It’s been a long time since that first batch of Odroid-Go Advance’s started shipping out back in January. The devices quickly sold out and many people have been waiting months for HardKernel to announce fresh stock. Well, the wait is over as HardKernel releases the revised Odroid-Go Advance version 1.1. Read on to see what’s changed.
Unprecedented demand and component shortages meant that manufacture of the OGA had to stop in the first quarter of this year. Thankfully, HardKernel took that time to revise the design based on feedback from those with a first revision.
CHANGES
There are three main changes to the v1.1 OGA. The addition of two extra shoulder buttons is the biggest upgrade, although you can tell that they struggled to fit these inside the unit. The additional shoulder buttons are very small, and will probably be something of a chore to use. Still, it’s better to have them than not.
The second change is the replacement of the barrel jack charger for a USB-C plug. Some modders added this to their original units, but this official replacement means no more scrabbling around for the official charging cable. It’s worth noting that the USB-C port will only work for charging the unit, the data pins are not connected.
Lastly, the addition of WiFi on the board means that we no longer need to use a dongle in the USB-A port to enable WiFi. WiFi is a very useful addition for those that run Windows machines at home. The easiest way to transfer ROMs to the device is wirelessly via something like WinSCP or FileZilla.
All that said, the new OGA v1.1 comes in two colours, an Aura Black version and a Clear White version. The v1.1 PCB colour has changed from white to black, making the transparent version look a little different to the original.
The addition of WiFi has bumped the price from $54 to $59, which is still very reasonable considering what this machine can do.
COMPETITION
By now most of you are probably aware of the RK2020, a device based closely on the OGA. According to rumours, the RK2020 is only the first of the OGA clones to hit the market and we can expect to see another RK3326 powered handheld hit the stores in the coming months. It’s safe to assume that the era of Ingenic JZ4760/70 powered handhelds is finished.
It’s strange that we were almost at this stage years ago and we’ve gone full circle. The likes of Yinlips, JXD and GPD already made powerful ARM handhelds in the early 2010s, but evolution seemed to stop and we were thrust back into the dark ages. Now we’re back for round two with more powerful hardware and dedicated gaming oriented Operating Systems. I fully expect to see more powerful RockChip and AllWinner machines in 2020 and 2021.
You can buy the OGA v1.1 from the HardKernel store. Shipping to UK and Europe is pricey, but local vendors will start to get stock in the coming weeks.
If you’d like to read my review of the original Odroid-Go Advance you can check it out here.
Does someone have a link to a beginner’s guide to the Odroid Go Advance? Just got it but have no idea where to start.
Bit of a necro but the unit comes with a youtube tutorial.
I ordered mine a week ago and it still hasn’t shipped. Is this normal for ODroid? I thought they had a reputation for unusually fast shipping despite being overseas.
Covid supply chain delays plus increased demand plus covid staffing and postage delays.
The main reason I think this differs from the original JXD years is this time it’s straight linux OS. The more power will for sure sell more units, but the addition of straight linux appeals to the input lag purists and similar in the field. I like my GPD XD+ but I love my OGA even though there are physical quality differences in favor of GPD. ART, or android runtime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Runtime is a compatibility layer that can’t be unseen or unfelt once you notice it, it never goes away.
“It’s safe to assume that the era of Ingenic JZ4760/70 powered handhelds is finished.”
Someone please put this SoC in an RG350M body/screen and make my dreams come true. None of this single analog, 480×320 nonsense.
Clear was sold out, but I went ahead and ordered a black one instead. Looking forward to checking it out!
The clear was sold out immediately when I ordered on the 25th so I dont know what that was about. But you can now order the clear shell. Wish that was an option 3 days ago.
Looking at first picture and I just realized that ridiculous screen resolution was meant for PSP.
And for GBA
That ridiculous size is preventing me from buying this system, because this means the 240p consoles will look tiny at 1:1.
Stretching it to fit will not do it any good