Edge Magazine (uk) Jan 2006 - Full Page About Gp2x

[Muncher666]

2AA Batteries
you can watch 320*240(30frame) of video file for approximately 8 hours and listen to mp3 file for approximately 14 hours (LCD off ) continuously with 2AA batteries.

45 minutes isn't 8hrs.

Isn't this an issue with the batteries, largely? From most accounts the firmware is partially to blame, but crap batteries are also to blame. And of course, even if you get proper 2500 rechargables, you need a charger which will charge them properly.

Allan.

 

[nubie]

2AA Batteries
you can watch 320*240(30frame) of video file for approximately 8 hours and listen to mp3 file for approximately 14 hours (LCD off ) continuously with 2AA batteries.

45 minutes isn't 8hrs.

Isn't this an issue with the batteries, largely? From most accounts the firmware is partially to blame, but crap batteries are also to blame. And of course, even if you get proper 2500 rechargables, you need a charger which will charge them properly.

Allan.

​

Yes, I run em dead then full cycle in the charger they came with (8 hours, but there are only so many I can play in a day, and I got 8 in the pack anyway.)

 

[nickspoon]

45 minutes isn't 8hrs.

And 5 hours is not 45 mins. That's how much I get out of my 2X, with decent batteries.

 

[geniv]

The way some of you are defending the GP2X makes it sounds like the source of unlimited energy, and therefore solve all problems on Earth at once.

The stick isn't THAT good, its ultimately digital which means a basic D-PAD would have worked better. The screen isn't 100% perfect (check the firmware thread). The batteries that come with it only last 45 minutes, and there is no mains adapter. At the very least a mains adapter should come with it imo. The USB doesn't work on most people's computers either.

As it stands (and thats how you would have to review it), its got many flaws and RIGHT NOW, not too many redeeming qualities. The movie playing, emulators and music playing are all good (but as Edge said, don't meet all the features marketted).

The GP2X is a great device, and will definitely sell well within it's intended market. However, EDGE is targetted at joe gamer. To joe gamer who will want to download a few games and play them - the Edge review is pretty spot on. Maybe commenting on the fact you can use rechargable batteries (£15-£25), buy an additional mains adapter (£10) and an SD Card (£20-£50) it pretty much matches the Sony PSP for features out of the box (altho... at this point it now matches the price too). It doesn't have a large number of commercial quality games (emulators with ROMS excepted), which means to joe game it isn't better than the PSP, or the cheaper DS.

Of course to the niche the GP2X is marketted, its almost perfect. And for this niche, surely a review in a magazine is irrelevant?

​

I have to agree with you on this one, too much gp2x fanboys here.

 

[Reaperman93010]

when they say AA batteries, most people think of alkaline cells which lose voltage quickly leaving the machine short on power in under an hour. (and unstable)

clarification that GPH intended us to use nimh cells (which discharge at a more consistant voltage over their cycle) would have been helpful.

add the cost of batteries, charger, ac adapter and we're well over a PSP. granted we have a few advantages, but from a gaming-consumer point of view, there's no contest between the two. this was a generous review.

 

[pikey]

The way some of you are defending the GP2X makes it sounds like the source of unlimited energy, and therefore solve all problems on Earth at once.

The stick isn't THAT good, its ultimately digital which means a basic D-PAD would have worked better. The screen isn't 100% perfect (check the firmware thread). The batteries that come with it only last 45 minutes, and there is no mains adapter. At the very least a mains adapter should come with it imo. The USB doesn't work on most people's computers either.

As it stands (and thats how you would have to review it), its got many flaws and RIGHT NOW, not too many redeeming qualities. The movie playing, emulators and music playing are all good (but as Edge said, don't meet all the features marketted).

The GP2X is a great device, and will definitely sell well within it's intended market. However, EDGE is targetted at joe gamer. To joe gamer who will want to download a few games and play them - the Edge review is pretty spot on. Maybe commenting on the fact you can use rechargable batteries (£15-£25), buy an additional mains adapter (£10) and an SD Card (£20-£50) it pretty much matches the Sony PSP for features out of the box (altho... at this point it now matches the price too). It doesn't have a large number of commercial quality games (emulators with ROMS excepted), which means to joe game it isn't better than the PSP, or the cheaper DS.

Of course to the niche the GP2X is marketted, its almost perfect. And for this niche, surely a review in a magazine is irrelevant?

​

I have to agree with you on this one, too much gp2x fanboys here.

​

Well, this is a gp2x forum, makes sense to me.

 

[Willei]

However, EDGE is targetted at joe gamer.

​

Exactly. So what are they doing putting a critique of it in their mag? It's a good few months away from the point where the average Edge reader would care about it, and right now it's aimed at developers and people that don't mind dealing with major problems in the pursuit of something interesting.

The smart thing to do would be to leave it a few months where there's more decent homebrew out on it (not that there isn't any now, of course) and do a proper feature on it, rather than stick an article full of factual errors and opinion in the news section of the mag.

 

[deadlychicken22]

Some of you people are such fanboys ,i thought that the edge review was pretty fair if the edge had done a bad review of the giz u people would be saying the edge is the best thing since sliced.
GET OVER IT

​

Do you actually own a gp2x? Every time I see you post it seems like you're telling us more about the giz.... this is a gp32/gp2x forum, you know. What most of us are mad about is that they don't get some basic facts right, which makes it sound like they barely touched one and then copied some complaints form the boards and lik-sang.

And, like davec said, no one here gives a damn what they say about the giz because this is a gp32/gp2x forum.

The stick isn't THAT good, its ultimately digital which means a basic D-PAD would have worked better. The screen isn't 100% perfect (check the firmware thread). The batteries that come with it only last 45 minutes, and there is no mains adapter. At the very least a mains adapter should come with it imo. The USB doesn't work on most people's computers either.

​

? I like digital sticks much better than basic a basic d-pad, so it's really a matter of opinion. About the screen, my screen looks perfect. No flickering (unless I fiddle with the settings in the clockspeed program), no scanlines, no defects at all! It is crystal clear and has absolutely no blurring! (watching stuff on my friends psp made me seasick! It is so blurry!). If an adapter came with it they would have to raise the price. I would rather they don't include it because then if I already have an adapter I don't need to pay extra for one that I don't need. About USB, well, you've got me there, it is pretty bad. But I expected this so I bought a card reader and now all is well. And cardreaders are only $10 or so.

About someone elses comment on battery life:
It may not get the 6 hours they claimed it would, but I would say 5 hours is pretty good, and that's about what I get with my rechargable batteries. That's more than the PSP gets and then when the batteries run out you can change them for another pair of rechargables and they don't cost you a fortune (psp=$30-50, AA=$5-10 or so).

 

[lubidog]

I just never find anything to read in Edge. And the general tone is so up it's own arse!

And the GP2x has more than ONE video playback format (or will have...). No one in edge cussed the video playback from a memory card on the PSP, and that has one.

 

[Cyclops]

What a shame, they missed the point. .

 

[Reaperman93010]

What a shame, they missed the point. .

​

perhaps. But maybe not. Odds are that edge's readers would all 'miss the point' too, so the review is pretty much right on for that market.

I noticed a full page review in wired about it that was almost too positive--but then that's a completely different audience.
oddly wired said there were half a dozen commercial titles on the way for it. how true is this? I have a copy of the article, I suppose I could scan it tuesday if it hasn't hit the forums yet.

 

[Cyclops]

perhaps. But maybe not. Odds are that edge's readers would all 'miss the point' too, so the review is pretty much right on for that market.

I noticed a full page review in wired about it that was almost too positive--but then that's a completely different audience.
oddly wired said there were half a dozen commercial titles on the way for it. how true is this? I have a copy of the article, I suppose I could scan it tuesday if it hasn't hit the forums yet.

​

I don't think thats true, and consumers are more savvy than people think, and its always a mistake when people are treated like idots. The actual what it does is in one paragraph at the end. most edge readers will be familier with x-box chipping PSP firmware etc, most will be familier with portable video and all should be familer with mp3 players.

Maybe commenting on the fact you can use rechargable batteries (£15-£25), buy an additional mains adapter (£10) and an SD Card (£20-£50) it pretty much matches the Sony PSP for features out of the box (altho... at this point it now matches the price too).

LOL, where did you do maths, however you work it out owning a GP2X is seriously cheaper.

 

[boogle]

Maybe commenting on the fact you can use rechargable batteries (£15-£25), buy an additional mains adapter (£10) and an SD Card (£20-£50) it pretty much matches the Sony PSP for features out of the box (altho... at this point it now matches the price too).

LOL, where did you do maths, however you work it out owning a GP2X is seriously cheaper.

​

GP2X: £125
Rechargable batteries (2500mAh) with charger: £25
SD Card 1GB: £45 (has to be 1GB due to not using cartridges / discs, not that this is a bad thing at all)
Mains adapter: £10

Thats £205.
PSP Value pack: £180

The games are indeed cheaper (ie. free), however, the base price is higher and thats what I was comparing to. I would also hope the GP2X has better battery life than the PSP at this point, since the batteries in the GP2X are now 2500mAh compared to the PSP's 1800mAh. The PSP has a 3D accelerator and FPU above and beyond what the GP2X has.

On a related note, GP2X.co.uk rock

 

[Cyclops]

Maybe commenting on the fact you can use rechargable batteries (£15-£25), buy an additional mains adapter (£10) and an SD Card (£20-£50) it pretty much matches the Sony PSP for features out of the box (altho... at this point it now matches the price too).

LOL, where did you do maths, however you work it out owning a GP2X is seriously cheaper.

​

GP2X: £125
Rechargable batteries (2500mAh) with charger: £25
SD Card 1GB: £45 (has to be 1GB due to not using cartridges / discs, not that this is a bad thing at all)
Mains adapter: £10

Thats £205.
PSP Value pack: £180

So for a brick you pay £180 . Now how much to get it to do anything how much are the movies/games/storage. I doubt very much if anyone if going to have 1Gb at the end of the life of there handheld. So for fairness lets say 4GB, lets say 8 commecial games, I can't belive anyone will buy the movies otherwise those should be added, now compare oh and add in a spare battery as well 4 really. I'd say 8 rechargeable isn't excessive for the GP2X.

I'd say in real terms the PSP weighs in at about £1000 and the GP2X at about £300(and I can use the batteries/cards for other things)

Even if you go down the homebrew only route. Its a lot more expensive. Now is you start talking about value for money that gets a little subjective, and I'm now biased(the visual novels did it for me)

 

[Willei]

So for a brick you pay £180 . Now how much to get it to do anything how much are the movies/games/storage. I doubt very much if anyone if going to have 1Gb at the end of the life of there handheld. So for fairness lets say 4GB, lets say 8 commecial games, I can't belive anyone will buy the movies otherwise those should be added, now compare oh and add in a spare battery as well 4 really. I'd say 8 rechargeable isn't excessive for the GP2X.

I'd say in real terms the PSP weighs in at about £1000 and the GP2X at about £300(and I can use the batteries/cards for other things)

Even if you go down the homebrew only route. Its a lot more expensive. Now is you start talking about value for money that gets a little subjective, and I'm now biased(the visual novels did it for me)

​

Taking that out of context, it looks stupid. Granted, it's pretty stupid in context. £1000 and 4Gb for fairness indeed!

Which is why people should stop comparing the GP2X to the PSP! They're not in competition, they have a totally different userbase for the most part, and they're designed for totally different things.

 

[thecheat]

Full page review in Wired, mostly focusing on the Linux capabilities... they didn't bash on it too hard, though they did say it was a bit ugly.

 

[Cyclops]

Taking that out of context, it looks stupid. Granted, it's pretty stupid in context. £1000 and 4Gb for fairness indeed!

Which is why people should stop comparing the GP2X to the PSP! They're not in competition, they have a totally different userbase for the most part, and they're designed for totally different things.

​

I think I have been pretty soft with my figures, but just see how many games people have already for their psp/DS and it hasn't been out that long. 10...20...30 and movies are not being marketed all that strongly. Its an expensive toy. I suspect £1000 to be on the low side.

4GB I know for a fact is not going to be enough for me. I'm already suspecting that a 1GB card is going to be on the small side. I filled a 1GB this weekend with one emulator, a few visual novels, and a couple of ports, with a splash of homebrew and that was it. I know I'm going to want to start putting music and movies on there, and I suspect that playstation/modern arcade/further 16 bit emulation will put further strain on my storage. Realistically I could fill 20GB pretty comfortably all ready and its only been out a couple of months. I'm hoping those 8GB cards start dropping in price sooner rather than later.

Oh they are very different, but their essence 1-stop entertainment center isn't, and if you read the article, It literally is a list of all the things a PSP is, and a GP2X isn't. In reality this article could have said exactly the same things and have been posative.

 

[mittens]

I think I have been pretty soft with my figures, but just see how many games people have already for their psp/DS and it hasn't been out that long. 10...20...30 and movies are not being marketed all that strongly. Its an expensive toy. I suspect £1000 to be on the low side.

agree.

People always do math and try to show how they are smart enough to figure out psp is cheaper than GP2x with WRONG terms.

They should calculate the cost during 1 or 2 first years after purchasing if they really want to compare via money.


They are too different machine to compare with each other properly.

 

[lubidog]

My PSP costs me nothing to run, as I haven't touched it for weeks....