I just bought a Gizmondo

KTRIC

I got a Gizmondo with the GPS package at the weekend and I have to say so far I am extremly impressed. I was sort of torn between the PSP and the Giz , finally went with the Giz.

The unit itself is very versitile, it feels well made and very solid. The lcd screen is very sharp and seems to have better clarity than the PSP.

Here's some spec's:

TFT screen ~ 240 x 320 pixels
400 Mhz ARM9 from Samsung
128-bit 3D Graphics accelerator from Nvidia
GPS tracking application
GPS mapping application
MP3 playback
MIDI/WAV formats
SMS
Speaker
Windows Media Player 9
MPEG 4 video playback
JPEG camera
SD flash card reader
Mini-USB client
Bluetooth class 2 for multiplayer gaming
Temperature range 0°C to 55°C
Removable SIM card
Removable battery
Polyphonic ring tones
Stereo headset socket for MP3 and games
Flight Mode
GSM tri-band
GPRS Class 10
WAP 2.0
MMS receive and send


At the moment you can't actually walk into any stores in Dublin and buy games for it, but Argos will be stocking them soon (in current catalogue) and they are available online in a good few stores.


Check out this screenshot for "Jonny Whatever". It's a good example of what the 128bit Nvidia chip can do.





The GPS tracking is built in, it will work on it's own without any other software and give you a gps location. But with the package I bought in Maplins (€329) I got Copilot Navigator 2006 (on an sdcard) and it seems to be upto date with all the Dublin roads and its very acturate.

I read on the Gizmondo forums that there will owners will be able to run Windows CE based apps soon on the Giz owing to the fact that someone has cracked it and it's base software is essestially Windows CE 4.

Overall a good buy, alot more versitile than the PSP with not a bad pixel in site.

ObeyGiant

If you didn't have 1000+ posts, I'd have guessed you were a paid stooge.

projectmayhem

i was considering one of these until psp came along and marketed my heart away... then of course there's the whole "gizmondo going out of business" thing which'll stop development and support...

also their launch party had loads of rappers talking about technology like they have a clue...

KTRIC

projectmayhem wrote:

i was considering one of these until psp came along and marketed my heart away... then of course there's the whole "gizmondo going out of business" thing which'll stop development and support...

also their launch party had loads of rappers talking about technology like they have a clue...

IF they went out of business it wouldn't stop my Gizmondo from working !!.

I know for a fact that Maplins got in a big shipment of them and they sold out of the just recently, so there are people out there buying them.

Also, a service pack was just release for it and so this is fairly good proof that it is still being supported by the manufacturers.

KTRIC

ObeyGiant wrote:

If you didn't have 1000+ posts, I'd have guessed you were a paid stooge.

I guess my post does smack abit of "promo hype", just realised it after I posted. You can probably tell that I'm fairly happy with it.

Has anyone else bought one ???

Stephen

Can you run emulators and the like on it? That'd be especially handy of the supply of official software dries up

KTRIC

Stephen wrote:

Can you run emulators and the like on it? That'd be especially handy of the supply of official software dries up

Some guys on http://www.gizmondoforums.com/forums/index.php?act=home have cracked the OS and using the SDK are signing software thats ment for Pocket PC's. I have seen a video with Quake running on a Giz through some emulator thats in development.

Matt Simis

That screenshot is from the PC running the Engine of the game, not an actual HW shot at all. The fact the res is way above the supported res on the Giz is a dead giveaway. Developers used to do this (though not as blatantly) on the Zodiac (another PDA gaming hybrid).


Matt

Placebo

that screen shot is unreal, apparently they have WIP on PS/N64 emu ? in the making, its possible ive heard.
MAME+SNES+SEGA would run perfectly

Amigaman

I Have a Gizmondo for sale at the moment over on the forsale / consoles forum just want to sanity check the price here...How does €175 inc a game and a carrycase sound??thoughts..
Amigaman

KTRIC

This is definatly from the Giz itself, I've seen it working. The name of the game is Colours, it's a GTA type clone.

Zombrex

It is an impressive piece of hardware no doubt (word), but hardward does a system make not always (as Apu would say)

The games line up seems limited, and I doubt it will last. Look at the Atari Jaguar, not all it has look forward to is obscure entries in polls and running for president

Still if I had €400 and nothing else to spend it on I could think of worse things. The GPS stuff is supposed to be cool

tHE vAGGABOND

played a few of the giz games - and they are all utter rubbish..

save yourself a hundred quid and get a DS

koneko

The company will be going out of business (fraud, supposed ties to the mafia, and so on). There aren't enough good games for it as it is, no killer app, and there isn't enough of a homebrew/emulator community or set-up yet to keep it going after that.
There are much better things to spend your money on if you're into games and want a handheld, like a DS, PSP or GBA Micro.