Analogue Pocket's Next Big Beta Update Will Roll Out In July

I thought the whole point of this thing was to be a new Game Boy with a much nicer screen that can play the original cartridges.

I'll just leave this here.

@KirbysAdventure What is your own opinion?

Where's the Jailbreak update?

@KirbysAdventure Yeah I saw that, and basically everything he's been saying is what has been making me rethink getting the one I am on a waiting list for.

Like now a days emulators and handhelds for them have gotten good enough where something like a simple and relatively cheap Anbernic device can have all the retro games I would like with a great screen and solid hardware to boot. The whole appeal of the original hardware is pretty much in the feel of the original hardware. While this seems neat, I really don't see myself using it much beyond the novelty of playing some of my old cartridges on a modern screen, and even then I would apparently seed some relatively pricey adapter to play something like my NGPC games for example.

When it comes to original Game Boy, I got a GB Light. When it comes to GBC/GBA I got a late model GBA SP. I really have to ask myself what the need for this is, and if I can really see myself using it much. It honestly seems like more expense and hassle than it's worth.

@JayJ have you considered/do you have a cfw 3DS?

@JayJ It's worth keeping in mind that the Analogue caters to an audience that is very different from that of the Anbernic or Retroid Pocket because the former (at least as of this article) accepts only physical carts, whether they're authentic, repro or flash carts, whereas the Anbernic can't use carts.

Your second thoughts about staying on the waitlist are with merit, and I speak as someone who got a Pocket as part of the Q1 2022 group. I got the Pocket after judging that a community-modded GBA would cost more or less the same, and I figured I'd dip my toes in the FPGA scene through the Pocket. As the current firmware stands, I'm not disappointed, and I find the display to be much better to look at than the displays on the Nintendo original hardware I have. I appreciate the thickness after having hand cramps with my GBA SP. I like having a dedicated headphone jack and a non-proprietary charging port. I think it's a great modernization of the Game Boy lineup.

However, I don't think I'll get another product from Analogue again in the future because I do not like how they deal with PR. If anyone in my circle of friends were to ask me about the Pocket, the best I'd say is "recommend with reservations" if they have carts...or "not recommend" if they don't have carts.

Also, I don't think any handheld is great for NGPC other than the NGPC. The clicky wheel is its most unique feature.

I love my Super NT and Mega SG, but I'm so glad I didn't get in queue for the Pocket. They bit off way more than they could chew with this OS and still haven't delivered DAC compatibility or even mentioned it here which was advertised at the start, or made any mention of all those other adapters. Not to mention the hardware itself is not great. Based on spending some hours with my friend's unit, they did a terrible job with the buttons putting a 8bitdo dpad on it notorious for bad diagonals, the shoulder buttons are weak and placed poorly due to the portrait design, and it's way too easy to knock a cartridge loose. That's saying nothing of all the issues people have had with wiped saves coming out of sleep. The Pocket is a really nice screen and that's about it. An IPS/lithium OG GBA is still the better option. They botched this one bad and continue to do so with this joke of an update, hopefully the Duo lands better.

@KirbysAdventure - I remember that video. It highlights every possible flaw of the Pocket, exaggerating quite a few of them, and focuses entirely on perceived flaws, with very cherry picked comparisons. Some of the points there are important to know, but it's an extremely biased review of the console. Seriously, it's kind of funny hearing him try and tally up every little nitpick they could find about the console in quick succession.

It's a video that very clearly exists as a reflexive response against the massive praise the console has been getting; the guy makes that clear in the comments. As such, it serves one purpose well; to validate the opinions of those who have already decided they don't want one.

Don't get me wrong, the Pocket is not for everyone. It's for playing GB/GBC/GBA/GG games with a premium handheld device. If you're not interested in that, it's not worth buying the console as it is now. With that said, as someone that owns several modded Game Boys, it is by far my favourite way to play games from any of those consoles. For anyone reading that is interested, look at almost any other video on the Pocket and you'll find some nuance.

I love my Analogue Pocket, and I’ve been wondering where the heck this update is for awhile now, haha.

@PokemonDMG It’s not quite a jailbreak, but sideloading GB games is really simple.

I get being disappointed. They really did promise alot of features that haven't landed yet. The hardware is awesome though as a little bit more than a GBA right now and could be very nice if the 1.1 roll-out gives the promised features.

My hopes for this roll-out:

1. Jailbreak. This device has so much potential, so it'll be sad if they decide to cut-out this feature. Some people are speculating it'll be released with 1.1 as there was so many things being added that it was the focus. So I guess we'll know pretty soon if there will be a jailbreak.

2. Hopefully it's really open. I've been confused with a couple of things. At one point they said the bigger FPGA was going to be off-limits to developers. That would really limit what could come to it. I think they have clarified this is not true but would love to see the final product. The second limiting thing could be that they are requiring developers to register and work with analogue on releases. This could be pretty limiting too if analogue doesn't approve cores that they have products for.

3. Full Everdrive GB support. It's my understanding that the reason some carts don't work with the pocket is there is some sort of electrical spike that the analogue produces that is not in a real GBA. Seems to me this should be fixable but I guess we'll know soon enough.

4. All the promised features. Would love to get multiple save states, multiple cores that were promised (neo-geo pocket, turbo 16, lynx). At least right now I'm not sure I get the library feature. If there is a jailbreak, essentially all the games can be listed anyways. And if there is no jailbreak and you need the cartridge anyway, what's the point?

I am happy with this announcement. It shows they are struggling somewhat, but are committed to deliver the 1.1 update.

I hope they can keep their promise to update the OS more regularly after 1.1 has released and improve their communication towards their customers / the FPGA community.

@cleveland124 Not necessarily. I see that this firmware due in July is being labeled as a beta.

If the optimism that some hold that the wait on the jailbreak has been because the firmware fairy has been waiting for this update to appear first, we still might have to wait until Analogue upgrades it to full release status.

I'm of the sad opinion that jailbreak is a thing of the past, but would love to have my pessimism proven wrong.

Love it and cant wait for the duo version