At the end of last year, Hardkernel launched ODROID-GO Advance portable Linux retro game console powered by a Rockchip RK3326 processor with 1GB RAM, and a 3.5″ color display. While it was fairly well-received, people wished it would not come with a large power barrel jack and included WiFi among a few other requests.
COVID-19 also delayed mass-production of the device, but the silver lining is that the company decided to make a new revision 1.1 PCB with a USB-C port for power input, a WiFi module, and R2 and L2 buttons that’s planned to launch soon under the name ODROID-Go Advance Black Edition.
ODROID-Go Advance Black Edition specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3326 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.3GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU
- System Memory – 1GB DDR3L @ 786Mhz, 32 Bits bus width
- Storage – 16MB SPI Flash for bootloader, Micro SD Card slot (UHS-1 Capable interface)
- Display – 3.5″ 320×480 TFT LCD (Wide-viewing angle display, MIPI-DSI interface)
- Audio – 3.5mm earphone stereo jack, 0.5Watt 8Ω Mono speaker
- Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFI 4 via ESP-WROOM-32 module (40~50Mbps with iperf)
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port
- Input Buttons – F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, A, B, X, Y, Direction Pad, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, Analog joystick, R2, L2
- Expansion – 10-pin header with I2C, GPIO, IRQ at 3.3Volt
- Battery
- 3.7V/3000mAh Li-Polymer battery
- Up to 10 hours of continuous game playing time
- Charging time – 2.5 to 3 hours when the device turns off. 4 to 5 hours while playing games.
- Power Supply – 5V/1.5A via USB Type-C port (not USB-PD compatible, and no data)
- Power consumption – Game emulation: 250~350mA, Power off: 0.1mA
- Dimensions – 155x72x20 mm
- Weight – 170 grams
We’ve highlighted changes in red in the PCB v1.1 photos below.
The name Black Edition comes from the PCB color as v1.1 is now black while v1.0 was white. Hardkernel noted some small downsides to the changes with one or two pins of the 10pin GPIO port may be obstructed when charging the device via the USB-C port, and while L2 and R2 buttons will be useful to PSX gamers the shape is not perfect. There will now be two options for shell cases: Aura Black and Clear White.
A new Ubuntu 20.04 based OS image with support for the SDIO WiFi module and L2/R2 buttons will be released around mid-May and stay compatible with the original ODROID-GO Advance (OGA), and still supports the emulation of a wide variety of Atari, SEGA, Nintendo, and Sony consoles. Linux device drivers for the SDIO WiFi module and the L2/R2 buttons are already included in the Kernel source repo.
Price has also increased a little bit from $55 to $59, and shipping is scheduled to start on May 25th, although I’m not sure that’s for OGA or the new OGA-BE. Hardkernel shop still shows the old model right now, and the listed price is $63.30, but it’s not possible to place an order at this time. More information may be found in the forums.
Thanks to T. for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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