Since you mentioned reviewers getting their hands on Playdates: doubtless they're out there, but ("Metal Jesus", whatever that is, notwithstanding) I don't think I've seen a single net negative review from any source I previously considered anywhere close to reputable. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their opinion—but as someone who presumably hasn't actually used a Playdate yourself, I don't think you're making much effort to keep yours objective.
I don't quite have a dog in the race of Playdate, but I do want to note that MetalJesusRocks is in fact a legitmate and longstanding video game reviewer, over a decade old by now. He's not qiute a pre-Google YT era reviewer, but he's close.
I don't have any particular attachment to him nor his opinion, but I have watched a few of his reviews over the years. Particularly a few Vita game reviews (he's given more focus to portable/handheld games that other reviewers). His name definitely betrays his presentation (asusmedly because the channel, in actual pre-Google days, had some music coverage).
I think the flood of hot-take Steam Deck reviews has given me handheld console clickbait fatigue. I saw the title and thumbnail for this video on my YT feed, and immediately blacklisted the channel. Maybe it's a fine review; I definitely understand why YT creators do this (money) but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I tend to find that it correlates with lower quality content.
Yeah, that is unfortunate. But as full time creators they basically have to follow the trends, because it's not just about others getting ahead; Google actively punishes and hides your content for not doing so, even to people already subscribed to you (because YT had to make subscriptions 2 tier by default).
But I'm sure I'm speaking to the choir in terms of Google's scary control over the internet and lack of alternatives in several fields.
The video review linked by the GP does state that the screen has better quality than the DMG (Game Boy) one, showing even a comparison image similar to the one you posted from Ars Technica. The Playdate screen has nevertheless visibility issues under low light conditions due to the lack of backlight, just like the early Game Boy consoles.
Of course, and backlit screens have issues with visibility under high light conditions due to the backlight. I live most of my life in well lit environments, and sleep most of the time when it is dark.
It's trivially obvious that an unlit screen will be unusable in the dark. However, the original Game Boy's screen was practically unusable in the light, too.
Maybe the comparison just rubs me the wrong way because I actually had one and played games on it, and I remember how fucking terrible it was. Even the Pocket was a quantum leap in usability. It just isn't useful to compare the original's screen with anything resembling a modern reflective LCD, except to illustrate just how far the technology has come.
eInk displays aren't supposed to need backlights; LCDs need them because they just wash out if you light them from above, but eInk doesn't have that problem.
Playdate is some kind of "memory LCD" that's more like eInk, but I don't know how much like it.
Memory LCD is nothing like eInk except being lower power. It's an LCD screen but each pixel has a bit of memory with its state so it doesn't need to refresh if it hasn't changed. It still has all the optical properties of LCD. This is still a reflective LCD. It's better than the 30 year old one in the Game Boy but it's still a reflective LCD.
I'm just responding to your comment's tone in kind. Are you so upset with my opinion that you have to instantly discredit it because "whoever that is" review I based my opinion on isn't subjective? It's the most niche game console ever made, that I don't understand why it gets such high praise, but because it's made by Panic I just have to get all fuzzy at the whimsy!
> Are you so upset with my opinion that you have to instantly discredit it because "whoever that is" review I based my opinion on isn't subjective?
There you go again with the projection.
All I said was that you don't seem to be making much effort to be objective, and if you really based your entire opinion on a single random Youtuber's review (as you seem to imply here) then you've effectively made my point for me.
> I don't understand why it gets such high praise
Maybe you should check out some of the other reviews.
Since you mentioned reviewers getting their hands on Playdates: doubtless they're out there, but ("Metal Jesus", whatever that is, notwithstanding) I don't think I've seen a single net negative review from any source I previously considered anywhere close to reputable. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their opinion—but as someone who presumably hasn't actually used a Playdate yourself, I don't think you're making much effort to keep yours objective.