So, strangely, TRIMUI got in touch with me and asked if I’d like to review their older handheld, the Brick Hammer. This one released six months or so, but the claim to fame for it is being made (almost) entirely out of machined metal. It sure gives it a premium feel.
I feel like I’m a little lucky with the reviews, not doing this full time or anything means I get to be picky on what I let these companies send me. I’m not obligated to review everything ASAP, since the site I share these on doesn’t even have ads. For the most part, I just say yes to the interesting or different handhelds.
tldr:
- Beautifully made, truly feels premium
- To me it really feels like a modern take on the Game Boy Pocket
- Can play up to PSP, DS, N64 and so on, but those are more of a risky and not entirely 100% successful event. It shines most with PlayStation, GBA, SNES and so on. Being 3:2 means its perfect for the older-older systems
I feel like saying one of these ‘retro handhelds’ is perfect is just…hyperbole. But in this case, that might be the case. It’s so slim and sleek, and the metal makes me so damned happy to hold.
ANYWAY.
You can find the following link here to read my review, if you’re at all interested. Inside my article, I also reached out to the developer of NextUI to ask him about how it is to create an alternative OS for the TRIMUI Brick Hammer (kinda like a mini interview), and chatted to a creator of 3D printed triggers which were designed to showcase the nice RGB lighting on this one:
https://gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-with-the-trimui-brick-hammer-metal-perfection/
Or, as always, you can just ask me about it here if you’d prefer :)
That’s wonderful!!!
They really are an aesthetic dream, right?! Dont worry about mistakes, these are next to impossible to actually brick (hah, pun!) so you’re very safe
You can always ask me for help too, if you need it! I’m so glad you’re happy and didn’t feel like I steered you wrong :P
I realized that running NextUI doesn’t really replace any of the files on the device itself as it runs from the SD card, although it shows “Installing…” at first start.
I’ve had some trouble with Portmaster but most likely due to me being impatient. I installed Portmaster and Songo#5. When I started Songo#5 the first time it looked like it was frozen and eventually I powered the Brick Hammer off.
After trying to install Songo#5 by putting the zip file to /Emus/tg5040/PORTS.pak/PortMaster/autoinstall/ (to no avail) I installed Portmaster anew, Songo#5 anew, started Songo#5 and just waited patiently.
…and finally it started! Wonderful!
Now I just have to find out how to comfortably enter a 63 character WiFi password (for installing Portmaster and Songo#5 I paired the Brick Hammer with my mobile phone, which has a way less complex password), configure Syncthing (I want access to my local network, hence the need for entering an overly complex password) and put some music there.
I’m gonna have a lot of fun with this nice piece of hardware and software.
Thank you for your review, which brought it to my attention! :)
I loved reading through this, and its even better knowing a genuine review of something I got to enjoy ended up accurate!
Your findings are those I loved going through, also :)
The only two spaces I’ve seen Riley active in to chat about Songo#5 are Discord and Reddit, if you ever want to reach out to him about anything.
I can say there’s some amazing things coming (software-wise!) to the Brick and Brick Hammer sometime soon. So you’re in a vibrant and very supported community with it now :)
So glad you’re having fun!
The WiFi password is a nut I yet have to crack, but I’ve put the music on the SD card and enjoyed Songo#5 already.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to get in contact with Riley easily as my Discord account requires me to receive an email, which gets sent to a mailbox I no longer have access to (maybe time to set up a new account…) and I left Reddit for good after the crap they pulled with the API access - which is why I’m here on Lemmy now.
Your review really made my decision making process simple. I’m long beyond the phase of my life, where I researched this and that for days or weeks just to have the most perfect solution.
Now I’m in the “good is good enough, no need for it to be perfect” phase as it saves so much time.
Yet in this case good turned out to be (maybe) the perfect solution.
So I wholeheartedly thank you for your review!
Now I can either play Tetris or listen to music with a formidable music player. Streaming via Bluetooth didn’t work at first attempt, though. Pairing went well, but the sound output wasn’t on the BT speaker. I’ll have to try again with other devices.
For the time being I can live with a cable connection to the speaker :)
I’m looking forward to what amazing things are coming!
Have fun!