GKD Pixel

[mighty swan]

anticipate at least two minutes of me going ham over it

[fringe thorn]

MAN

[flint shard]

nice finally a real purchase link

though the 998 stock doesn't inspire me much confidence

[ebon relic]

At a real jacked up price

[blazing hare]

There are coupons

Can get it for 80ish

[ebon relic]

Or wait a couple weeks & get it for 70 on ali as per LaoZhang

These resellers are just scalpers with a storefront

[blazing hare]

Ali has tax for me, this will end up being similar

[ebon relic]

🤷‍♂️ coupons are temporary, they also have an error in the listing, there aren't separate dark grey & black units

[flint shard]

yeah I am def waiting for ali

I cannot afford throwing 90 bucks for this device xD

[ebon relic]

That's fair, it's not worth it at $90

[flint shard]

but happy to see a real listing for this device at least

well "real"

90 bucks is not worth tbh

[lean jackal]

theres a code that bumps it down to around 76 usd, so not bad deal I would say

[fringe thorn]

I mean if you can get puple for like 90$, deal lol

[worn python]

I’m interested in it because it looks ruggedized. But I’d like to know from @mighty swan if they hardened the screen with a glass like a phone.

[smoky sierra]

I have a Pixel, it is a glass screen.

[worn python]

Looks like the Joker designed a handheld.
Don’t push the wrong button, poison gas will be released

[worn python]

Is it a rugged glass, or does it seem fragile?

[mighty swan]

https://rh-go.link/GKD_Pixel is our affiliate link

dunno how much stock GoGameGeek has, but probably more than 998

[blazing hare]

it's evangelion themed

Looks pretty good

[ebon relic]

"RARE EDITION" + the green bezels push it firmly into tacky territory for me

[inner burrow]

My head completely agrees.

But my heart says -

https://tenor.com/view/neon-genesis-evangelion-power-anime-pose-gif-17152141

[fringe thorn]

it genuinely sucks they made it like that

could have had some sick eva-themed icon

nah
RARE
edition

[inner burrow]

The eva colour scheme is literally the only reason I am keeping tabs on this thing.

[smoky sierra]

It doesn't seem flimsy, but I'd prefer not to test it out. It's not a big screen, so it shouldn't break as easy as devices with larger screens.

[knotty thunder]

Is gogamegeek reputable?

[ebon relic]

Someone else I know with a pixel sent me this, which prompted me to buy a couple screen protectors

[knotty thunder]

Is it a plastic screen?

[ebon relic]

No

[knotty thunder]

rough

[ebon relic]

Doesn't look like it'd take a hit well tho, he said he's just barely touching it

[smoky sierra]

Doesn't seem like mine is that sensitive.

[ebon relic]

Weird

[fading hemlock]

https://tenor.com/view/a-christmas-story-fragile-italian-gif-3578174

[fringe thorn]

man

[ebon relic]

Hadn't noticed that, if it's from pressure from the case idk if anything can be done since it screws in from the sides not the back

Another shot from my friend, maybe some of the internal screws could be loosened a quarter turn or something (though there's none around the screen afaict)

[obtuse vessel]

There is a plastic layer between screen and metal frame

Otherwise the frame will damage screen

[ebon relic]

The lens is plastic? Said glass on the listing, glad I got screen protectors then

[fringe thorn]

hoping reviews mention the bleed cause when I mentioned it, was told it's cause it's an eng sample

[ebon relic]

Yah, it'll be good to see some proper (read: non-dodo) reviews. I'm expecting software to be a sore spot initially but that's whatever. Should start seeing more end-user units in the next couple weeks as well (mine included).

At least the bleed doesn't look nearly as bad as most rgb30 units, I didn't even notice it until it was pointed out. Might also be harder to notice in person, it's probably a lot more obvious blown up on a larger screen, plus cameras exacerbate it.

[fringe thorn]

the thing is that minUI will be the main CFW

minUI...the cfw with a black background, bleed will be immediately visible

[ebon relic]

Hmm fair point

[fringe thorn]

I do be fairly sensitive to bleed, not an issue on my desktop monitors, laptop or odin 2 but it does bug me on the RGB30

considering we can't just go to bestbuy and see the device for ourselves, most people will just note "panel has bleed"

also I think it's worth noting that aliexpress considers bleed to be a factory defect

[ebon relic]

True, I'm not too sensitive to it unless it's particularly egregious, doesn't really bother me unless I can see it in content, but I don't forsee it being too much of an issue outside of minui menus on this tbh & there's always borders for pillarboxed content. I think it'll be small enough not to be that bothersome tho.

[fringe thorn]

minUI doesn't do borders

[ebon relic]

Ahh, RIP, never used it before

[fringe thorn]

this why I'm like "this needs to be addressed"

because the main CFW will make the bleed stick out, aliexpress will side with buyers if they open a case for defect, etc

[ebon relic]

Yah for sure, glad ali has that policy

[fringe thorn]

Very glad too

[shell orbit]

The bleed is there in any fw, and you play the games, not the fw. I know it is very subjective, but I also think that it is not that big of a deal that minUI has a black background and it will be visible in the menu...

Considering all the information that was written here past couple of days, this handheld seems to be full of compromises anyways. Still, it looks nice, sturdy and pocketfriendly, and is what I wish I had so many years back... (even not so many actually) 😄

[frigid moat]

I personally think getting an OG Miyoo Mini, and a playing cards plastic case (costs under $5) is very pocketable and makes this obsolete. Not only the Miyoo is better but it's cheaper

[velvet field]

I mean, if it had launched back in the days of RG280V, it would have slaughtered everyone (simply because it looks way cooler)

[pure valley]

I think the shoulder buttons (even with mods) are so terrible on the og mini that’s they might as well not be there for any faster-paced games

And the pixel/nano have a pretty good niche in being small enough to fit in the coin pocket on a pair of jeans

[velvet field]

They're not that usable even on the MM+ IMO

[pure valley]

I find them much more usable because of the ability to press them “down” rather than “in” due to the increased range of motion the switches have. But I also swapped to L2/R2 for gameplay and L1/R1 for shortcuts, as it’s much more comfortable for my hands position

None of the vertical handhelds are as good as the horizontal ones overall though, as far as shoulder buttons go

[neat valley]

Mine just cleared export customs

[shell orbit]

Damn, I can wait, but I am also a little jealous 😂

[lean jackal]

Does anyone know if this has a sleep function?

[nimble viper]

https://youtu.be/nXDPYASqZIs

[ebon relic]

Meh vid, only notable things about the pixel were that he mentions the light bleed (says it's like reverse vignetting) & that there's no quick resume (but we knew that from the gkd mini).

Also incorrectly states the price as $90 (that's the reseller markup price) & says there isn't & won't be any cfw when there's already an alpha build of minui out.

Really wish youtubers collectively would do more fact checking because for whatever reason as soon as something is put in video format people take it as gospel.

[fading hemlock]

Some youtubers rush these vids out to be first. Others take their time. Which overall are better vids and more insightful

[ebon relic]

I also don't know how you make a video on all those & don't mention one-handed play even once.

[ebon relic]

Some of them take their time & still get things wrong 🤷‍♂️

[fading hemlock]

Half that review was talking about the miyoo mini

😅

[ebon relic]

loool yup

[fringe thorn]

no

discord did not scroll

[fringe thorn]

tbf you wouldn't know unless you're here that minUI is out for it

not on github so far

commits for it only started popping up 3 days ago

[shell orbit]

In the first 30s he says 2" screen.. I really hope that it is 2.4" and not 2"... Also, are there gray and black versions or is the black in reality grey? Because there were pictures showing black as black, but this has far to black..

[fringe thorn]

it's 2.4" @shell orbit

black is gray in reality because it's metallic

the renders do a poor job at showing that

[shell orbit]

Ok cool. I think either my monitor is totally off or the video has somewhat saturated colors, because look at this timestamp at the blue Nano, I have not seen Nano this blue before... https://youtu.be/nXDPYASqZIs?t=112

[fringe thorn]

he 100% has a custom shell

since the buttons look fine

[ebon relic]

There's only grey that they're calling black sometimes

[shell orbit]

maybe, but even the Funkey S is far from my atomic purple. Unless it is also a custom shell 😄

[fringe thorn]

it's so damn blue lmao

definitely some post processing, funkey S is considerably darker and that's probably why

[shell orbit]

I guess render diff for the black one..

[near saffron]

Russ the goat

[fringe thorn]

cannot wait for russ to absolutely demolish the device /s

[near saffron]

I just like how thorough he is

I can also appreciate the videos that hit the bullet points and the pros and cons pretty quick but I really like the in-depth stuff

[ebon relic]

Russ has been wrong plenty of times too, though it's usually minor stuff

[near saffron]

Hey it happens

[fringe thorn]

happens to the best of us ™️

some more than others

I'd be extremely surprised if he misses minUI on this

[ebon relic]

For sure, still leads to the same problem whoever it is tho, people assume there's some kind of authority when it's on video & go around parroting false info

[near saffron]

Considering how much he sings its praises I don't think he'd skip it

MinUI is pretty quickly becoming my favorite frontend tbh

Could not be more straightforward

[fringe thorn]

it's great yeah

[ebon relic]

It's a perfect fit for these small devices

[fringe thorn]

that quick resume was great on my 35xx

[near saffron]

Since there's so little to MinUI the boots are super-quick too

[ebon relic]

Still wish he'd release the rg nano build

[near saffron]

The nano is pretty obtuse to navigate if you don't already know what you're looking for

Unless you're in RetroFE then it's easy, but you gotta get there first

Love my nano tho <333

[ebon relic]

I cannot stress enough how much I do not care about using one sd card in multiple devices, afaik it was basically done but he couldn't get that to work with it & shelved it (I totally get not wanting to maintain 2 versions, but at least a one-off no-warranty release would be great, it's not like any major updates are going to come along in the future for the platforms it already handles). Drum's cfw is fine & all but minui would be a much more polished experience I feel like

[near saffron]

I don't have nails so swapping SD cards is already annoying as is lol

I haven't done drum yet I just have the latest stock fw, been pretty serviceable

[ebon relic]

fr, and I have so many devices I'd be forgetting which it'd be in all the time

[ebon relic]

For real? The stock fw is trash

[near saffron]

I'm also a pretty surface-level user I don't tinker much so take what I say with a pinch of salt

[ebon relic]

Fair enough but it's pretty straightforward

[near saffron]

When I learned you can do FF if you boot up a picoarch core from gmenu2x then I was set on stock

[ebon relic]

60hz without tearing is worth the 5-10 minutes it takes alone

[near saffron]

Is there a way to choose what core RetroFE uses per emulator

Like setting the gb/a/c emus to the one that allows FF

[ebon relic]

You can launch into picoarch from retrofe, I think there might be a way to change the default emulator but icr it

[near saffron]

I can't play pokemon at 1x anymore I've been spoiled lol

[fringe thorn]

nobody can

[ebon relic]

I put 40hrs into perfect crystal on my nano without ff 😉

[fringe thorn]

I constantly have FF on with crystal clear

and ubound

[near saffron]

Have y'all played Crystal Legacy?

[ebon relic]

I did have a patch for hold b to run & rtc adjust tho

[near saffron]

Does the gbc emulator not use the nano's rtc?

[ebon relic]

It does but the way the rtc works isn't conducive to savestates

[near saffron]

Yeah that makes sense

[ebon relic]

It basically only checks the time once, at the title screen, yah

[shell orbit]

I get it but I think it has a pretty good use case. Take somthing small if you need it in your pocket, say Trimui Smart (or Pixel hopefully), but sometimes you also have a bag, can afford to have something bigger like RGB30. Sometimes you just want to play for a bit something that you have on your shelf, like MM+. With MinUI you just swap the card like cartridge, no need to mess with saves transfer/conversion (if possible), save states all there, it even resumes on startup. Easy as that..

[ebon relic]

I get that too, but I don't think it not supporting that feature merits shelving it, it's just such a perfect fit, same with the pixel

[shell orbit]

On Nano I feel like the Funkey OS is pretty bare, but also simple, and has resume, so I don't really mind using it tbh..

[shell orbit]

Ah, ok I get now what you meant..

[ebon relic]

(& I don't want that to come off as ungrateful to shaun or anything, quite the contrary, I just want to use minui where I think it fits best because it's excellent software)

[shell orbit]

It's amazing how many devices he added to the "continuity" project last/this year. Those manufacturers should pay him big bugs for what he did for them and the community. Actually, I wouldn't mind sending a donate myself, as I am a big customer of his 😄 @willow granite you set on any platform or paypal for a little appreciation? 😬

[willow granite]

No thank you 🙏 So much of MinUI is shoulders of giants I woudln't feel right. Plus money muddies things. (And don't worry about Russ missing MinUI, he reached out 😄 )

[ebon relic]

Wolff?

[willow granite]

No, Jade said "I'd be extremely surprised if he (Russ) misses minUI on this"

[ebon relic]

Oh gotcha

[willow granite]

(And I hear you about the nano, it's not really done and shelved. More like barely started and shelved 😅 Maybe someday.)

[ebon relic]

Oic, cheers =] honestly minui is going to be a system mover for the pixel, iux is.. kinda jank to put it lightly

[willow granite]

The version on my nano was built using Drum's firmware before 60fps was added.

[ebon relic]

Ahhh damn yah that is an old build, thanks for clarifying

[willow granite]

I only use it for Dr. Mario, it probably still has tearing 😅 It was good jumping off point for the 1:1 RGB30 though .

[ebon relic]

😆 I feel it, mine's been relegated to a handful of gbc games, still love it tho. Made a good xmas gift too

[pulsar coral]

Just a heads up for anyone that ordered through keepretro that if you try and cancel, this is what they try and pull.

[nimble viper]

"that's okay don't cancel all preorders, just mine will do"

try that and report back

[pulsar coral]

Lol I'm letting PayPal handle it

[glass warren]

PayPal’s refund policy doesn’t require sellers to issue refunds for change of mind afaik.

[ebon relic]

sketch af

[pulsar coral]

Well they did!

PayPal responded in my favor, refund done.

[glass warren]

Great!

Also good to know for future drunk shopping misadventures that I may have.

[ocean ember]

Any clue what performance is going to be like on this?

[ebon relic]

Enough for fullspeed psx (minus the handful of trouble games) & 4x+ fast forward on gb/c/a

On minui at least

[ocean ember]

So that would definitely cover Pokemon Unbound right?

[mint lodge]

might be canada specific but I believe you're entitled by consumer protection law here to cancel any pre-order as long as your order hasn't shipped

[ebon relic]

Yes

[mint lodge]

you'd think keepretro would be refunding preorders rather than get a paypal chargeback - too many of those and they get kicked off paypal

[fringe thorn]

Fairly sure that's actually illegal in Europe

[warm latch]

is a lie anyway because manufacturers require at least around 1000-5000 units of anything before they produce

[copper patrol]

More like 'we ordered it wholesale/off taobao already'

[shell orbit]

Like they couldn't sell that one extra device from canclelled order. Unless the order was for like a thousand pieces which I doubt.. 🙂

[frigid moat]

I agree with him about comfort to size ratio Miyoo Mini perfected it. Will never let go of my OG Miyoo Mini V2

[cobalt knot]

Miyoo Mini size with Wifi Bluetooth & slightly better cpu, will be best

Maybe 28xx might surprise, no guarantee

[mint lodge]

Extremely common dropshipper L

[twilit moat]

Plus HDMI out . No need to change the design

[twilit moat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXDPYASqZIs Bob Wulffden got his hand on it. The performance is so so. It doesn't even run Star Fox very well.

[fading hemlock]

…likely same performance issues on other superfx games too

I guess the question is will CFW help performance on this guy over the stock OS? If not, im out.

[copper patrol]

I don't know why people show devices running Pokemon, those games aren't difficult to run vs superFX, gba 3d games or even Zero Mission

tho lets be real 90% of the funkey(clone) usecase is pokemon randomizers of the gb/c games

contra test vs walljump test, because one false diagonal is way more annoying than the other

[copper patrol]

miyoo mini with usable shoulders 🙂

[ebon relic]

Fairly certain whatever opks they're using in iux (stock firmware) are absolutely ancient. The real test will be how they perform in minui with up to date emulators once it's further along.

Also, if any mods see this, can this get moved to a proper channel? It's well past rumor mill at this point..

There's a bunch of things that really should be pinned too, but there's no way to pin as it is..

[near saffron]

Trying to wall jump the ice beam ladders like a cool guy just to graze down on the d-pad seconds before the top

[copper patrol]

So painful on those single jumps sniff

Dread freed Metroid from the scourge of the false diagonal

[copper patrol]

Is iux updateable to odbeta?

[ebon relic]

odbeta?

[green oracle]

https://youtu.be/37nLIhZYQXk?si=3yZhFasHq4bKTD8G

[fringe thorn]

I assume open dingux beta

[ebon relic]

I see, no idea then, haven't used/been following dingux since the a320 days

[willow granite]

I’m assuming odbeta is a no show. This has the same chip as the gdk350h which never got odbeta because of lack of drivers

[copper patrol]

Ahh

[ebon relic]

Btw, just wanted to say that minui looks fantastic on it in Russ' video, can't wait to try it out myself 👍 Do you suspect the performance issues he was seeing with tougher SNES games are a software matter or hardware limitation at this point?

[willow granite]

The performance is probably the result of overhead from minarch (MinUI's libretro frontend) and its multi-device support. The rendering path is pretty contorted to handle the mess of different implementations across devices (some require software upscaling before hardware downscaling, some can upscale on hardware directly, some required physical memory access, some are threaded, some have to work around a lack of vsync, some have vsync forced on at all times, all usually requiring a different sequence of events to work, it makes my head spin 😅).

I did just come up with a way to launch roms with the stock standalone emulators for those harder to run games. (Of course you lose all the MinUI niceties like standard in-game menu, quicksave and auto resume, even manual resume from the launcher.)

[ebon relic]

Ahh I see, you've woven quite a complex tapestry there 😁 oh cool, at least that's something 👍

[copper patrol]

Can't wait to play Metroid 2 on this to justify my purchase

[near saffron]

there's a chance I sell my rg nano to get this but I'm gonna wait til people get it in their hands and toss in their two cents

[copper patrol]

I have all the funkey clones, they/re just so cute. Q36 kept turning on in my pocket which was a shame

[near saffron]

the pixel being the goldilocks between rg nano and miyoo mini also having MinUI is kind of my dream device lol

no loops for a wrist strap which is less than ideal but it's just big enough for a popsocket

[ebon relic]

The pixel has a lanyard hole on the back

[near saffron]

oh i see it

[green oracle]

I feel like I’m invested in these smaller devices

Kinda want a funkey and a trimui smart eventually but we’ll see

[copper patrol]

A trimui smart is a genuinely good device and the most usable micro, even better than the Miyoo Mini

In fact I find performance on that better tbh

[near saffron]

big vouch for the smart

it's my favorite micro

[rough lance]

I wish smart had a bit bigger screen though

[near saffron]

could use a little less bezels for sure

that aside I still love it

[copper patrol]

Smart would be perfect at 320*480 or with a full 480p screen

320*240 just isn't great for the handheld systems that look good on a micro

[shell orbit]

It's not. On the other hand for a small display I think it still looks decent.

[celest harbor]

I love my smart, but the pixel (and miyoo on that note) seems better for one handed rpg play which is a huge chunk of the reason to have something this small

play one handed at work under the table? Pixel or mini. General throw into your pocket miniature handheld you'll be playing with two hands? Smart for sure

just buy em all and run em off the same microsd card depending on where you're going, minui is cross-compatible

[copper patrol]

even if it doesn't work, copy your user data between minui installs and resume your save state on the other handheld 🙂

Then get to the disappointing realization you bomb jumped your way through your Metroid hack and missed 3/4 of the map and there's a really dumb escape design (what's with Metroid hacks and dumb escapes?)