The Analogue Pocket is finally getting some of the important feature updates promised at launch. As The Vergenotes, Analogue has promised a Pocket OS 1.1 beta in July that will add the expected Library, Memories and FPGA development features. You can expect advancements to arrive “regularly” after that, according to the company.
Library will amount to an encyclopedia for classic games. Insert a cartridge and you’ll ideally learn everything about your specific copy of a game, including play guides and publisher details. Memories, meanwhile, lets you create save states and screenshots. Although Analogue hasn’t fully explained the development expansion, this will likely let programmers use the Pocket’s second FPGA. They’ll have access to the OS, hardware and features like Memories.
There’s no mention of why 1.1 is taking so long. However, the delay was substantial. Analogue said in December that Library and Memories would be ready in January, but they’re now appearing several months later in a rough form. Not that the wait will matter if you aren’t already an owner. New pre-orders won’t get their Pockets until 2023, so this is is more a kindness to early adopters than anything else.