How would you change GamePark's GP2X F-200 handheld?

Alright, so we know there aren't hordes of you out there currently possessing one of GamePark's GP2X F-200 handhelds, but we have absolutely no doubts that the owners that do exist are mighty vocal about their diminutive emulation powerhouse. When the unit was reviewed recently over at Ars Technica, critics found an awful lot to love, but it's not like the admittedly hefty, battery-eating, mildly unsightly unit was flawless or anything. Sure, we know the hardcore emulation geeks out there are likely turning their attention to the forthcoming Pandora, but that's not to say the F-200 can't handle a good talking-to from its loyal followers. Go on, put away that unconditional adoration for just a moment and tell the world how this thing actually could be improved upon -- we're sure there's something that grinds the gears.

[Flashpoint @ Apr 18th 2008 6:35PM]

I'd make it able to play CRYSIS.

No...seriously... I'd put roms of all the Game Gear, Gameboy, color Game Boy, Game Boy Advance greatest hits on a single high capacity HD card and make the GamePark able to play it.

[Nate @ Apr 18th 2008 7:02PM]

All but GBA can already be done, full speed, on the GP2X.

[DssTrainer @ Apr 19th 2008 8:36AM]

All but GBA? ermm.. i'm pretty sure I'm running a GBA emu on my gp... it gives some error about bad bios.. but still plays the games

[Flashpoint @ Apr 19th 2008 9:27AM]

#1 What fool puts a VOLUME button under the D-pad?

#2 with the buttons it does have, it SHOULD be able to mimic every system up until the SNES -= including the TurboGraphix 16.

#3 Lithium Ion battery would go a long way.

#4 making it more available than just Korean import shops.

[Superevil @ Apr 18th 2008 6:39PM]

How about an internal battery thats rechargeable ?

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 18th 2008 6:47PM]

Putting Vista on anything is more like 'shooting in the head' than 'giving'.

[Sime @ Apr 18th 2008 6:49PM]

why vista?

[Einar Rowan @ Apr 18th 2008 6:49PM]

How about some color and a SSD HD

[Mark @ Apr 18th 2008 6:49PM]

LESS UGLY.

[LC @ Apr 18th 2008 6:50PM]

You can keep thinking that. I'm perfectly content with Vista right now. I prefer it more then XP, OS X, or Linux. Though, that's just me, and every other knowledgeable Windows user out there.

[peshue @ Apr 18th 2008 6:56PM]

Do something about the battery bulge on the back.

[Nate @ Apr 18th 2008 7:00PM]

The only problem I had with was the half-assed D-Pad.

They need to put the real deal on that bad-boy. With a real D-pad that thing would be just about perfect.

[slantyyz @ Apr 18th 2008 7:34PM]

What I did was buy one of those PSP fighting pad kits and stick it to the D-Pad. They usually run for

[Loneguitarist @ Apr 18th 2008 7:06PM]

It's made by GamePark Holdings, not GamePark.

And I would change it by making it the Pandora xD

[Fusion @ Apr 18th 2008 7:08PM]

i would change it by trading it in for a PSP OR DS LITE

[Todd @ Apr 18th 2008 7:10PM]

The what? I think they need to improve their marketing.

[Steve @ Apr 18th 2008 7:32PM]

Could use a lot of fixes:

* less fugly case
* better construction
* a better D-Pad
* six button configuration
* a nicer GUI
* a cradle that actually works
* ability to play CPS3 roms

It's an otherwise nice console for retrogaming. It's quite easy to run out of space on an 8GB SDHC if you're a 'completist' when it comes to emulation. I would recommend a 16GB SDHC.

[Jordan @ Apr 18th 2008 7:51PM]

Some losers like LC and I actually like Vista. *gasp* I know, it's unheard of...

[Mr. B @ Apr 18th 2008 7:54PM]

The external case design needs serious work and it's accompanying build quality... also dual SD slots.

[Superevil @ Apr 18th 2008 7:55PM]

Care to share your reasoning with the rest of the class?

[Abuzar @ Apr 18th 2008 7:57PM]

Vista is pretty good, but I still stick with XP. The day can install my Zune theme on it is the day I will switch.

NOTE: I haven't really tried installing the Zune theme. Maybe it does work right now.

[RomeoDude @ Apr 18th 2008 8:11PM]

Although the device has tremendous potential, in my opinion, it's kinda hard to take a device seriously if it doesn't have a rechargeable lithium ion battery. AA batteries are soooooo '90s....

[JB87 @ Apr 18th 2008 11:17PM]

This thing can draw up to an amp off the batteries when emulating some systems, I'd prefer to use my swappable NiMHs instead of having to find somewhere to recharge it every half hour.

[paul @ Apr 18th 2008 8:11PM]

because he thinks it is garbage...

[LC @ Apr 18th 2008 8:17PM]

There isn't a way to install or use an XP theme in Vista. Though there are quite a few Vista themes out their. One of which looks like the royale theme.

Also: *Laughs at losers who gave me a low rank for having a different opinion*

[Loonie @ Apr 18th 2008 8:53PM]

Maybe they ranked you down for the condescending manner in which you chose to enounce aforementioned opinion.

[bugafactorX @ Apr 18th 2008 8:53PM]

SAMBA and networking was removed from the F-200, which makes the F-100 a better dev model.

[Jim @ Apr 18th 2008 9:05PM]

WAY to fat....and marketing is a major problem with gamepark, i agree

[Tuck @ Apr 18th 2008 9:27PM]

I would add an internal battery, wifi, and a second SD card.

[hrt @ Apr 18th 2008 9:35PM]

When I built my new machine,(q6600,8800gt,2gigs ram etc...) I installed Vista right away. It was fine, but it doesn't offer anything more to me than XP does. I didn't have any horrendous problems, and the only thing that really bothered me was the slow transfer speeds for copying files.(fixed in sp1 though I think.) I'd call my self a "knowledgeable windows user", and I came back to XP just because I knew I wasn't losing anything, and my system would perform better. Out of all the os's I've tried like Ubuntu, OSX, Vista, XP has always felt like home to me.

P.S. I wasn't playing any directx 10 games, so I guess I miss out there, but thats kinda trivial.

[94 taurus owner @ Apr 18th 2008 9:48PM]

not make it a flat DS knock off.

[94 taurus owner @ Apr 18th 2008 9:49PM]

did I say DS I meant PSP.

[Bobs @ Apr 18th 2008 10:16PM]

Thats funny, because the GP2X started development in 2001, 2 years before the PSP was even announced at E3 and unvailed almost a year later.

[Frank Furter @ Apr 18th 2008 9:50PM]

And it was such a clever comment he had to post that bad boy twice!

[Jim @ Apr 18th 2008 10:13PM]

Needs:

much much better battery life to be portable.
It needs 3D gpu. 2D is great for EMU and media, but little else.
SHDC iinstead of SD
Built in USB Host port

[JB87 @ Apr 18th 2008 11:18PM]

The F-200 already supports SDHC.

[DooM @ Apr 18th 2008 11:12PM]

I would make it available for purchase at more than three websites.

[JB87 @ Apr 18th 2008 11:25PM]

I would..
- Add a battery indicator and a button to replace the stick-click on the F100.
- Make the D-pad have a bit less travel distance (its shape is fine other than that)
- Change to an occluded power indicator (that blue light is blinding when you're playing in a darkened room)
- Change the firmware. It seems a bit lacking..
- Change the stylus to be a bit less scratch-prone, though I tend to use the one from my DS rather than the telescoping one anyway.
- Make it matte black and a bit sturdier.
- Slightly more appropriate volume control. On some programs, switching from 0% to 1% is like flipping an on/off switch, and 100% is absolutely deafening.

[zim831 @ Apr 20th 2008 10:59PM]

I agree with most of your suggestions, however I think the D-pad is terrible all around. And I have a few expansions on your ideas, maybe the new stylus could also have an internal storage place like on the DS, the volume control should be an analogue dial. And my own additions, to make it more compatible with the cradle that stupid rubber flap shouldn't cover the extension port, if you want to use the dock you have to cut the damn thing off yourself. It should have a built in usb port so I don't have to plug it into the dock to use a gamepad, and I agree with all the people saying it needs an internal Li-ion battery.

[t3_slider @ Apr 18th 2008 11:56PM]

OK, I'm not even going to bash Vista (that's been done to death), but any version of Windows on such a small device is a waste. I mean, Windows was designed for a desktop -- and it seems that every effort to bring it to portable devices (other than a laptop or full-size tablet PC) is more like a port than anything else. It just doesn't fit well. If you don't like Linux on the desktop, that's fine (I'm pretty geeky, so I like Slackware, but can see how the majority of people would hate it). However, the openness and ability to adapt it to any size makes it perfect for smaller devices (plus, the fact that you can make very lightweight distros allows it to run faster too). I'll get low-ranked for this I'm sure (Windows and Mac fanboys unite for once), but although both Windows and OS X are very nice OSs, they just don't work on such a small device.

(As someone who always wanted a computer in a watch [not anymore, but when I was a kid...I know, nerd alert], I thought I'd never say something like that. But it's just too small to run Windows.)

[The_Steven @ Apr 19th 2008 1:05AM]

Add:
Bluetooth
WiFi
USB
Color Choices

Change:
from QVGA to VGA (or VGA output)
Internal Rechargeable Battery

[The_Steven @ Apr 19th 2008 1:07AM]

I ment more than one USB port.

[kuromiko @ Apr 19th 2008 1:41AM]

int rant(){
/*
You seem to forget that all of the other things you listed (Top end graphics card, 4GB of RAM, 240GB(?) HDD, and an overclocked quad-core CPU) are only necessary because your OS (and NOT your applications) requires them to run well.

I was a "knowledgeable windows user" all the way up until my $1000 brand new built PC kept crashing every time I hovered my mouse over a video file. Reformat, Linux, and not looking back. And in switching, I'm a much more knowledgeable person regarding my hardware and software than I was before. For instance, I know you're actually going to lose some general multitasking performance with your quad core CPU, as all 4 cores will be constantly fighting over memory access. This alone is not too noticeable, and the features outweigh the benefits. You'd better hope you never run into your swap (pagefile in windows terms). All four cores will be fighting over the hard drive to load programs (or their data) into, from that same drive! This is where your 4GB (the limit on 32bit OSes) comes in and prevents the incoming disaster. What a parade. How many bottlenecks do you need? Who the hell honestly needs 4GB of RAM for a desktop machine? That top-end game you got just to show off what your PC can do? No, thats what it USED to be about. Now, apparently, it is getting your OS to run stably.

I can run on 256MB of RAM, comfortably. All of my applications run well, and fast. All of them are optimized for my system. Good luck ever opening ANY browser as fast as I can with 1/4th the RAM and 1/8th of the processing power.

You can like Vista, thats fine. Just don't pretend that there are no problems when theres a plethora of them.
*/
return 0;
}

On topic: WiFi is all I would add. Beyond that, get a Pandora.

[keithwwalker @ Apr 19th 2008 4:10AM]

The only thing this chunk of plastic needs is a little pizzaz, some hype with an interesting back story. Can we get the Swedish mafia and some stolen Ferraris over here?

[Tim @ Apr 19th 2008 5:04AM]

I'd make it have mega wifi awesomness

[Mike @ Apr 19th 2008 8:17AM]

it need wireless lan !

[DssTrainer @ Apr 19th 2008 8:36AM]

- D-pad needs to be a nintendo 8-bit style dpad.. the gap between the directions makes it nearly impossible to play Street Fighter and do combos like fireballs
- Add wi-fi and a browser (built-in)
- Slim it down a bit
- USB hosting and if no built-in wifi, support for USB Wi-fi dongles (but without that big ass addon box)
- BT with A2DP for wireless headsets
- Make the volume setting apply to the startup music. hard to sneak away and play in the bathroom when i turn it on and it goes "BING DING BING BONG" so loudly. :P

[Ratteler @ Apr 19th 2008 10:45AM]

You'd put Vista on every electronic device?
You must want to launch your own spy satellite, and send it to orbit by digging a whole through earth and letting it drop through.

Ubuntu, OS X, even XP... but never VISTA.

[Ratteler @ Apr 19th 2008 10:47AM]

I want a keyboard so I can rock the C=64 and C=128 GEOS experience.

[jeremy @ Apr 19th 2008 11:35AM]

i don't mind vista... there are just a few things that annoy me

1) splitting the display properties tabs to separate windows. why would you alter a perfectly good structure like that? it was pointless and adds wasted time to something that should take no time at all

2) by default, start menu shortcuts don't work(ie: press windows key, then press "i" to open web browser)i know that setting can be changed in a matter of seconds, but i shouldn't have to.

3) and of course you can't forget the removal of the IPX protocols. i guess we can no longer play WarCraft II over the network anymore.


other then those things.. i am happy with it(and i can live with the second one)