Here i am, fellow Retroers, with another input on emulation, obsolete devices and giving them a second life!
In case you haven't see the first post about it, feel free to read it here.
As the previous edition had been rather exclusive to older iOS devices, i wanna now bring some light into the opposite direction: Android!
After years and years (and even more years), this mostly mobile used Linux OS has a populated widely, and is a name to most. If you don't appear to have an Apple handset, you are most likely to use an Android. May it be Samsung, Huawei, Sony, HTC, ZTE, Sharp or any other, all of them use the Android OS as a foundation on the software side to their handsets.
First designed as an operating software for camera systems, Android took a turn to become a rather universal OS, and got the proper support from Google in the early stages. After the first public versions of Android were out, the ports to x86/x64 platforms spread, and Android was seen on more and more devices. Nowadays, it is said to be 3.3 billion Android users out there, and the share spreads to roughly 72% of all mobile OS'. That's a large number, isn't it?
Now let us turn the clocks a bit back, to a time where handsets fit in out pockets and we were about as happy with the functions as we are these days. It is March 2010, and Android 2.0 just made it's debut. After Google and HTC rolled out their first phone with Android with versions 1.5/1.6, both companies decided to take further steps and keep the collaboration going to a wider range. One of these phones was the HTC Desire. The HTC Desire left no desire out: a Gigahrtz Snapdragon, an Adreno GPU, an AMOLED display, hardware buttons and a trackpad! And if that isn't enough, HTC as well made a Desire Z, which featured a full QWERTY-keyboard, hidden under a slider. Oh please, bring those fancy sliders back!
So here we are, this is the HTC Desire which i own since 2011. Only had a battery change once (imagine, you can just take off the backcover and replace it!), and an Update from Android 2.1 to 2.2.
As the platform was considerable far more open as the main competitor one, Android attracted a lot of enthusiasts and hobbyists to put their skills to the code. Not just that you had easy ways to install apps, games and even emulators from the Android Market, but you also had the possibility to install apps that were not distributed through the market - without even needing a jailbreak.
This allowed a lot of hobby devs to bring them into the scene right away, and Android forums were booming.
Almost 15 years from there, Android still is "the big player", but as it occurs for many kinds of devices, the older gens became obsolete, got replaced by newer models and ultimately were left in a drawer - but does that make the older device useless now? I am glad that at least the most of us can agree that it is not!
Thanks to the internet and preservation services online, you still get your device to bring some joy into your life. Outdated versions of the emulators can be acquired and installed without any difficulty, and the rest works via plug and play through microSD.
I of course loaded up some handfull of games and needed to find out how far we can go still on the precious phone. One thing that i really like about it, the hardware buttons. You have a dedicated search button, one for "back", one "home" and a "menu" button. The middle in between is covered with a tiny tiny trackpad for navigation. That sure does remind me of BlackBerry, how fun!
What is my emulator of choice here is "aSnes", and the name will probably spoil the program. The emulator is kept simple, but does not lack in features - you will get to play all your favourite SNES games, with savestates and customizable overlay-buttons, plus support for bluetooth controllers/gamepads of that generation. What excited me the most, was to find out that i can use the trackpad as d-pad! Amazing!
I found myself enjoying playing on this phone throughout the testing a lot, especially in landscape mode. It feels tiny in comparison to modern devices, but the games' resolutions do not ask for any better. The AMOLED screen here is a major plus, the colours look vibrant and lively.
But what is a device that feels nice without an emulator for GBA? Right, just half the fun! The emulator "My Boy!" functions in various ways and offers to work even without the actual BIOS file. Major stability is given though, and again the form factor of the device makes playing a pleasure!
I tested a bit mroe around on the device, and the ARMv7 platform offers quite more. Besides the emulators shown, PS1 emulation too runs fine, and you will be able to run Android games that support Android 2.2 still. Besides of that, all common multimedia functions are given. Unfortunately, as most cases, it is only fully useful as a modern phone replacement if you don't need to rely on services like WhatsApp or so, since this is a 3G phone just, and 3G networks had been shut down. Other services like SMS and phone still work via 2G/GSM protocols though.
So, if you appear to have some older Androids left and want to give them their life back, you still can do!
Again, thank you for reading, hopefully making an inspiration to upcycle, and see you again in the next edition! :)
In case you haven't see the first post about it, feel free to read it here.
As the previous edition had been rather exclusive to older iOS devices, i wanna now bring some light into the opposite direction: Android!
After years and years (and even more years), this mostly mobile used Linux OS has a populated widely, and is a name to most. If you don't appear to have an Apple handset, you are most likely to use an Android. May it be Samsung, Huawei, Sony, HTC, ZTE, Sharp or any other, all of them use the Android OS as a foundation on the software side to their handsets.
First designed as an operating software for camera systems, Android took a turn to become a rather universal OS, and got the proper support from Google in the early stages. After the first public versions of Android were out, the ports to x86/x64 platforms spread, and Android was seen on more and more devices. Nowadays, it is said to be 3.3 billion Android users out there, and the share spreads to roughly 72% of all mobile OS'. That's a large number, isn't it?
Now let us turn the clocks a bit back, to a time where handsets fit in out pockets and we were about as happy with the functions as we are these days. It is March 2010, and Android 2.0 just made it's debut. After Google and HTC rolled out their first phone with Android with versions 1.5/1.6, both companies decided to take further steps and keep the collaboration going to a wider range. One of these phones was the HTC Desire. The HTC Desire left no desire out: a Gigahrtz Snapdragon, an Adreno GPU, an AMOLED display, hardware buttons and a trackpad! And if that isn't enough, HTC as well made a Desire Z, which featured a full QWERTY-keyboard, hidden under a slider. Oh please, bring those fancy sliders back!
So here we are, this is the HTC Desire which i own since 2011. Only had a battery change once (imagine, you can just take off the backcover and replace it!), and an Update from Android 2.1 to 2.2.
As the platform was considerable far more open as the main competitor one, Android attracted a lot of enthusiasts and hobbyists to put their skills to the code. Not just that you had easy ways to install apps, games and even emulators from the Android Market, but you also had the possibility to install apps that were not distributed through the market - without even needing a jailbreak.
This allowed a lot of hobby devs to bring them into the scene right away, and Android forums were booming.
Almost 15 years from there, Android still is "the big player", but as it occurs for many kinds of devices, the older gens became obsolete, got replaced by newer models and ultimately were left in a drawer - but does that make the older device useless now? I am glad that at least the most of us can agree that it is not!
Thanks to the internet and preservation services online, you still get your device to bring some joy into your life. Outdated versions of the emulators can be acquired and installed without any difficulty, and the rest works via plug and play through microSD.
I of course loaded up some handfull of games and needed to find out how far we can go still on the precious phone. One thing that i really like about it, the hardware buttons. You have a dedicated search button, one for "back", one "home" and a "menu" button. The middle in between is covered with a tiny tiny trackpad for navigation. That sure does remind me of BlackBerry, how fun!
What is my emulator of choice here is "aSnes", and the name will probably spoil the program. The emulator is kept simple, but does not lack in features - you will get to play all your favourite SNES games, with savestates and customizable overlay-buttons, plus support for bluetooth controllers/gamepads of that generation. What excited me the most, was to find out that i can use the trackpad as d-pad! Amazing!
I found myself enjoying playing on this phone throughout the testing a lot, especially in landscape mode. It feels tiny in comparison to modern devices, but the games' resolutions do not ask for any better. The AMOLED screen here is a major plus, the colours look vibrant and lively.
But what is a device that feels nice without an emulator for GBA? Right, just half the fun! The emulator "My Boy!" functions in various ways and offers to work even without the actual BIOS file. Major stability is given though, and again the form factor of the device makes playing a pleasure!
I tested a bit mroe around on the device, and the ARMv7 platform offers quite more. Besides the emulators shown, PS1 emulation too runs fine, and you will be able to run Android games that support Android 2.2 still. Besides of that, all common multimedia functions are given. Unfortunately, as most cases, it is only fully useful as a modern phone replacement if you don't need to rely on services like WhatsApp or so, since this is a 3G phone just, and 3G networks had been shut down. Other services like SMS and phone still work via 2G/GSM protocols though.
So, if you appear to have some older Androids left and want to give them their life back, you still can do!
Again, thank you for reading, hopefully making an inspiration to upcycle, and see you again in the next edition! :)
