Some questions before I buy one.

[frazuk]

I'm new, so I'll start by saying Hi.

Hi!

I've been considering getting one of these devices for a while now, mainly for emulation but also for some bedtime web browsing and movie/youtube watching. I just have some questions before I put down the readies.

Are the analog sticks full analog? As in, for example, say you're playing mario 64 on N64oid, can you push the stick a little to walk, and do you have full 360 degree control? From the youtube videos I've seen it kind of looks like the analog stick is a dpad with a stick glued on top.

How is the device's performance in general? I currently have a cheap chinese tablet and I'm not very happy with it. Apps keep popping up with a "not responding: wait|close" popup, especially when browsing the web. And I've tried just about every browser available.

Is there any input lag, even the slightest bit?

Are there many custom roms? Can I install Cyanogenmod? Does CWM support this device?

Are there any reviews comparing the device to more mainstream devices such as the nexus 7?

How is the battery life when doing stuff like gaming and watching video?

Should I get this or the Archos Gamepad?  The Archos Gamepad is around the same price.

Can it make coffee?

Thanks in advance!

[frazuk]

Just noticed the archos gamepad has a quad core mali 400 wheras the jxd is a dual core mali 400.

Any idea how this translates performance wise?

[ssgk]

I too looked into the Archos gamepad however the cons greatly outweighed the cons from the numerous reviews. The slapstick feeling of the buttons layout both in the mapping software as well as the physical layout drew me away at first. Then came the horrible battery life (2 hours tops from a full charge with some games). I will warn you this board/forum is cold. I haven't seen many a reply to any posts/threads in quite some time. I haphazardly fell upon this thread while seeing if any of my posts would go unanswered in nearly two weeks now. Back on the subject though. The layout seemed great, larger screen device that does what the PSP was intended to, be an amazing handheld. Sadly it fell flat, sure there were some great titles, however the constant changing of the guard between the 3 PSP's hosed that. More so with the Archos. Grotesque viewing angle has been a huge complaint with the archos as well. Google (without sounding like a dick) archos gamepad review and click on the top four links, you see the crack in the glass. Cnet, wired, andriodcentral, all of them didn't have much nice to say about it.

[frazuk]

Well, i ended up ordering an archos gamepad before i saw those reviews. I read them after i ordered and was worried.

Although, i also discovered those reviews were written before they had released updated firmware which fixed just about all of the problems.

I've used the device for 3 or 4 hours today and i haven't had a problem with crashing/freezing, screen flickering and haven't noticed any of the problems pointed out in these reviews other than with the analog sticks (i wont mention the d-pad being 4 separate buttons as that is obvious and cannot change).

The first thing i did when i pulled the thing out of the box, before even switching it on, was play with the analog nubs and was instantly disappointed.

They felt like they were seated on sandpaper.

But after a while of usage, the left analog stick seems to have more give now and is a lot easier to use. the right stick i have barley used so it still feels stiff and weird as it did straight out of the box.

The actual performance of the device i feel is pretty damn good. As i mentioned i don't have any lag or stuttering whatsoever when doing regular tablet stuff, and none that I've noticed while gaming either.

I think the analog sticks need some attention in the way of using them plenty and getting used to them, rather than just calling "peice of shit" right away. They (at least the left on for me as it's the only one i've used) seem to get smoother with usage.

The biggest problem with the analog sticks i find is that the radius of movement is very small, therefore not as accurate as say an xbox or playstation controller. But i have found you can get used to this to an extent and the sticks start to feel a lot better.

The grip on the sticks is kind of weak too if you have dry thumbs. a little lick of the thumbs or a bit of moisturizer makes the sticks a lot more usable.

I benchmarked the gamepad, and compared to the nexus 7 scores it was about a 10th worse. So according to benchmarks this device is very close to the nexus 7 in performance. I think the gamepad score was something like 1230 and the nexus 7 was 1450

As a last say, one of the reviews really badmouthed the device because of its "low res screen" but hyped up the nexus 7 which has a resolution only slightly higher than the gamepad. I feel some bias in these bad reviews. If you look around further than the top google results which show reviews from big tech sites comparing the device to regular tablets you will find good reviews and opinions. Mainly on youtube. There's also some re-reviews since the firmware was updated. All of the reviews from tech sites were pre-update and care not to re-review.

[ssgk]

Curious, did you have to update the device yourself or did it come pre-updated? I know a lot of owners had to do it themselves and it seemed haphazard at best kind of early jail breaking an ios device. I ultimately love the razer edge however after just dropping a good amount of change on an Asus ROG laptop the wife would kill me to drop another $1700 (with peripherals that should have came standard mind you....) on a monster tablet. I'm still awaiting pandawill to deliver my S7300 and I'll do similar tests to those you did (unbiased) and compare notes. Question for you on the Archos, as I couldn't locate a confirmed answer on the S7300, how large of an SD card does it accept? 128GB sandisk would be the best however I have only heard that a 64GB could be used in the S7300 and am curious if the Archos can handle a 64GB or higher SD card for storing those much enjoyed roms.

[frazuk]

It wasn't pre-updated but updating was just a matter of going to settings>about tablet>check for updates. it found an update, asked me if i wanted to do it and did the rest itself.

As for the sd card the archos takes up to 64gb. not sure about 128gig

64gig is more than enough for a massive rom collection though unless youre planning on sticking a load of ps1 isos on there:)

When you get your s7300 id be interested to hear what the abalog sticks are like.

[ssgk]

Not a problem, I'm in the EU for now and hoping it arrives before I fly back to the states. Would really come in handy for that plane ride to be playing some good ole' PS1 roms. I did the math on my roms, it tallied at nearly 60-65GB's mostly from PS1 though. While the amount of time in flight surely won't be long enough to complete any RPG, it should entertain me enough to not watch those in flight movies. Hoping the stewards wake me up for food at least ha ha ha

[frazuk]

Can you recommend some good ps1 games?

I completely missed the ps1 (I was an n64 owner in those days) but I heard it had some great rpgs.

[ssgk]

Dude! Lol, where do I begin, lemme present it like this:

RPG:
Final Fantasy 7 (any RPG gamers MUST)
Final Fantasy Anthologies (FF V & FF VI, FF VI must of us know as FF III for SNES)
Final Fantasy Chronicles (FF IV & Chrono Trigger)
Chronic Cross
Xenogears
Breath of Fire series
Vagrant Story
Dragon Quest Series (same animator/art from DBZ, classic fighting style)
Lunar series
Tales of Destiny / Tales of Eternia
Wild Arms Series
...and oodles more ( these should keep you occupied for weeks on end)

Survival / 3rd person viewing adventure:
Metal Gear Solid Series
Resident Evil Series
Parasite Eve series
Dino Crisis
Silent Hill

Side Scroller:
Castlevania Symphony of the Night (a gamers MUST) which oodles of clones (minus story as each is either a standalone or intertwined stories) on the GBA/GB DS
Tomba
Abe's Oddssey
Mega Man series
Metal Slug series

Fighting Games
Tekken series
Street Fighter Series
Bushido Blade Series
Rival Schools (though the Dreamcast version is tons better)
Mortal Kombat Series

Shooters (aka-Shumps):
Donpachi Series
Einhander
Gradius Series
Raiden Series
R-Type Series
Raygun/Ray storm
Thunder Force V

Other notables:
silent bomber
Tony Hawks Pro Skater series
Ridge racer
Gran turismo series

This is by no means an all exclusive listing as they are tons other great games not listed and just a brief overview of games I always have an any system that emulates PSX

[frazuk]

Lol that's a big list.

Thanks a lot, this will keep me busy for a while:-)

[frazuk]

What's the name of the acme game?

My aunt had a pirated copy of it on her ps1 and it was labeled sheep dog and wolf but can't find a game by that name.

You were the Wiley cayote in it, stealthing around trying to steal sheep.

[ssgk]

Could only believe its called "Looney Tunes Sheep Raider," though I never played or heard the game I'm pretty good at video game research.

[frazuk]

That will be it, I googled it and saw its also known as sheep raider, but couldn't see it on emuparadise looking under S. Ill go and check under L now:)