The EZFlash team sent GBAtemp an EZFlash Omega to play with and it turned up this morning.
For those unaware the Omega is EZFlash's new GBA flash cart, one aiming to be the be all and end all of GBA flash carts. Initial impressions are that it could well be so, and even if not it will see you presumably able to play 99% of the GBA library with some fancy features in a fairly solid little cart. One that retailers are listing for around 40 Euros, 50 USD or 35 GBP.
The full review will cover all the troublesome games and properly put it through its paces but for now.

Out of the box
Mother 3 fan translation. Boots just fine in RAM.
Pokemon Emerald (game with real time clock). Clean ROM boots fine, saves clock as offset clock from onboard time and savestates/real time save works in it.
Various other games were tested, including a handful of prepatched games. Fine too.
Menu. Very very nippy, minimal boot times and all on a nasty little 8 gigabyte cart of the class 2 persuasion. Odd menu ordering system (possibly date related) but you can go up and down very quickly, and left and right skip pages. Otherwise simple enough.
SD slot. Moved to a friction slot rather than spring loaded used by the microSDHC version. Easy enough to insert and remove, even with my not so dainty finger. It is not impossible that you could miss the slot but it should not fall into the case if you do.
Build quality. The plastic moulding is a bit rough around the injection marks and insides but the outside finish is fine. A micrometer was fetched for the curious. Measurements taken about the thickest edge just before it dips for the sticker inlay (it is the furthest point from any support and where most would pinch it to flex).

Device	Measurement (mm)
Omega GBA size	1.337
Omega DS lite	1.213
Original EZ4	1.013
EZ4 microSDHC	0.926
EZ4 lite deluxe	1.168
EZ2	0.882
Motogp	1.254

All that said thickness is but part of the story when it comes to plastics and sheet goods. In function the Omega most resembles an original GBA cart case in that it slides together and is retained by clips once there. Do note this if you are swapping between the stock GBA size case and the DS lite size case.
Said sliding clips and mid line screw make for a far sturdier case than the sometimes maligned EZ4 microSDHC offering (no EZFlash reform to compare here). Fit and finish is otherwise pretty good, not necessarily jewellery grade but more than suitable and accurate where it counts.
The Omega lacks the "shoulders" of an original cart, as do all the others in its immediate line (the EZ2 has them) but otherwise fits fine in a GBA SP, original DS and was a bit stiff to get into an original GBA (possibly caused by differences in the alignment grooves/insets on the outside) but still worked.

PCB wise possibly a bit light with the solder paste in some places but no cold joints or anything likely to fall off, BGA looked fine as well under a loupe.
Chip numbers

Spoiler

Left to right in PCB shot below.
Spansion
71gl064a08bfw0b
0651bvb
china
http://www.datasheet.hk/view_download.php?id=1270277&file=0149\s71gl064aa0-0z_1304149.pdf
Possibly a menu/

xilinx
spartan
xc3s200a
ftg256agq1517
a5059562a
A FPGA from the main maker of such things. The 200K gate model should you be concerned about such matters.
https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/data_sheets/ds529.pdf

spansion
98ws512pe0fw003
748ppj40 g
malaysia
Possibly deprecated. A combined NOR and PSRAM chip.

Battery side
Windbond
25q16cvnig
1531
https://www.winbond.com/resource-files/da00-w25q16cvf1.pdf
Small flash memory chip. Possibly the programming/data chip for the FPGA

Silver top chip designated y1 in mask.
p24 54m 1603
Unknown

Under battery
8563s
Real time clock chip most likely
https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/PCF8563.pdf

8514n
unknown 2 pin device

3bqd
3 pin device
Unknown
v1 on solder mask

battery
Blocked by tab
3v
12.25mm
0.25mm inc cover and separator
1220 is most likely size. Maybe Duracell CR1220.

Pictures
Click to enlarge


You can see some videos, including those of the menu, from EZFlash's own teaser thread. They mirror what we saw in this initial test.

Official Usage guide
http://www.ezflash.cn/omega.html
EZFlash product homepage
http://www.ezflash.cn/product/omega/

 

[porkiewpyne]

Omega GBA size | 1.337

I see what they did there.

In all seriousness, how easy was it to swap between cases?

 

[gnmmarechal]

Ooh, I might get one of these. Can't hurt to have another GBA flashcart.

 

[Madridi]

I see what they did there.

In all seriousness, how easy was it to swap between cases?

I was gonna say, there is no way that's a coincidence lol

 

[cearp]

This review is great! I didn't see the author at first but knew it must be Fast when the micrometer came into action! (a complement to your attention to detail)
Also I had a lol at the 'class 2 persuasion'.

I don't see how the everdrive gba series can compare. Sad for the guy making them, but they really are expensive.
@FAST6191 it would be cool to see how much battery it draws, and compare that to the everdrives.

 

[Apache Thunder]

Why in 2018 do these things still have to use SRAM batteries? Can't they replace the SRAM with some kind of flash based/non volatile storage?

 

[Arif]

I'm looking forward to reading your full review, and potentially buying one.

 

[Flame]

I NEED IT!

 

[Localhorst86]

Why in 2018 do these things still have to use SRAM batteries? Can't they replace the SRAM with some kind of flash based/non volatile storage?

The battery in this is solely used for the RTC iirc. Saving works without the battery. Savegames are stored on the (hopefully) non-volatile micro SD card

 

[cearp]

Why in 2018 do these things still have to use SRAM batteries? Can't they replace the SRAM with some kind of flash based/non volatile storage?

Yep that's exactly what they solved.

 

[FAST6191]

The review might be a little while coming but any quick and easy tests I can do and post here I will.

I see what they did there.

In all seriousness, how easy was it to swap between cases?

Heh, did not catch that measurement.

Anyway changing was pretty easy.
Tried to film it but did not get a great shot.
Having not eaten anything today (was too excited to play with the cart) and fumbling with arms around a tripod and without any practice it was about a minute to go from in lite shell to GBA size and booting up in my DS. It is all pretty slot in and slide home rather than snap tabs, thin sections or alignment pillars. I would probably not do it to swap between a lite and full size GBA slot on a whim/daily (DS lite for walkabout, GBA SP/backlight modded original for pleasure sort of thing) but I did not get any "this time might be the last time before I fetch the superglue" vibes.

This review is great! I didn't see the author at first but knew it must be Fast when the micrometer came into action! (a complement to your attention to detail)
Also I had a lol at the 'class 2 persuasion'.

I don't see how the everdrive gba series can compare. Sad for the guy making them, but they really are expensive.
@FAST6191 it would be cool to see how much battery it draws, and compare that to the everdrives.

It is not really a review. Just a first impressions. I fully intend to cover all the tricky stuff in this one.

Battery draw wise my test jig has long since been remade into a DS but I think I will remake one for this.

As far as the everdrive goes I always felt it faced a big struggle for GBA -- basically everything that was not a supercard or team cyclops card would run damn near everything, take a simple patch to fix what was not working, be unlikely to face any future issues and cheat wise could be done with gabsharky or GBAATM. When they rolled into NES, GB/GBC, N64 or SNES flash cart territory there were huge gaps they could easily fill and thus be head and shoulders above the rest, not so for the GBA.
That said as far as the cream of the crop flash carts go for the GBA they seemingly have some serious competition with this.

Edit.
Probably should have noted a kind of feature list beyond the basics.
256Mbit of RAM is here. There are technically larger commercial titles but they are all videos and not games. No hacks I am aware of use such functionality and are unlikely to go there either. Homebrew could also have gone there with pogoshell but you would have to have made it do it and nothing will benefit from it today.
Boot times are seriously quick nowadays.
Menu wise I stuck one of my old DS focused microSDs in there with many items and it handled it all fine (fill up an older cart and watch it chug as it goes through it).
Seems to be fine for making new files.
NOR is also there. Writes about as fast as NOR ever does but you expect that really. Get to the NOR screen with the R and L buttons.
The battery is indeed to power the clock (no real way to do it otherwise).
The saves are written to a virtualised memory and then to the cart (the manual notes you should not turn it off immediately after saving but give it a few seconds, presumably so it can bounce it to the SD card).
Real time save/savestates is a thing again (it was available for the EZ3, some of the M3s and a few others too). If it works on pokemon emerald it should do well on most things. Single save per game by the looks of things.
Cheats (collection thereof https://filetrip.net/gba-downloads/...eats-databases-4-27-09-with-names-f31444.html ) should be back and working properly. Not properly tested these yet.
It runs clean games, as does the rest of the EZ4 line these days. No windows patcher necessary.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Why in 2018 do these things still have to use SRAM batteries? Can't they replace the SRAM with some kind of flash based/non volatile storage?

Some people replaced the SRAM chip with a FRAM chip in GBC games. The problem is it's not a one-size-fits all solution. It works for some games, doesn't work for others, and getting a compatible FRAM chip can be difficult.
I don't think anyone's tried them for GBA games yet, it's possible they aren't available in the larger sizes GBA games need or they simply won't work because of differences in how saving is handled.
There is nothing preventing flash based saves, or saving directly to the MicroSD card from being possible though. The EZFlash Omega might even do the latter for all I know.

 

[Metoroid0]

meh..it plays gba games as all flash cards do...its the same thing... my ezflash works just fine, and playing gba on GBA SP 101 is best

 

[Localhorst86]

meh..it plays gba games as all flash cards do...its the same thing... my ezflash works just fine, and playing gba on GBA SP 101 is best

Admitedly, if you have an ezflash and that works fine for you as is (no RTC, slower load times, lack of cheat engine etc.) there is no reason to upgrade. If you're in for new cart, this new omega model seems to be the current best choice. It's only a little bit more than the EZFlash Reform and considerably cheaper than the EDGBA with an improved feature set.

I would also go as far as still calling the EZ-Flash IV or reform a valid choice for a flash card nowadays, my guess is we might see clearance sales for the older model soon.

EDIT: I am still waiting for my EZ-Flash Omega that I ordered from china

 

[romanaOne]

Admitedly, if you have an ezflash and that works fine for you as is (no RTC, slower load times, lack of cheat engine etc.) there is no reason to upgrade. If you're in for new cart, this new omega model seems to be the current best choice. It's only a little bit more than the EZFlash Reform and considerably cheaper than the EDGBA with an improved feature set.

I would also go as far as still calling the EZ-Flash IV or reform a valid choice for a flash card nowadays, my guess is we might see clearance sales for the older model soon.

EDIT: I am still waiting for my EZ-Flash Omega that I ordered from china

Damn! I just ordered an EZ Flash Reform yesterday and now there's something better! Oh, well. Gotta have 'em all.

What's that I see in the picture: the battery is still soldered to the board in Omega? I thought some new, improved EZ Flash model had its coin cell socketed for easy replacement?

 

[Localhorst86]

Damn! I just ordered an EZ Flash Reform yesterday and now there's something better! Oh, well. Gotta have 'em all.

What's that I see in the picture: the battery is still soldered to the board in Omega? I thought some new, improved EZ Flash model had its coin cell socketed for easy replacement?

The battery in the reform is used for saving games (SRAM) and is socketed for easy replacement because it is essential for working save games.
On the Omega, they are using the battery exclusively for RTC so even when it runs dry you can still save all your games. I assume that's why they opted for a soldered battery. And while replacing a soldered battery is not exactly too hard, a battery holder would have been a better choice in my oppinion but a dry battery in the omega is not as big of a deal as a dry battery in the EZ-Flash IV or Reform.

 

[Metoroid0]

Admitedly, if you have an ezflash and that works fine for you as is (no RTC, slower load times, lack of cheat engine etc.) there is no reason to upgrade. If you're in for new cart, this new omega model seems to be the current best choice. It's only a little bit more than the EZFlash Reform and considerably cheaper than the EDGBA with an improved feature set.

I would also go as far as still calling the EZ-Flash IV or reform a valid choice for a flash card nowadays, my guess is we might see clearance sales for the older model soon.

EDIT: I am still waiting for my EZ-Flash Omega that I ordered from china

it still plays games...free.... i dont see a difference, but i get what youre saying. new, shiny, bettwr..but old aint broken just...more stuff....i guess..but basicly it still plays games.

Have fun when it arives ^^

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

it still plays games...free.... i dont see a difference, but i get what youre saying. new, shiny, bettwr..but old aint broken just...more stuff....i guess..but basicly it still plays games.

Damn! I just ordered an EZ Flash Reform yesterday and now there's something better! Oh, well. Gotta have 'em all.

What's that I see in the picture: the battery is still soldered to the board in Omega? I thought some new, improved EZ Flash model had its coin cell socketed for easy replacement?

relax, that "better" still plays games as any card do.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The battery in the reform is used for saving games (SRAM) and is socketed for easy replacement because it is essential for working save games.
On the Omega, they are using the battery exclusively for RTC so even when it runs dry you can still save all your games. I assume that's why they opted for a soldered battery. And while replacing a soldered battery is not exactly too hard, a battery holder would have been a better choice in my oppinion but a dry battery in the omega is not as big of a deal as a dry battery in the EZ-Flash IV or Reform.

thats neet

 

[kuwanger]

Odd menu ordering system (possibly date related)

Order is due to file/folder insertion order in the folder. You can use mp3dirsorter to fix that in Windows. There's also some tools for Linux, but they only work on the filesystem directly and only with fat16/fat32. I might end up writing a bash script (probably one exists already if I looked hard enough) to sort generally.

@everyone
EZ-Flash 2 was generous enough to give me a review copy, so I've spent the last day (sadly) badgering EZ-Flash with a variety of questions. Except for a while where I was having problems (99% my fault, of course), it's been a very good card. I'm going to write a review as well. The only really big catches so far have been that (1) RTS turned out about as good as I expected and (2) you really, really have to make sure you wait those 4-5 seconds until saves are written to or you will have memory card corruption. There's also some minor stuff, but mostly just quirks I've ran into or things to consider that may or may not change in the future.

 

[Armadillo]

Nice. Will probably get one. Drag and drop (I assume), rtc and normal sized cart. I did want an everdrive, but for the amount it costs, it shouldn't be sticking out.

 

[migles]

@FAST6191 is the review working in progress? or final?