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To buy or not too buy?

monkeyx

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2012/12/30 - 22:11

I have been really looking forward to purchasing this tablet. But the reviews don't seem to be blowing me away. I was really wanting this to play emulated games, which it seems to do. But not as well as the nexus 7. The battery life also seem to be questionable with one reviewer quoting just one hour when running emulated games.

So I am beginning to wonder if a Nexus 7 and an external controller might be better. Any views on this from people that may already own both devices.

belstfranz

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2013/01/03 - 03:33

The one hour of battery time sounds strange. There are a lot of false "reports" about the Gamepad out there (most likely competitors etc.). A regular tablet plus an additional controller is certainly not as convenient (it just does not feel right).

The Gamepad maybe not so much suited for the regular (incapable) Android user, because you need to tweak and fiddle a bit here and there to further improve this neat device (if you do not like that, then better stick to "what everybody else is doing"). Cry Emulators need to be configured properly, otherwise

you will not get the full performance possible. But do not worry, it REALLY is not that hard to do the tweakings. Once their done, you are pretty much good to go.

I like the Gamepad, since it can do everything I wanted it to. NONE of the Chinese devices

so far can do what this thing does. The buttons are not as bad as some claim. Unfortunately,

the kids of today do not have time for getting used to something.

It is cheaper, has stylish looks (matter of taste), has the Archos Mapping Tool and can do the following (from my experience):

PROPER Emulation of e.g.:

SNES

GBA

NeoGeo

ScummVM (I have to see an Android game that is remotely close to those gems...e.g. "The Curse Of Monkey Island")

Playstation 1

CPS2

N64

MSX

NES

MEGADRIVE

C64

AMIGA

Plays regular Android games well:

Skateboard Party

Trial Extreme (the whole series)

Need for Speed

Another World (Remake)

Pinball Arcade (!)

Of course it is also capable of Full HD video and plays music etc.

Another point is that users/programmers/enthusiasts seem to like it very much,

have a look at his forum and notice how fast people have come up with improvements

(firmware, optimisations etc.).

monkeyx

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2013/01/03 - 10:28

Thanks for your reply. It does seem as though the new firmware does improve some of the minor issues that people have found. Do you know if the firmware will be also updated for future releases of Android as a Nexus 7 would be?

I have been unable to find any information on what the specs of the battery are. I did see one genuine review that stated about 3 to 4 hours whilst playing games/watching video content.

If I could order a gamepad now I would that is the other issue Does anyone know when they will ship again? Website just says second part of January. At least I can order a nexus 7 now.

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2013/01/03 - 10:42

Archos flagship products (which the GamePad seems to be) usually get Android updates and fixes for some time. For instance the Gen9 devices shipped initially with Android 3.2 Honeycomb got upgrades to Android 4.0 ICS and a Jelly Bean update is expected anytime soon. Some older products like the Gen8 never had updates past Android 2.2, probably due to hardware limitations.

As for the battery, exelletor did review the GamePad battery life, getting 4 hours and half with videos and about 2 hours with heavy gaming.

As for product availability I don't see it currently on any retail store, and Archos own store still says mid January 2013.

Cheers.

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MrAndreV

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2013/01/03 - 14:14

I must be one of the unlucky ones that only get 1 1/2 hrs out of the battery when gaming and 2 1/2 hrs during normal tablet use.

belstfranz

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2013/01/03 - 20:37

MrAndreV said
I must be one of the unlucky ones that only get 1 1/2 hrs out of the battery when gaming and 2 1/2 hrs during normal tablet use.

Please have look at the "Gamepad performance Tweaks" thread and try it out! Also, activated/deactivated Wi-Fi makes a big difference. Do you play Android games or Emulators when you are getting 1,5 hours?

Also, as I posted in my "Spypad?" thread e.g. the built-in mic seems to be ALWAYS on, which also consumes energy.

MrAndreV

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2013/01/04 - 10:42

I played out with the Gamepad for about 1hr 15mins last night playing on a Snes emulator and an android game Striker Soccer, plus some internet browsing and spending some time disabling apps listed in the tweak thread. The battery level dropped by 30% in that time, so not so bad. When I get really poor battery life it's from using the N64oid emulator and playing the android games Most Wanted and Dead Trigger, not played much else yet to comment.

Darkster

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2013/01/04 - 10:47

100% Buy

nice Tablet, Akku wokrs for many hours, also with Gameloft games, after the first Updat the akku works mutch better/longer.

You can try juice defender for a longer akku standbay.

belstfranz

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2013/01/04 - 13:13

MrAndreV said
I played out with the Gamepad for about 1hr 15mins last night playing on a Snes emulator and an android game Striker Soccer, plus some internet browsing and spending some time disabling apps listed in the tweak thread. The battery level dropped by 30% in that time, so not so bad. When I get really poor battery life it's from using the N64oid emulator and playing the android games Most Wanted and Dead Trigger, not played much else yet to comment.

See, now the former "unlucky" one became lucky again Wink

MrAndreV

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2013/01/04 - 14:34

belstfranz said

See, now the former "unlucky" one became lucky again

Haha well hopefully with further updates we can get even more life out of the battery.

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2013/01/04 - 14:38

I'd like to do more battery life tests on the ARCHOS GamePad. Do you have a suggestion of game that could run by itself (without user input) and just eat the battery. Preferably one with multi-player support (so it uses the WIFI connection) and another that would be run in Airplane mode (WIFI disabled).

Cheers.