1 November 2007 6 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I just unwrapped my Gamepark GP2X F-200 “personal entertainment player”. My first impression is: cool; but a little funky.

The size of the GP2X F-200 is just right. It fits perfectly in my hand so I can use the D-pad, AB/XY buttons and the front Left and Right buttons. The screen is clear and bright and it runs on 2 AAs. For playing games, it will be just right.

The GP2X F-200 SD slot is perfect. The SD card recesses nicely with just enough room to press it to eject, while keeping it protected from random ejections.

The other GP2X F-200 ports for headphones, USB/power, and EXT have ridiculous cover that just don’t fit well at all. The EXT cover is OK, except the little tab that holds it onto the GP2X F-200 doesn’t retract enough and kind of pushes the cover out a little, keeping it from closing flush against the device. The headphone cover fits into the headphone jack, but is cut or shaped so that it doesn’t completely seal against the device. The USB cover is the worst. It just does not fit into the USB outlet, so the little plastic cover doesn’t really close at all.

One of the most interesting features of the GP2X F-200 over the previous version is the stylus feature. I have a Palm phone and have had other Palm devices and I really believe the stylus and touch screens in general just are not being used to their full potential. The GP2X f-200 stylus is weird, though. It’s a little telescoping thing with a leash. When you unscrew it form the leash, you have a pen-like nib. The Gp2X F-200 stylus does not hide away anywhere in the device like the stylus on your palm or phone might. If you want to use the stylus, you apparently need to leash it to your GP2X like some kind of charm bracelet or something.

The user interface is pretty simple. Gamepark didn’t revolutionize the handheld with the GP2X F-200 or anything. The interface works with the buttons, or with the stylus. It’s clear that the buttons are preferred. The touch screen is a little spongey in the middle of the screen. It’s like membrane over the touch surface is a little loose. But the interface works fine. There are some tiny, tiny, tiny and I mean tiny controls in the control panel.

The pac-man clone on the Gp2X F-200 is pretty cool. The other games … meh. I look forward to playing Cave Story, though. The really sucky thing about the games is the wacky non-standard way to exit the games. One exits with the L+R buttons pressed. The other exits with start and select pressed (which is actually select and home, on the GP2X F-200). But, this is what you generally get from free software anyway. You get what you pay for.

Oh, and the other really annoying thing is the autorun on the CD. It launches Internet Explorer, which thankfully disables whatever script it’s trying to run. What the hell?

Anyway, all in all, the device holds lots of promise for me as a developer type. I like it’s open nature and the touch screen capability. We’ll see how it holds up.

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