Handheld Game Systems

[C-Rocks]

Just a quick question about these, I want to buy a new handheld solely for emulation and have been
looking at the Dingoo A series, Wiz, Open pandora, and canoo. Has anyone got any of these and how do you rate them?

Im leaning towards the Open pandora as it seems to do everything, even n64 and good psx emulation. The battery life seems to be pretty good on these too.

Any advice welcomed.

[geluda]

Checked the main seller for the Open Pandora, €440? That's a lot of money!

[C-Rocks]

It is a bit more expensive, but its basically a little Linux pc. It has dual thumb sticks, a dpad, qwerty keyboard, wireless, bluetooth, 2 sdhc card slots (up to 64gb), you can plug it into your tv and the newer models have a 1ghz processor.

Its not the prettiest but it looks to be able emulate most systems sub dreamcast, and drkllRaziel has recently been on the forums talking about getting nulldc ported over.

Seems quite a good little machine!

[MottZilla]

Well it looks cool but damn it is expensive. If you get it be sure to post some impressions after you've had it for a few weeks. Like how the controls feel, how well emulators perform, etc.

[brendand]

Damn and i thought PS Vita was expensive when it cameout

[deseoparadise]

JXD S7100 is the handheld that you're looking for

It's better thant Dingos, Wizz...

[pool7]

I use a PSP to emulate everything you mentioned and it works very well; if you get the extended battery you have some 6 hours play.
Or are you exclusively looking only at the handhelds you mentioned?

[7Force]

The OpenPandora is a disaster. It was supposed to come out in 2007, has had may production delays and some people who preordered back then are still waiting for their systems. This also explains the ridiculous price, which was reasonable back then but nowadays there's no point in spending that much money on something that has the same specs as a cheap Chinese Android phone.

[LeGIt]

Didnt a lot of people used to rave about the Gamepark GP32 or something? I suppose that was many moons ago and shows how long it has been since I cared about emulation.

[7Force]

Didnt a lot of people used to rave about the Gamepark GP32 or something? I suppose that was many moons ago and shows how long it has been since I cared about emulation.

Yeah, that was 10 years ago and several better devices have come since then.

[C-Rocks]

@pool7 Thanks for that, that might be an easier option actually. Are they hard to hack/install the custom firmware and emulators? I don't own one but I see that they are going pretty cheap these days, I'll pick one up if they are easy to work with.

7force, your pretty much spot on there, there was a serious farce with the production of those but I think thats been sorted out now and they are taking orders again. I only liked the look of it due to the control options but it looks like a psp will do pretty much the same job.

[7Force]

7force, your pretty much spot on there, there was a serious farce with the production of those but I think thats been sorted out now and they are taking orders again. I only liked the look of it due to the control options but it looks like a psp will do pretty much the same job.

Yeah, you can order one off their website now, but the people who preordered one years ago still have to wait for theirs. The whole thing just doesn't make much sense to me. Although I've heard good things about the iControlpad made by the same people, which is basically the Pandora D-pad, analog nubs and buttons in a Bluetooth controller, so for people who have a decent smartphone it seems like a good alternative and I've been considering getting one for a while now.

[pool7]

I have a PSP-2001 which can be easily hacked (ie. running the CFW application that installs it; you can even choose to keep it until reboot or install permanently). From what I read you can do the same with the later model PSP-3001, but not sure if you can install CFW permanently.

Emulators are very easy to install: just extract the zip file to the locating indicated and then it'll show up in your PSP.
If you go with the PSP I'll gladly help you get it up and running with the emulators.

[subbie]

PSP is hacked through and through (they can sign apps now). Installing CFW on any model of PSP (1k, 2k, 3k, E-1k, Go) is stupidly easy.

It is the better/cheaper option to go with atm if you ask me. Plus you still get access to the PSP back collection which has quite a few gems in it (just please buy those games and not be a butt pirate about it).

[_SD_]

Just seen this 7" Archos Gamepad over on Engadget.

[reprep]

Just seen this 7" Archos Gamepad over on Engadget.

It looks very promising. I hope its built-in controllers will be compatible with android emulators.
But still PSP seems better. Even with 1.5 ghz dual core processor i doubt we will see better emulators than PSP unless a lot of dedication is put.

[C-Rocks]

Quick update,

Big thanks to pool7 for the initial advice and the others that followed, I managed to pick up a psp 2000 yesterday. Contacted a guy off gumtree here in Northern Ireland and picked it up within 20 minutes. It came with the cfw preinstalled and an 8gb memory stick all for £50, not a bad deal!

I have to say this is a great little machine, the emulators and roms (I own the originals) were installed in literally minutes and the battery life has been pretty good. Needless to say I have been glued to it since I picked it up, and it was exactly what I was looking for, only down side is that we have a new baby at home and the missus is finding it hard to tear me away from it

So again thanks to pool7 for the great advice, and the others too, great little addition to the collection!