The Letcool N350JP, Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery?

What happens if you rip a DS Lite in half? Well aside from breaking it, you end up with something resembling the Letcool N350JP. And what a handsome devil it is too.

Another one out of China, but supposedly designed in Japan (I think this is an injoke regarding how closely it resembles a DS Lite, who knows), this one sports a Sunplus 8000 (SPMP8000) processor. The SPMP8000 has been used a few times in other handhelds made by another Chinese group named JXD, but this is the first that peaked our interest. The Chip sports an ARM CPU, DSP and supposedly some kind of 3D engine too. It is capable of decoding H264 video up to 720p. Little else is known about the CPU, hence the reason that the homebrew and hacking scene is gathering momentum at a pretty slow pace.

Aside from the usual buttons and SD card slot it boasts a 3.5″ screen @ 320×240, and a  next to useless 0.3 Megapixel camera on the back. Also of note is the fact that it uses a Nokia BL-5B battery which is user replaceable via a screw in door on the back. Nice.

Something of a rare treat from unknown manufacturers is a firmware upgrade, but much to the joy of those who already own one, Letcool have released 2 updates in the ~3 months that the device has been around. Emulation has improved dramatically since its initial release but still suffers from some stupid problems such as the shoulder buttons not being mapped in the GBA emulator.

So what does it offer over any of the other similar handhelds? Well it comes bundled with 2 pads, and the ability to plug them into the back of the Letcool for some 2 player action. Couple this with the TV output and you have a nice little games machine for taking to your friend’s house or setting up in your living room.

z_man3007 of the dingoonity forums has kindly done a 3 part overview of the menu and the emulators.



They’re currently available in white at dealextreme and black at chinavasion.

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