A first look at the GP2X

The GP2X is a new Linux based handheld entertainment device from Gamepark Holdings. It has lots of potential, with a dual core ARM CPU and a beautiful 3.5" LCD display, but unfortunately the first release is full of bugs & glitches.

I got mine two days ago and in less than a day I 'bricked' it by applying the new firmware update.

The Gp2x is slightly smaller than a PSP but that's where the similarity ends. Unlike the PSP, which runs proprietary software, the GP2X encourages homebrew software by providing a SDK for porting Linux-based games. Many emulators have already been ported, including SNES, NeoGeo, and Atari 800.

The GP2X is powered by two standard AA batteries, but unfortunately it uses them up very quickly. The alkaline batteries it shipped with were dead in less than an hour, although a set of 2500maH NiMH batteries lasted several hours.

It uses SD cards up to 1G for storage and can connect to the computer via a USB cable and appear as a disk on the desktop. Unfortunately I found that it doesn't seem to support USB 2.0. It would only work on my older G4 minitower which has USB 1.1 ports or using a USB 1.1 hub on my PowerBook.

Built-in software includes a movie player, music player and eBook viewer. Movie playback is very smooth and the picture quality is excellent. However, it only seems to support DivX encoded AVIs. The music player is also excellent and features several equalizer settings. The built-in speakers sound pretty decent.

Bottom line: wait for the bugs to be fixed, unless you want to get started early with software development.

Here are a few more pictures: