Upon receiving my Wiz, the box it containted was considerably smaller than I had expected. It was extremely well contained, probably took me about 10 minutes just to get the packaging opened. Once opened, however, I couldn't help but admire the box inside. Its too bad I don't have a camera, or this review would've been two parts and already up on youtube by now. Instead though, this text review is all I can offer.
Hardware:
It is small. Smaller than the past two GPH handhelds, but for the Wiz's lack in size, it more than makes up for with whats inside. At 533 mhz, the Wiz has almost twice the processing capabilities of the Sony PSP. Of course though, due to its open-source nature, it does not run this fast. Yet. The screen boasts a very bright display viewable at almost any angle with little to no glare or dimming. The battery is a rechargeable lithium battery, and after countless times of leaving it powered on for hours on accident, and of course, using it for hours on end, it has yet to die on me.
A small 2 ft. cord that resembles a cell-phone charger comes with the unit, that is probably the only thing I have a major issue with. The connection feels really flimsy and feels as if any sudden jerk would break the plug. Its usb, so it can connect to any usb-compatible computer and reads as a storage device, thus you can access the NAND (internal memory) or SD card connected to it on virtually any computer.
The buttons have been a cause of concern for many following the development of the Wiz, and I for one had low expectations after reading and seeing pictures of the dev units. Some say it is hard to push diagonally on the D-Pad and even though you can press down on the entire pad, it has yet to hinder any gameplay experience for me at all. Instead of a dual d-pad system that GPH was shooting for, there are now four pressable buttons in the form of an A, X, Y, and B. The L and R buttons are rather small compared to other handheld devices but I have no trouble pressing them comfortably. Others will bigger hands may have difficulty though.
The whole rectangle feel of the system had looked appealing to me at first, and to be honest is still stylish in my eyes, it reminds me of the days I had picked up my first nintendo controller. Unlike the original nintendo controller, though, all the buttons are arranged so that they are naturally beneath your thumbs while holding the system comfortably. That is, every button except the volume buttons and on-off switch. The volume is handled by two buttons located on the bottom left of the console, which shouldn't be a problem for left-handed people, but I am right handed and I'm still trying to get used to it.
The four buttons on the right side though, have started to gum up, and are less responsive than they were a week ago, and I rarely press harder than needed. This worries me, as I plan to use this little system a lot, so the wear and tear factor is very low so far. I have had to keep the flimsy screen protector that came with the unit on since I opened it, for I still have not tested the durability of the touch-screen, which by the way, is unaccurate to say the least. Though this is probably a firmware issue I'm sure will be corrected in the near future.
Firmware:
The firmware feels less like a stable menu and more like a work-in-progress. This is where I had hoped that user-input would come into play, but as of right now, its nearly impossible for anyone who isn't profficient with computers, reducing the appeal to the casual user considerably. Although a recent firmware release fixed the lag while playing videos, music playback is still very incomplete and is very unresponsive to controls. Instead of a promised visualization, it is just an animated images that repeats over and over.
Using the Wiz for the first time felt like something I'd expect from a knock-off chinese gameboy, and was hardly professional in terms of quality and visuals. The bright orange theme, although stylish in a way, can become a real eye-sore after extensive use. With 533 Mhz and 64mb of ram, the system is capable of much more than this and would almost be a deal-killer if it weren't for the great open-source following GPH has.
Do not get me wrong though, just because the Wiz is released, doesn't mean there won't be updates. Unlike the PSP and DS, firmware updates are not required, though recommended, and not updating won't make your games stop functioning, which is a definite plus and was a reason I put down my psp in the first place.
The wiz, for me, was more of an investment than a purchase. All of the potential this piece of hardware has is very promising. With emulators ranging from atari to snes to arcade units already being ported, the library of games available to the Wiz at launch and purchase is staggering and the numbers will only increase.
Hardware:
It is small. Smaller than the past two GPH handhelds, but for the Wiz's lack in size, it more than makes up for with whats inside. At 533 mhz, the Wiz has almost twice the processing capabilities of the Sony PSP. Of course though, due to its open-source nature, it does not run this fast. Yet. The screen boasts a very bright display viewable at almost any angle with little to no glare or dimming. The battery is a rechargeable lithium battery, and after countless times of leaving it powered on for hours on accident, and of course, using it for hours on end, it has yet to die on me.
A small 2 ft. cord that resembles a cell-phone charger comes with the unit, that is probably the only thing I have a major issue with. The connection feels really flimsy and feels as if any sudden jerk would break the plug. Its usb, so it can connect to any usb-compatible computer and reads as a storage device, thus you can access the NAND (internal memory) or SD card connected to it on virtually any computer.
The buttons have been a cause of concern for many following the development of the Wiz, and I for one had low expectations after reading and seeing pictures of the dev units. Some say it is hard to push diagonally on the D-Pad and even though you can press down on the entire pad, it has yet to hinder any gameplay experience for me at all. Instead of a dual d-pad system that GPH was shooting for, there are now four pressable buttons in the form of an A, X, Y, and B. The L and R buttons are rather small compared to other handheld devices but I have no trouble pressing them comfortably. Others will bigger hands may have difficulty though.
The whole rectangle feel of the system had looked appealing to me at first, and to be honest is still stylish in my eyes, it reminds me of the days I had picked up my first nintendo controller. Unlike the original nintendo controller, though, all the buttons are arranged so that they are naturally beneath your thumbs while holding the system comfortably. That is, every button except the volume buttons and on-off switch. The volume is handled by two buttons located on the bottom left of the console, which shouldn't be a problem for left-handed people, but I am right handed and I'm still trying to get used to it.
The four buttons on the right side though, have started to gum up, and are less responsive than they were a week ago, and I rarely press harder than needed. This worries me, as I plan to use this little system a lot, so the wear and tear factor is very low so far. I have had to keep the flimsy screen protector that came with the unit on since I opened it, for I still have not tested the durability of the touch-screen, which by the way, is unaccurate to say the least. Though this is probably a firmware issue I'm sure will be corrected in the near future.
Firmware:
The firmware feels less like a stable menu and more like a work-in-progress. This is where I had hoped that user-input would come into play, but as of right now, its nearly impossible for anyone who isn't profficient with computers, reducing the appeal to the casual user considerably. Although a recent firmware release fixed the lag while playing videos, music playback is still very incomplete and is very unresponsive to controls. Instead of a promised visualization, it is just an animated images that repeats over and over.
Using the Wiz for the first time felt like something I'd expect from a knock-off chinese gameboy, and was hardly professional in terms of quality and visuals. The bright orange theme, although stylish in a way, can become a real eye-sore after extensive use. With 533 Mhz and 64mb of ram, the system is capable of much more than this and would almost be a deal-killer if it weren't for the great open-source following GPH has.
Do not get me wrong though, just because the Wiz is released, doesn't mean there won't be updates. Unlike the PSP and DS, firmware updates are not required, though recommended, and not updating won't make your games stop functioning, which is a definite plus and was a reason I put down my psp in the first place.
The wiz, for me, was more of an investment than a purchase. All of the potential this piece of hardware has is very promising. With emulators ranging from atari to snes to arcade units already being ported, the library of games available to the Wiz at launch and purchase is staggering and the numbers will only increase.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment