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DigiDock v2

A.K.A. The Serious Play Digi Dock by Aibo Technology

What is it?

The DigiDock, as the name implies, is not a handheld game machine itself, but a docking station you can use to build your own. It consists of a chassis containing the battery, controls, and touchscreen, and internal connections for whatever SBC or stick you want to add on for processing, RAM, and storage.

Where can I order?

From My Retro Game Case

What are the specs?

• 5.5 inch 1080p touchscreen
• Stereo speakers
• Volume wheel with click-to-mute
• Dual clickable analog sticks (L3/R3)
• ABXY/L1-2/R1-2/Start/Select/Home
• D-input and X-input
• 10,000 mAh battery with QC3.0 input and output support
• USB-C charging support
• HDMI Output
• Dual external USB-A ports for external expansion
• 126mm x 95mm x 15mm area for compute module and battery

It looks like it only has one set of shoulder buttons???

Yeah, it's kind of a neat thing, so neat in fact that they patented it. The single shoulder buttons have two ways of being pressed: in from the side, and in from the top, so you can have a 1 press and a 2 press, and you can actually be able to hold both fairly easily.

You forgot CPU/RAM/Storage?

Yeah, that's the beauty of it. Those are whatever you choose to put in it.

Isn't this expensive?

Depends on how you look at it. You could purchase a cheap core with it and get a lower level of performance, and then pay for a new upgraded core later, rather than just buying a new handheld every year or two. Also, if you already have an SBC or compute stick that will work in the device, you ONLY need the DigiDock itself to turn your gadget into a handheld gaming device. On the other hand, if you're saying it's more expensive than a JZ4770 or RK3326 based handheld, well, yes, it is.

So what can I put in it?

Well, there are several defaults available when ordering, including several Intel-based compute sticks, an Android stick, or a Raspberry Pi 4b+. There are also a number of 3rd party SBCs and HDMI sticks available that will work in the device. Essentially pretty much any compute-stick style computer should fit, as well as many common SBCs, as long as they have an HDMI and a USB Including USB OTG) connector (so no Roku sticks, or Chromecasts). One thing to note is that there's two types of battery, one designed to work with sticks, and one with SBCs. If you want to switch from one to the other you'll need the other battery type.

Included core options:

• Intel Core M3 stick - Windows-x64
  • Geekbench5 score provided by Geekbench.com for 6y30: Single Core: 412 , Multi : 949, OpenCL: 2073 , Vulkan: 2223
• Celeron N4100 stick - Windows/Linux-x64
  • Geekbench5 score provided by Geekbench.com for N4100: Single Core: 395, Multi : 1031, OpenCL: 607 , Vulkan: 1588
• Atom 8350 stick - Windows x64
  • Geekbench5 score provided by Geekbench.com for z8350: Single Core: 175, Multi : 551, OpenCL: 576, Vulkan: 980
• X96S Android stick - Android 9
• Raspberry Pi 4b+ - Linux-aarch64

Alternate core options:

• Intel Core M5 stick - Windows
  
  • This is a discontinued item but has the same physical specs as the Core M3 stick above, and there's no reason why it shouldn't work.
  • Geekbench5 score provided by HYJINX187 using Win10: Single Core: 661, Multi core: 1267, OpenCL: 3134, Vulkan: 3874
  • Geekbench5 score provided by pyghast using Win10: Single Core: 631, Multi Core: 1303, OpenCL: 3209, Vulkan: 3936
  • Geekbench5 score provided by pyghast using Ubuntu 20.04: Single Core: 775, Multi Core: 1537, OpenCL: n.a., Vulkan: 2008

Wanted for testing:

• Mele NV41S stick - Intel Celeron J4105 CPU with a RADEON 520 GPU, might be excellent for 3D gaming if it physically fits and heat isn't an issue
  • Geekbench5 score provided by Geekbench.com for NV41S: Single Core: 447, Multi : 1337, OpenCL: 529
• PC Stick N4120 - Intel Celeron N4120, might be slightly faster than the N4100 default option.
• ASUS Chromebit - ChromeOS stick with support for Android apps, might be interesting to try.
• LattePanda 864s Core m3 SBC - Intel Core m3-8100y with 8 GB of RAM and support for NVMe SSDs potentially much better performance than the M3 stick, but we don't know if it will physically fit.
• Amazon FireTV Stick - Some of these actually support USB controls via the USB power connector (using OTG) and may be an interesting option for the DigiDockV2. While mostly multimedia oriented, several Android games were ported to Amazon's app store, including several that are no longer available via Google Play.