The Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum Unboxing and Review

[@swish9067]

Thank you for the good suggestions and the next looks a great idea I'll be watching out for one

[@swish9067]

Great review enjoyed it thanks got one today hope it's good.

[@sloankelly]

+Swish thank you :) what did you think when you got time to use it?

[@swish9067]

Good retro fun the fact it's so close to the original makes me smile to back in the day. It would be good if there was a device like the recreation spectrum mixed with the Vega IE a stand alone unit. Do you have any suggestions for some top tiles to try on this obviously Manic Minor and ?

[@sloankelly]

+Swish Chuckie Egg is really good, and I'd also go with Rollercoaster. It was remade for the GameBoy as Dragon's Lair !

[@swish9067]

Good but a purpose all built in one type device would be better like the Vega but more like the recreation version but for what it cost a great bit of retro, other like Amiga or BBC or c64 revamped would be nice. Hows things going with Manic Minor update

[@sloankelly]

+Swish haven't had a chance to get back into MM, but hoping I'll get some time over the Christmas break. Have you seen the ZX Spectrum Next?

[@darkman237]

The game reminded me of Jumpman!

[@stephenlittle7534]

I still have mine and loads and loads of games.

[@sloankelly]

Cracking machine. I recently unboxed the ZX Spectrum Next kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoPdY3eVbr-madk

[@durrcodurr]

Thanks for posting this review! I have two questions: 1. Does the Recreated ZX Spectrum work with any ZX Spectrum emulator or just the one from the official apps? 2. How are files saved/loaded in the BASIC app, i.e. is it possible to write your own program and save it and later load it back? Is it one of the standard emulator file formats like TZX or TAP?

[@sloankelly]

For BASIC it has save slot, so you can load back your programs later. I think there is only 5. Not sure of there is a way to save/load more. The keyboard works out of the box with the official Elite Systems app, but you can turn it into a normal Bluetooth keyboard easily enough. albeit through the official app, so you will have to download that at least once.

[@durrcodurr]

+Sloan Kelly Thank you! I take it you used the iOS app to unlock it? I'm a bit unsure from the videos/information what's the best way to unlock. The web app or the iOS app? Some people seemed to have problems with either. What's with the whole controversy anyway? Is that combination of hardware and software reliable? What have been your experiences with it since you first used it?

[@sloankelly]

If you're buying it to use as a BT keyboard I'll stop you right there. It's terrible for that. It misses keystrokes like nobody's business. Partly because it doesn't feel as good as the dead-flesh feel of the original. And partly because it's got dead zones. If you hit a button on the corner, it won't react. I have it connectible to my iPad mini and my Android phone. For games it works flawlessly with them, using the Elite official app. I used the iOS app to unlock the device to use as a normal keyboard. You only have to do that once, subsequent times is a flick of the switch on the back. I didn't have any setup problems, other than the rather long-winded rigamarole of the steps involved. Hardware and software work well, I've had no problems with them. One problem with the software is that it does the Speccy loading screach when it boots. Every. Single. Time. Controversy comes from the games themselves, I think Elite hadn't quite worked out royalty payments and was suggesting that there would be hundreds of games available, and there aren't. I think that's still the case..? Not sure. I play Chuckie Egg and Rollercoaster only :)

[@durrcodurr]

+Sloan Kelly Thank you! Have you ever tried using it with other emulators than the one supplied with the iOS and/or web app? I wonder if it's hard to get it to work with those. Specifically, I would like to use it with the FUSE emulator (on Linux or Mac) and in a wired setup. I'm interested in Spectrum programming, since I never had a Spectrum during my teenage years (the 1980ies). Currently, I'm using FUSE and have an image of a Spectrum keyboard in an image viewer app side by side with the emulator so I can see the keyboard mapping. I hope the Recreated ZX Spectrum keyboard can help me somehow. I'm willing to modify an open source emulator if necessary (I've read the technical document supplied by Elite systems about the keyboard mappings in modes A and B). If I get it to work, I could port some of my old VIC-20 games to the Spectrum, perhaps! :D

[@durrcodurr]

+Sloan Kelly BTW, for gaming, have you tried the ZX Spectrum Vega? Contains lots of homebrew games from the 1980ies till today. ;) I'm playing on it right now. But I do need a real ZX Spectrum keyboard for typing in programs and such, that's why I'm interested in the Recreated ZX Spectrum.

[@alal1322]

I like the idea of playing old games (without playing the tape, lol) but if your just running an emulator why not use a PC with decent keys? Whatever you like though, if you like that interface its what you like :)

[@steve24822]

I thought Scots pronounced menzies as mingiz? Is that something that has changed over time?

[@sloankelly]

+Nevets I think it's a west coast/east coast thing. I'm from the west coast and always heard it as Men-zee-z

[@steve24822]

***** I see. Thanks for the reply.

[@avok23]

I couldnt afford game system till 2004

[@steve24822]

well, at least your brother had some computer taste.. ; (

[@roasty80]

So nothing more than a glorified bluetooth keyboard.

[@sloankelly]

+greggers exactly. And not a great one if you want to use it for typing. Ok for games though.

[@roasty80]

Sloan Kelly I'm trying to find my specky .got one up the loft somewhere it's the floppy disk one.saw a zx 48k in one of my contacts but would need tons of mods or joystick ports and composit and too busy with work to do it