Mitashi has always been a household name, providing sound systems, TV's as well as single-handedly keeping the glorious days of 8, 16 and 32 bit alive in the form of budget game consoles with names like Chotu. Now the company is ready for another foray into the Android console space with the oddly name GameIn Thunder Bolt 2, bringing the wonderful world of Android games to kids on a budget. So let's see if lightening strikes this time with the Thunder Bolt 2 or does it fizzle off like its predecessor.
Design and Build
The first GameIn Thunder Bolt came out a year ago and was almost exactly like a PSP, terribly under powered and poorly built. With the Thunder Bolt 2, Mitashi designers have gone back to the drawing board remaking the console colorful and appealing to kids.
The whole unit is essentially a large rectangular plastic slab, with chamfered edges all around. The right and left sides have a slight indentured u slope, forming a sort of grip. The rear panel and the main control buttons in front are of the bright accent color while the front panel is white.
Several buttons are placed strategically around the front panel and sides, the directional keys a thumb stick, four unmarked A, B, X, Y buttons, return and menu all make up the front face. There are two shoulder buttons, power, start, select volume up and down on the top edge and a lone reset button on the bottom edge, lastly there's a WiFi on/off toggle on the right hand side. The ThunderBolt has HDMI connectivity via a mini HDMI, a slot for a MicroSD card up to 32 GB, a 3.5 mm jack in a very odd place up top and a mini USD 2.0 port.
A large 5-inch TFT LCD screen graces the top white panel of the device, which is one of the biggest selling points. Rather than sit on the top like most mobile screens, this one sits in an inset to protect the display from any drops. A simple glass covers the screen, nothing fancy.
The build quality of the plastics don't inspire confidence, but its a lot better than the flimsiness earlier Thunder Bolt. The outer shell of the Thunder Bolt 2 does feel like a nice hard grade of plastic, but after a few days of very basic usage, there was a slight rattling inside. Also, the seam between the back and front panel was not uniform all over, instead it was separating a bit around the input ports. Too many seams for water to seep into, so avoid dropping it in liquids or taking it out in the rain.
Buttons feel decent, with the directional pad and thumb stick feeling nice and taut, each button having a decent rubbery feedback under the transparent plastic, contoured to fit the finger. The thumb stick had a circular pattern grip to make up for a lack of rubberised finish, which feels odd, and works better if you hold it with the flat of your thumb tip rather than the tip itself. The buttons around the sides feel flimsy, especially the power button.
The ergonomics are fine. If you're an adult you can hold the unit comfortably with your hand wrapping around the top, for kids, their hands can easily wrap around the indenture, providing a grip, with easy access to the buttons with their small fingers and also balancing out the weight. Since the bottom of the unit is a little heavier than the top. Making the Thunder Bolt quite comfy, especially for long uses. Though the length of the unit may make it heavier if a child is holding it with one hand and jabbing at the touch screen with the other. So a bit of support is needed, preferably sitting down with the console propped on the lap. You can also comfortably hold the device like a cellphone and play in portrait mode for certain games.
All in all, the Thunder Bolt 2 looks good for a kid, and even though an adult too can enjoy it's emulation goodness, it will look very out of place.
Display
The Thunder Bolt 2 has a nice big 5 inch TFT LCD capable of a modest 800x432 pixels with some really bad viewing angles. Where the picture either washes out or burns out at extreme angles. Even holding it straight up causes some vignetteing around the edges in places. Add to that a reflection that muddles up everything.
It's workable, but you will need to take breaks frequently. The viewing angles are not so evident when you're playing a retro game or one that does not need much touch or accelerometer input. Moment that screen starts shaking or swiveling, that viewing angle kicks in.
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Specs and Software
On the hardware side, the Thunder Bolt 2 is quite decently specced out. With an unnamed 1 Ghz Dual Core ARM v7 Processor with a PowerVR SGX 540 single core graphics processing unit. 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB internal memory with a 2MP real camera. There's also Wi-Fi support and a built in accelerometer for racing games. No Bluetooth.
The Thunder Bolt runs Android 4.2.2 Jellybean which flies in the absence of any UI overlay. A very quick and responsive experience. Setting up was easy, and it comes preinstalled with quite a few games. The best part Android is the plethora of emulators that are at your disposal, and with many of them pre-installed. So out of the box you can experience SNES, NES, GameBoy Advance, Sega Mega Drive, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 games, with some preinstalled ROMS like the legendary Mario 64 and more. You can also download and play your own ROMS, making this a great value add. Since you can't play most of these games with on screen controls, so the physical controls are perfect for experiencing classics of consoles past.
Performance, gaming and sound
Owing the modest resolution the ThunderBolt 2 handles most games thrown at it with surprising smoothness though text and graphics had rough aliasing. We threw Temple Run 2, Need for Speed Shift, even 3D emulated favorites like the Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ran with just a bit of slowdown here and there. The touch was quite responsive with Angry Birds Space, as was the accelerometer with NFS.
The console scored a 7902 in Antutu and a 2449 in Quadrant. Quite a decent score from a sub 10,000 unit.
Sound was adequate from the small speaker from the back. Though, not so good with the headphones provided. Oddly, even with a bass heavy Cowon EP1, the sound lacked any sort of texture.
Battery
The ThunderBolt 2 has a 2300mAh battery. You can get about 2.5 to 3 hours depending on how resource hungry the game is. On normal usage and in standby, the battery ran out in less than 6 hours.
Conclusion
At an asking price of Rs. 7,990 the Mitashi would be easy to recommend for kids . However, bad viewing angles of the 5 inch display puts a spanner in what would have been an otherwise fantastic way for children to experience casual, educational as well as classical gaming. At the same price point you can get a smartphone like the Moto E for Rs. 6999 or one with a 5 inch screen for a bit more, that will offer you a better display.
That said, if you don't mind the display the Thunder Bolt 2 is great for parents on a budget who want something for their kids, or for those who would love to relive their retro gaming memories in one easy package.
