Hardware Announcing the amiiqo - Switch amiibo's with ease!

[loco365]

Neither, making software to copy and emulate Amiibo.

I'd probably use an app if it were compatible with my Nexus 7. I don't feel like shoveling out $90 for an NFC device.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Has anyone here actually received one of these yet? Curious to see how it performs, how the app works etc.

 

[EllioneDHunter]

Has anyone here actually received one of these yet? Curious to see how it performs, how the app works etc.

A few on MaxC already have theirs, you could maybe message someone there. Darkdreamr who added his huge collection should have his and some others. Check the amiiqo forums.

 

[gudenau]

I'd probably use an app if it were compatible with my Nexus 7. I don't feel like shoveling out $90 for an NFC device.

That is one of my devices. :-D

 

[loco365]

That is one of my devices. :-D

Perhaps I can test if we have different versions (I'm running the 2012 with CM11 4.4.4) :-D

 

[justinkb]

Hope people will make an online database of "clean images" (like of straight out of the packaging amiibo tags). No resellers for the Netherlands yet I see? Bummer. Would the nfc stuff work with my Nexus 4 with CyanogenMod 12.1? I know the device support it on the hardware side...

 

[MkidTrigun]

Just got mine in yesterday from @EllioneDHunter 's shop and have been learning to work with it. It definitely has some hits and misses, but most of it can be solved by fixing the app.

My phone is currently running CM12S and has no issue running v1.1 and is able to read both the Amiiqo and my Amiibos with ease. When backing up my Amiibo (or back from the Amiiqo) it saves to the root of the SD card, but the names always come out as specific hex codes per Amiibo. It would be nice if the app recognized which Amiibo was which when backing up so it can be named as such, or adding the ability to change the name before it's saved would do wonders.

As for using it, I only have access to my N3DS, and using it is mostly consistent. Right now I have 4 slots taken up, two from my personal set and two from the set posted at MaxConsole. As the device doesn't give any indication if it's changing its banks from the button press (nor does the app show which one has scanned, just that it's found a compatible tag), the best way I've found to use it is to scan your first character, remove it, hold the button down while having it scan once more and it should change banks. The game will inform you if it's scanned the previous character as it won't load the same Amiibo twice. Not too difficult, but it works rather well.

Saving back to the Amiiqo, though, is a bit more of a hassle. You don't have to scan the characters back in the order you put them in, but it helps. Doing the same thing by scanning the first character, removing it, holding the button while rescanning works, but it seems to skip over a character every time I've attempted it, forcing me to rescan through the banks until it finally saves. On occasion it will give an error about saving back to the Amiiqo, but giving it a few more tries will get it to go through.

If the app can update to where you can choose the name before saving the backup, and add in the ability to recognize which Amiibo the app is scanning, this device will be golden. It's still rather good, but with the inability to see which bank the unit is on, I don't see myself having more than 4-8 on it at a time, especially if I want to save back to the device.

 

[Madao64]

Just got mine in yesterday from @EllioneDHunter 's shop and have been learning to work with it. It definitely has some hits and misses, but most of it can be solved by fixing the app.

My phone is currently running CM12S and has no issue running v1.1 and is able to read both the Amiiqo and my Amiibos with ease. When backing up my Amiibo (or back from the Amiiqo) it saves to the root of the SD card, but the names always come out as specific hex codes per Amiibo. It would be nice if the app recognized which Amiibo was which when backing up so it can be named as such, or adding the ability to change the name before it's saved would do wonders.

As for using it, I only have access to my N3DS, and using it is mostly consistent. Right now I have 4 slots taken up, two from my personal set and two from the set posted at MaxConsole. As the device doesn't give any indication if it's changing its banks from the button press (nor does the app show which one has scanned, just that it's found a compatible tag), the best way I've found to use it is to scan your first character, remove it, hold the button down while having it scan once more and it should change banks. The game will inform you if it's scanned the previous character as it won't load the same Amiibo twice. Not too difficult, but it works rather well.

Saving back to the Amiiqo, though, is a bit more of a hassle. You don't have to scan the characters back in the order you put them in, but it helps. Doing the same thing by scanning the first character, removing it, holding the button while rescanning works, but it seems to skip over a character every time I've attempted it, forcing me to rescan through the banks until it finally saves. On occasion it will give an error about saving back to the Amiiqo, but giving it a few more tries will get it to go through.

If the app can update to where you can choose the name before saving the backup, and add in the ability to recognize which Amiibo the app is scanning, this device will be golden. It's still rather good, but with the inability to see which bank the unit is on, I don't see myself having more than 4-8 on it at a time, especially if I want to save back to the device.

Reason why i compared it to the Sky3ds when i saw it.
A Sky3ds without a led indicator which i'm danged sure will help this one if they added one.

 

[jesterscourt]

I got mine in the mail the other day too. Using a Galaxy Nexus sometimes I have to scan/tap multiple times to get it to work. At the price point it is at, I really wonder if it would make more sense to just have it without a button, and just you can reload it as a single amiibo as many times as you want for ~40$. I'm concerned with the button not lasting that long, and having a bank with 200 slots is ridiculous, in fact cycling more than half a dozen seems to be overkill.

All in all, it works the way it should, I am excited/interested in clones/updated versions in the future.

 

[elmoemo]

@jesterscourt I've read the amiiqo itself only holds 10 or 12 figures but the app holds up to 200. You just change your 10 or 12 as you'd like

 

[Madao64]

@jesterscourt I've read the amiiqo itself only holds 10 or 12 figures but the app holds up to 200. You just change your 10 or 12 as you'd like

That would be for the best, i mean seriously, are you willing to cycle through 200 amiibos, with no lights for indicators, just for that one amiibo?

 

[EllioneDHunter]

That would be for the best, i mean seriously, are you willing to cycle through 200 amiibos, with no lights for indicators, just for that one amiibo?

As far as I know, the Amiiqo itself is supposed to hold the 200, the phone is just there to change them/see the order of the bank/etc. I do find the current way to switch silly, but I find that after locking mine, holding the button and continuously scanning it on my phone, I can cycle way faster. I currently keep 8 on mine but once I get SSB for my Wii U, I'll double check the bank size myself. Since I mainly play my 3ds, I do have HHD so I could test using the HHD card set but I can't read moonrunes so meh.

 

[SuperSVGA]

Anyone try taking one of these apart to see how it works? I assume it just works like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/151772845183

 

[jesterscourt]

@jesterscourt I've read the amiiqo itself only holds 10 or 12 figures but the app holds up to 200. You just change your 10 or 12 as you'd like

No the amiiqo holds up to 200 itself. Your phone can hold as many amiibos as your storage would allow (but to be honest, a full set is less than a megabyte, so we're talking super small) The idea of changing the bank size allows you to specify how many of those 200 slots that they amiibo will access on its own while clicking the button.

Think of it as boxing in a range when you select say 8. So instead of clicking the button and it going 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.all the way to 200 (which may not even be filled) it will go 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8. then cycle back to 1.

My point is that remembering which amiibo was in which slot after a certain point, I said 6, but others have said 8 or 10 or 12... is a bit silly to have up to 200, because without a visual notification of which one you are on, beyond scanning it with your phone. And if you have to scan it with your phone, we come back to point number one, which is just re-write it at that point, because you are still scanning it with your phone.

It's a great concept, I think it could use some refinement in future iterations, and the Android app is barebones, as far as UI is concerned. Also the wording threw me off on how to lock and unlock the unit. To unlock it, you have to scan it, wait for it to beep, then hold down the button on the unit, and then it will show up as can't be unlocked, then it will finally unlock, which threw me off at first.

 

[elmoemo]

I've not got one so was only going by what I was told, has anyone tried using maybe 20 on it to see if they all work fine?

 

[EllioneDHunter]

I've not got one so was only going by what I was told, has anyone tried using maybe 20 on it to see if they all work fine?

I'll try out in a few hours on smash 3ds, I'll be at work but I should be able to give you a swift answer. They shouldn't have a problem holding that many since they're made to hold 200. Each Amiibo bin is only 504 bytes (can't search and drive at the same time, texting and driving is already enough lol) resulting in the Amiiqo only needing like 1mb or so to hold 200. The real problem is that switching is a chore without being able to actively which Amiibo it's set to. But yes, I'll test it for you

 

[EllioneDHunter]

Okay, so I've tested it out using thirty and it works fine. Turns out, decreasing the bank count doesn't change what Amiibo are loaded on a slot. Ie, you set the bank to 15 and load them all, then decrease to 10 fit whatever reason, then going back to 15, the same Amiibo will be loaded. I'm guessing they stay stored on the Amiiqo and set not to show if their slot is disabled. Also, you can switch a little faster by pressing the button after it says that the Amiibo is saved to go to the next slot.
Side note, the DK isn't reading, might be a bad dump, hmm... My amiiqo will be on sale for a short bit, not by much but it's something.
Pics: http://imgur.com/a/PSNpW

 

[SuperSVGA]

Is anyone brave enough to crack one of these open to see what's inside?

Also, I'm curious to learn more on how it works, since I do not have one to test.
Does the button work when not on an NFC field? Does it contain any batteries? How does the app tell the difference between the Amiiqo and a regular Amiibo? What happens if you try to dump the Amiiqo on something other than the Amiiqo app?

 

[EllioneDHunter]

Is anyone brave enough to crack one of these open to see what's inside?

Also, I'm curious to learn more on how it works, since I do not have one to test.
Does the button work when not on an NFC field? Does it contain any batteries? How does the app tell the difference between the Amiiqo and a regular Amiibo? What happens if you try to dump the Amiiqo on something other than the Amiiqo app?

Not that scary to open it. It's nothing more than a weird NFC chip, the external button, and the two outside pieces.
No, the button doesn't work since it's still just an NFC chip (with expanded memory) which also answer the fact that there's no batteries.
It's probably coded to show up in the app, and when you lock it, it becomes coded to only show as a regular amiibo.
When you try to dump/read it with another app, it just shows up as an Amiibo would, since it's just 1:1 copies loaded on there, locked sectors and all.
Any more questions, dear?
Edit: Pic Link

 

[hippy dave]

So we should expect some really cheap chinese clones soon, right?