I just had a chance to play with my co-worker's new GameBoy Advance that he imported from Japan, so these comments are from a hands-on perspective, not the spec-sheet based comments like the other early epinions posted here.

Physical Unit
The unit I tested is purple in color and is shaped to be held in two hands in a horizontal aspect, rather than the vertical of the previous GameBoys. The screen is also horizontal aspect rather than the square one of the traditional GameBoys.

On the left side of the front of the unit, is a 4-way plus-shaped directional controller very similar to the old GameBoy's. You'll have to use your left thumb to control direction on this unit. Just below are two small, round, rubbery buttons for start and select. These are labeled in English even on the Japanese unit.

In the center is the screen, mounted with a dark grey frame surrounding it and a protective clear plastic layer. On the right side are the two A and B control buttons. Above them is a LED power indicator, and below them is the small speaker.

Moving to the top edge of the unit, on the left and right side are Left and Right directional buttons similar to the ones found on N64 console controllers. These buttons have a distinct 'click' feel (not that audible though, that helps with tactile feedback. This is a new addition to the GameBoy controls. In the center of the top edge is the cartridge slot, which is keyed to prevent you from inserting a cartridge backwards. (The label side faces the back of the unit) The slot is pretty much the same as the old slot, but the new cartriges are about half the size as the old ones. When a GameBoy Advance cartridge is inserted, it fits flush with the top edge of the unit. The unit is backwards compatible and old cartridges will fit into the same slot, and are playable. However, due to the size of the old carts, they will stick out about 1.5 inchs above the top edge of the unit. These games will have to be removed before putting the GB Advance in your pocket. Also on the top of the unit is an expansion connector and two notches that allow mounting of accessories.

On the bottom edge of the unit: The main power switch is on the left side. This is a physical switch, not an electronic on, and slides over with a distinct click. It is recessed a little bit, but you'll stick have to be a bit careful to not slide the switch as your putting it into your pocket. On the right side is an earphone jack and the volume control. The volume control is a dial type, and is also recessed, although I think it may also get tweaked as your put the unit in or out of your pocket.

On the back side of the unit is the battery compartment. The unit operates on two AA batteries hidden inside a snap-off battery cover. I was impressed with the quality spring-loaded battery contacts that will ensure good connections with any battery. Above the battery compartment is a GameBoy Advance lable with the unit's serial number. Above that is a rectangular, blank area that looks intended for affixing a name label.

The two sides of the unit have grey plastic trim that looks possibly removable for accessory mounting.

Graphics
The screen is a reflective-type color LCD. This is an improvement over most previous color LCD screens in that it is nicely viewable with backlighting, which saves alot of power, but it still pales when compared to the brightness and vivid colors of backlit screens. The GBA does not include any backlighting, which translates into long battery life, but it also makes the unit unplayable in the dark without clunky add-on lights. The resolution of the screen is a big jump over the chunky box-pixels of the original GB and the quality of graphics is at about of Super Nintendo games of several years ago. However, of the games I checked out, several used pre-rendered graphics that look nicer and more modern than the cartoonish feel of most graphics of the SNES era.

Sound
As mentioned before, the sound from the built-in speaker is ok, but lacks range. It can be turned up some, but they have considerately made the maximum volume somewhat lower than the neighbor-annoyance threshold. When you plug in earphones, the quality of the sound is improved alot. The range is much better on the low-end. Again, the volume is limited to less-than ear-splitting levels, which is a good thing to save the ears of the kids that will be playing this. The sound of the 3 GBA games that I tried were synthesized, not digitized and sound quite good. I'm not sure how many voices are available, but it is an advance over the bleeps of the original GB.

Advance Games
I tried three games designed specifically for the GameBoy Advance. The new Mario game has a clever opening that starts out with the square-aspect old-style screen, with the graphics at the edges (the part that wouldn't be on the old GB) dimmed and barely visible, then the characters transform the screen into its full glory, and everybody is happy. The other game was a puzzle game "Kuru-Kuru-ring" that was surprisingly entertaining. You get a rotating rod (like the blade of a helicopter) and have to maneuver it around a maze, timing the rotation of the blade to help you fit through tight spots. The graphics and sound for this game was excellent. The third game was "Fire Pro-Wrestling" and I felt the graphics for this one were sub-par. It looked more like NES-level than SNES level. I didn't play this one for long.

Compatibility
I tried 3 standard GameBoy games on the GBA and they worked as expected. By default the GBA puts the square GB screen in the middle of the wide GBA screen, but you can also set it to stretch it to be full screen. Metal Gear Solid, Tetrix DX, and Beatmania all worked, and they provided a good contrast point to show how far the new GBA games have come. The older graphics and sound look very weak in comparison.

Portability
The size of the GBA is still very pocketable. It fit easily into my front pants pockets and into my shirt pockets as well. However, the shape of the unit is more irregular than the square and smooth GameBoy, so it makes for more of a lumpy presence.


Recommended: Yes