Playdate handheld game system torn to pieces, crank and all
- Reference: 1629807366
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/24/playdate_teardown/
- Source link:
The colourful little handheld (colourful except for the screen) is a welcome respite from the likes of the Nintendo Switch and upcoming Steam Deck. No eye-wateringly high resolution and blistering refresh rates here. The Playdate is a throwback to a simpler time, and a reminder of our much-missed Nintendo Game Boy (sadly the victim of a short drop onto unforgiving concrete many decades ago).
[2]
Playdate (pic: iFixit)
The iFixit team were thankfully less careless and used a [3]Game Boy Color for scale – the Playdate is quite a bit thinner than the Nintendo, even with the crank.
The yellow plastic case was swiftly opened by the team, with the aid of care and a screwdriver, to reveal a battery and a warning that breaking anything within the case would the void the warranty so "please, be careful!" exhorted the makers.
The good news is that the battery, which clocks in at 2.74Wh, is only lightly glued in place and relatively easily extracted. Other components look equally simple to pull out, with an ARM Cortex-M7 SoC performing processing duties, backed up by 128Mb of SRAM and 4GB of eMMC flash memory among the chippery on the board.
[4]Apple's iPad Pro on a stick, um, we mean M1 iMac scores 2 out of 10 for repairability
[5]iFixit publishes teardown of M1 iMac, shows that making a determination of repairability is still hard
[6]iFixit slams Samsung's phone 'upcycling' scheme for falling short of what was promised
[7]iFixit wants you to be legally able to break software locks to repair gizmos. Unsurprisingly, manufacturers are less keen
Unlikely to scare a Raspberry Pi, but more than sufficient for this little thing.
Most interesting is the crank, which is used as an analog controller in some of the Playdate's games (purchasers can expect two new games per week for 12 weeks after setup). Sadly it cannot be used to add a bit of extra juice to the battery. A magnet in the shaft hits a Hall effect sensor. The result is no surfaces to wear out and, most importantly, none of the drift that afflicts controllers for other certain other consoles.
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It's not all good news, however. The screen is glued to the front of the plastic case, making a non-destructive removal tricky and the controller buttons are similarly stuck to a circuit board in the middle of the handheld's housing.
[9]
The display and controls (as well as a soldered USB-C connector) drag things down to a 6/10 repairability score, a bit below the [10]8/10 of the Nintendo Switch .
Still, the Playdate is an undeniably neat bit of kit and appears relatively repairable for when the inevitable drop happens.
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Alternatively, one could just pop a Raspberry Pi Zero into a "Gameboy Inspired" [12]RetroFlag GPi case in order to scratch that nostalgia itch.
Crank not included. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Playdate+Teardown/143811
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/08/24/playdate.jpg
[3] https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/IPeDZwVKkmnqGKPW.huge
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/26/m1_imac/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/25/m1_imac_ifixit_teardown/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/ifixit_samsung_upcyling/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/ifixit_software_locks/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YSUXtXwwlKkJBIhczPb5MwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YSUXtXwwlKkJBIhczPb5MwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263#teardownConclusion
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YSUXtXwwlKkJBIhczPb5MwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://thepihut.com/products/retroflag-gpi-case-gameboy-inspired
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I honestly thought...
I think that it's always fun looking a these old devices and then trying to get them working again - the iFixit folks are excellent at figuring out how to repair both old and new devices (icon to you guys) and anytime I have to fix something then they are the first place I go to.
I don't understand - what exactly is an analogue crank and what does it do? What was it's equivalent on the older game handsets et al from the 80s'/90's?
Fishing, wells, car starting
Perhaps it’s a controller for the following fun games:
Pro bass fishing
Vintage car startup
Competitive well pail pulling
…erm…
School hall window closing
Re: Fishing, wells, car starting
Keep one under the duvet just in case mum walks in without knocking?
"Aw, Muuu-um. I was just in the middle of playing with my Playdate!"
Re: Fishing, wells, car starting
"Aw, Muuu-um. I was just in the middle of playing with my Playdate!"
Erm - isn't that kind of admitting to what you were doing???
"what exactly is an analogue crank"
Strictly according to its origin, the word 'analogue' means representative of something else (Shorter OED. 1933) so presumably an analogue crank is a crank that's similar to another crank.
I suppose a digital crank would be a crank you turn with your fingers. In this case it's probably really a digital crank. both in that sense and in the sense that it apparently generates a stream of discrete pulses when turned.
Re: "what exactly is an analogue crank"
OK, fair enough, I got that bit at the beginning - but what does it do? Make a character run? Scroll the window? What ever it does, you wouldn't be able to do much else with the controls at the time?
I still have my Gameboy but the screen is so scratched with use that's almost useless unless you play something slow paced like a RPG and even then you kind of have to guess what's on the screen. Thankfully I got a Gameboy Pocket that works just fine.
I honestly thought...
When I first heard of this gizmo I did think it was crank powered like those radios and torches you can get. I'm mildly disappointed but it could make a neat nerdy present for someone.