Un-boxed: First impression.

Suese · January 2013

Lots of excitement this evening as I unboxed my OUYA

My web site: http://thesuese.com

OUYA Console Hardware:
- Worked perfectly.
- I like that it is relatively heavy.
- It sits nicely on the desk.
- Cables were a bit stiff, made the connections fall out when moving the console around.

OUYA Software:
- I was so surprised and very impressed to see a user interface and fully functioning OS out-of-the-box.
- I upgraded the firmware and the upgrade worked perfectly.
- Really smooth and high detail in 1080p
- Web browser works great

The Gamepad
- CRITICAL: Cannot remove batteries without a knife.
- The D-pad is awesome.
- The spring in the rear trigger is not very fluid. Makes it feel a bit hokey.
- The shape is something I'm not used to, I have small hands. I'm not used to holding it so high up, but holding it that high helps give access to the touch pad.
- The touch pad leaves a little to be desired. Not that I really care much for the feature in the first place.
- Could be a tad heavier towards the top. Centre of gravity was a little bit different for me.

Some bugs:
- I did upgrade the firmware.
- Experienced some synchronization glitches, had to press a second button after initial sync pre-firmware update.
- Flickering during on screen keyboard post-firmware update.
- Couldn't use directional pad for on screen keyboard. Made inputing password a bit weird.
- Touch pad cursor was really slow, taps weren't always registering.
- Crash on shut-down, won't shut down. Pressed power button, selected shut down on gamepad. Still animating 'shutting down' 20 minutes later. 7-second shut-off worked fine.
- Experienced a java error pop-up where the log-in prompt failed in an attempt to connect over a choppy wifi connection.
- No error message on log-in screen (no password).

Overall:
I'm impressed. Lots of people expressed scepticism this would even get this far. I'm floored and amazed the product has come so far in so little time.

I'll upload some videos of the unboxing session soon, but first I'm going to push some polygons through this baby.

Ayrik · January 2013

Suese said:
- CRITICAL: Cannot remove batteries without a knife.

There is a plastic film you need to keep under the batteries, then pull on the plastic film and the batteries come with it. Maybe replacing it with a ribbon like most products will be more obvious.

Suese said:
- The D-pad is awesome.
- The spring in the rear trigger is not very fluid. Makes it feel a bit hokey

In the official unboxing video they mentioned the triggers and D-Pad are not final.

Suese said:
- The shape is something I'm not used to, I have small hands. I'm not used to holding it so high up, but holding it that high helps give access to the touch pad.

I feel the same way, the ergonomics need some adjusting to make it more comfortable to hold a little higher.

Suese said:
- The touch pad leaves a little to be desired. Not that I really care much for the feature in the first place.

Agreed. It's an added expense that is unnecessary for most things, but nice to be a little different perhaps. I can rarely even get the thing to do what I want, but hopefully it's a work in progress also.

Suese said:
- Flickering during on screen keyboard post-firmware update.

I get random flickering in my game, too. Not often, but a little bit.

Suese said:
- Crash on shut-down, won't shut down. Pressed power button, selected shut down on gamepad. Still animating 'shutting down' 20 minutes later. 7-second shut-off worked fine.

Same. I've left it on two nights in a row because I forgot to make sure it actually shut down (which it didn't).

LeMat · January 2013

What did you think of the surface of the sticks? I thought they were a little too slippery at first, after a while of using the controller I changed my mind on that for normal use. I'm a little worried still about their performance when coated in sweat and Cheeto powder since they're not rubberized.

Suese · January 2013

I see what you mean. Could definitely go for some rubber.

alsutton · January 2013

Can you run adb logcat when you're shutting down and send it into the developer support email address so we can see what the errors are.

Suese · January 2013

I'm unfamiliar with Android, just getting my bearings. How do I do that?
I have the android development kit with Eclipse but it is not recognizing my OUYA in the list of connected API 17 devices.

Dreamwriter · January 2013

OUYA is API 16, Android 4.1, not 17, Android 4.2

ZenicReverie · January 2013

I just bought a new TV (needed one with HDMI in), and I ended up with the same one as pictured. I noticed the display is cut on the sides, and I haven't found a way to get it to fill the screen.

I encountered some issues with controllers not connecting (the OUYA button just blinks), selecting shutdown from the menu hangs (same as above, hard shutdown works), and being stuck on some screens when I only had a mouse.

Suese · January 2013

@Dreamwriter, that solved one of my problems, thanks.
@Zenic - I get the cut-off issue too. Skimming the forum apparently most HDMI screens have this issue. I suppose that is why the XBOX home screen and menus are centred in a 'safe window' with huge margins on the left and right side.

Wilds · January 2013

Suese said:
@Dreamwriter, that solved one of my problems, thanks.
@Zenic - I get the cut-off issue too. Skimming the forum apparently most HDMI screens have this issue. I suppose that is why the XBOX home screen and menus are centred in a 'safe window' with huge margins on the left and right side.

This is corret, read about it in another thread:
http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/100/os-and-games-clipping-off-edge-of-screen#latest

I am a little suprised the OUYA devs havent implemented it (yet) in the DEV-kits for the UI.

Suese · January 2013

@alsutton - Seems to be working correctly now.

cwleonard · January 2013

I had trouble pairing the controllers. It's probably just me because I can't count seconds accurately in my head! I would let go of the power button too late and it would be shutting down instead of going into paring mode. Then I would get an error from the console. I was thinking that maybe it might be helpful to require holding down a second button to enter pairing mode and by doing so it could prevent shutdown.

Balbi · January 2013

Unfortunately the OUYA only has one button, no? So getting into pairing mode using multiple buttons would be rather difficult. :D

Suese · January 2013

@cwleanard ahh, I think you got the instructions wrong. The button it refers to holding down is the controller button at the bottom middle of the game pad below the touch area.

cwleonard · January 2013

Balbi said:
Unfortunately the OUYA only has one button, no? So getting into pairing mode using multiple buttons would be rather difficult. :D

No, sorry I meant the buttons on the controller. The button you hold to enter pairing mode is the same as on/off.

Balbi · January 2013

Ahh my mistake :-)

Hicsy · January 2013

what instructions?!

Anticitizen · January 2013

When I unboxed my Ouya one of the D-pads was unattached and fell out of the box. It was easy to put it back into the controller, but it just made that first impression a little worse since the first thing I experienced was the hardware falling apart. Since then the hardware has kept itself together just fine though.

Hicsy · January 2013

nvm found the instructions in "NEWS" (kind of an odd place to stash them?).

Yeah My controllers are a bit scraped up and have black scuff marks on them from the box - I assume due to rough handling and insufficient packaging

peterc · January 2013

I was surprised how much I liked the controllers. At first sight, they didn't look like they'd be comfortable but they seem to be. The only complaint I have is how flaky the touchpad is. I hope that's the area where most effort with regards to the controller will be going as even if it's non-essential, it's currently bad enough to make the experience feel less than optimal.

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Un-boxed: First impression.

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