The Wikipad Review (With 6 Month Update)

The Wikipad was released a few months ago and there have been no useful reviews on it. I bought it at launch and here is my take on this nifty piece of technology.   

When it comes to gaming, there really is no other competition on the Android market that compares to the Wikipad in terms of usability and practicality. The Wikipad, powered by Nvidia's Tegra 3 (1.4ghz), runs emulators perfectly. I have tested N64, PS1, DS, GBA, GBC, Neo Geo; all play flawlessly with the controller. The PSP emulator is still slow. Only a few games are smooth, but give it 6 months and I bet PSP will be up and running on this thing too. 

The Wikipad controller only supports a few Android titles, but every emulator supports it. This means that you can potentially play almost any game made before 2000 anywhere. I would argue that there really isn't even any Android game worth playing when you have classic titles such as Super Smash Bros 64, Pokemon Black/White 2, or Mario Kart DS/64. There are so many games you can play on this tablet that it's like a portable gaming library. A 7" screen is huge and is really nice for all of the games too. The screen itself is bright, has good color, and good viewing angles. 

The controller itself is somewhat large, and drains battery. Leaving the system in the controller even while sleeping will cut battery time in half, so make sure to remove it when done using it. The controller feels exactly like an Xbox 360 controller. The joysticks work with multiple sensitivity ranges like a normal Xbox controller. No PSP-style "pucks," the joysticks work just like console ones. You can do all of the tilt moves in Smash Bros easily. It feels well made and I haven't had any problems with it so far. There is no input lag of any kind.

 The battery on the Wikipad has plenty of juice too. It'll last as long as any iPad. The Tegra 3 cpu also means that as a tablet, it is fast and very usable. I use it on a daily basis for work and school and the tablet works much better than my old iPad 1. Internet browsing is fast and rivals the performance of any other good tablet currently on the 2013 market.

All in all, this is a step forward for the Android market. The entire product feels well made and solid. They have thought of it all and this tablet really exceeds where previous controller hybrids have failed (I'm looking at you Archos). I know that even when this tablet is old and slow years from now I will still have its use as the ultimate portable emulator. 

6 Month Update

During the past 6 months of use, the most demanded update for the Wikipad was a universal button mapper. Wikipad Inc answered with 2 updates. The updates gave the Wikipad a welcomed system upgrade to Android 4.2.2, along with a new universal button mapper software. The button to activate this is now next to the home button seen below on the bottom right. This universal button mapper allows on screen controls to be bound to the controller addon. It works with any android game. However, you cannot resize the size of the buttons which makes some binding impossible. Some android games don't really work well with the controller mapper because the games were not developed with it in mind. I don't find myself using this feature, but it's a nice update and is the final knockout punch to the rival Archos gamepad, which also had a universal mapper over a year ago.

Along with the mapper came a the release of a couple of big titles that the controller supports. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is a must have for Wikipad owners. It is a fantastic port of the 2004 classic. GTA SA has so many new features over Vice City and GTA 3 like airplanes, robbing, outfits, skills; that it makes it hours of portable fun. 

Another big title to be supported was GT Racing 2. The Wikipad needed a good racing game and GT Racing 2 is a good start to the 

genre. I dislike the micro-transaction, free to play method it uses, but at least you can hop into a car without paying a dime. GT Racing 2 is the Forza for the Wikipad. With its pseudo sim physics and good graphics, it makes for a fun portable racing game. However, it is very repetitive if you want to play for free. If you plan on driving a sports car, plan on dropping cash or grinding a while. That being said, the Wikipad needed a racing title and with a little cash GT Racing 2 will give you a nice garage of fun cars to play with.

Beginning in 2014 this tablet is no longer a powerhouse tablet it was at release. The new Nexus 7 is cheaper and faster, but the whole point of the Wikipad is the controller addon. In 10 years, this controller/tablet will still be fun to pick up to play portable emulators on the go and a Nexus 7 will just be an outdated tablet. And it runs GTA San Andreas at decent frustrates so it still has plenty of power. I'm still waiting for a stable PSP emulator and I'll update if anything big happens. Still worth the money.