windows, also keep in mind that there are also third party GUIs Knulli, GammaOS etc.

Anbernic are in quite a competitive market, which may account for the quantity of consoles they release, and Anbernic compete with many other makers of handhelds, Powkiddy, AYANEO, AYN, GPD and Switch (I know not an emulation handheld but a handheld non the less), etc. all of which seem to aim at different markets that require an Android, Linux, Windows or  the Nintendo Switch own operating system.

At the moment there are no Anbernic handhelds that use SnapDragon processors which seem to have become a necessity to run such emulators as those for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Switch, but Anbernic seems to know its market and the Snapdragon doesn't seem to be part of their roadmap at present. The latest iteration of an Anbernic handheld is the RG Rotate but they have also recently released a dual screen console which seem to be very popular among all handheld producers at the moment and this dual screen handheld is at a price of under £100.

There are emulators for most handheld consoles of the 80s through to present day such as PlayStation 3 and Switch which is where most of Anbernics high end consoles top out.

There is always talk of consoles that can be emulated on modern handheld consoles but there are also many computers that can be emulated: Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, PC (streamed) and many others and these don't seem to get as much coverage as retro consoles do.

Would I recommend an Anbernic device?
Most definitely, the is an Anbernic for everyone, RG DS for dual screen play, RG557 for high end gaming, Win600 for Windows gaming (including Stream) and RG35XX if you want something that looks a little retro (got that Game Boy look going on) and there is a wide variety to cater for all.

Do I like my collection of Anbernic devices?
I certainly do, my most powerful handheld isn't an Anbernic but when it comes to playing it's not all about the power, there is no point in having a powerful handheld with a SnapDragon Elite under the hood with a 3.5” screen that is only able to emulate Game Boy. Sometimes you want a handheld that looks like a Game Boy that can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance only and that is enough for some.

Follow and comment below

Michael

ANBERNIC RG ROTATE

ANBERNIC RG ROTATE

I
have received Anbernics latest offering, the Anbernic RG Rotate which
appears to be quite the unique little console with its rotating
display and controls beneath, available in a couple of colours: Polar
Black and Aurora Silver, whichever you get there is something new in
the box I have never seen before and that is a spare set of trigger
buttons which give the L2 and R2 slightly higher triggers. The
chassis on the Polar Black model is comprised of Aluminium
Alloy + ABS Plastic and the chassis on the Aurora Silver model
is purely Aluminium, there are no other hardware differences between
the two.


So
where does my preference lay when it comes to the chassis
construction? Aluminium Alloy + ABS
Plastic or purely Aluminium, this was really an easy decision to make
and that was all aluminium, of the two of them the Aluminium model is
slightly heavier but not by much and I don't foresee the slightly
heavier weight causing any issues during gaming sessions. My thoughts
are also that the rotation mechanism may last longer in an all metal
construction.

I
have only seen the Unisoc Tiger T618 chipset in one other console I
own, the Anbernic RG505 which is quite the capable device, so I
expect similar from the RG Rotate. For the size of the console the
Unisoc
Tiger T618 is quite the powerful processor.

Before
turning it on I am going to do 1 thing I don't normally do, I know I
should, and that was to install the screen protector, it is not a
clamshell so no protection for the screen and I don't have a case.
Now to insert the included 128GB, turn on and go through the usual
setup an Android device asks for.

Having
a square aspect ratio means it lends itself to quite a few consoles
but only one with a true 1:1 aspect ratio which is the Pico-8, there
are others that are close to 1:1 and they are the Neo Geo Pocket
(160x152), Nintendo Entertainment System (256x240), Game Boy (160x144), Game Gear
(160x144) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (256x224). There are hacks you an do
that make some of the other consoles, even though the ratio isn't
close, seem a little better such as oversale within RetroArch.

To
start with I chose to uninstall all the emulators already
pre-installed in order to be a bit more choosy over the installed
emulators and also to make sure they are the most recent versions,
also which if any front end will I be using? Daijisho has always been
a trusted front end coupled with RetroArch, using RetroArch means not
having to install individual emulators.

I
found the controls cumbersome, but then again I was brought up
playing games with a joystick and a D-pad has always seemed difficult
to come to terms with, if they had been able to include a low profile
thumbstick I would have been happier. That being said the controls
are accurate and reasonably quiet, not clicky.

You
may see the rear firing mono speaker as a flaw during gameplay as it
can easily be covered with your fingers, but in actuality it does
quite a competent job.

I
thought I'd give some of the other functions a go such as music
playback, something I don't normally check on Android devices as I
see them as purely games machines, but this is different, it's more
than a games machine. So I added some music, “Steps” don't judge
me, files to the internal storage and played them with the included
music player and I must admit I'm very impressed at the audio
clarity, it's loud, it's clear.

Now
let's try video playback, so I add the movie “Outrageous Fortune”
which is a .avi file to the internal storage and used the installed
video player to see the quality and as with the music player the
audio quality is impressive, however the video is a little jerky but
watchable, so I tried another file “Torch Song Trilogy” another
.avi file and again a little jerky but watchable so I thought it may
be the file format, I'll give a .mp4 file a go “Move Over Darling”
and the audio was spot on and this time not jerky.

Would
I recommend the RG Rotate?
This
is a difficult one, the chipset is powerful enough to be able to play
up to PSP, PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64, however the screen size and aspect
ratio does not suit the higher end emulators and on the other hand
systems like Game Boy and Game Boy Color which suit the screen size
and aspect ratio don't take full advantage of the chipset. Take note
that while setting up the RG Rotate did get a little warm.

Do
I think it could be better, for me?
Yes,
I believe a larger screen like that of the Anbernic RG Cube which has a 3.95”
display would of made a great deal of a difference. I would have
preferred a low profile thumbstick similar to that of the Anbernic RG Slide
and a front firing speaker, also a larger battery. Maybe these can be implemented in RG Rotate v2.0.

In
conclusion, what it does it does well but may be too much of a
novelty for some but the novelty of it may be a selling point for
others including myself. Third party applications, such as ClassiPod
(an iPod inspired music player) I think might add to the Anbernic RG
Rotate experience.

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Michael

PICPAK

PICPAK

Well
Kickstarter is the website that just keeps on giving, my PicPak
arrived today, actually 2 of them, 1 blue and 1 red and very nicely
packaged they are too, no bells or whistles but that is because they
are not needed. Simple black packaging with a stylised image of the
PicPak on the top of the packaging, on opening the box it contains
the PicPak, a user manual and a USB-C lead.


The
build quality if very good with a nice textured plastic, giving it a
nice tactile feel, which means it doesn't get finger prints all over
it, a single button in the bottom left to change the image displayed
and also used for pairing to the smartphone app. There are a couple
of brilliant inclusion on the back also, a horizontal magnet across
the top and a vertical magnet down the centre and also a kick stand
(genius idea).


To
start with, I did something which is most unusual, I read the user
manual.

Step 1: The “Introduction” which is a welcome message
followed by a brief description of what the PicPak does.

Step 2: “What's Inside the Box”  are images of the three things in the
box which is the PicPak, the USB-C cable and the user manual.

Step
3: Where it starts to get interesting “Quick Start Guide” and
to start with I need to download the PicPak app on my mobile phone,
once downloaded I register and, as with most new technology, there is
a firmware update so let's start there by downloading and installing. Once the update is done, in a matter of a couple of minutes and no noticeable
difference, but I'm sure there are improvements under the hood.

Just
need to pair the PikPak with the app on my phone, this is also
straightforward, this is going great. This is, so far, the easiest
piece of technology I've ever had to set up. Now over to the app and
adding some images to the gallery and this is as simple as a couple
of button presses, the app also gives some basic functions for
rotating and cropping the image before uploading to the PicPak.

As
colour e-ink is still in its infancy there are a couple of drawbacks,
the transition between images takes a few seconds and it flickers
quite a bit during the transition but once the image is on screen it
is quite clear but the colours aren't very vibrant.

There
are still features to be added that are to be implemented in future
firmware updates such as displaying a news summary or displaying
health data generated by a smart watch all of which would be
transferred via Wi-Fi, keep in mind that these features are not
available out of the box at the moment.

Would
I recommend?
Yes,
the e-ink technology within the PicPak may still be young but it is
still a yes from me if only for the novelty of it, I will keep one at
home and take the other to work, a bit of decoration for my work desk.

Can
it be Improved?
Not
sure that it can be improved but I think variants of the PicPak would
be a good idea.
A
portrait version would be a good addition to the family.
Use
a different aspect ration, more 16:9 than 4:3.
Newer
colour e-ink technology.
Possibly
introduce a mono version at a lower price point.
A PikPak wearable such as a badge or luggage tag.

I know this isn't a long post as it does exactly what it says on the tin. This is new technology that has legs and will flourish.

Follow and comment below

Michael