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/

 

[pasc]

Hah ! Bringing the GBA- back into gbatemp.

A new GBA Flashcard... nice. I need a new one eitherhow. Thanks.

EDIT: Did you try Payback by any chance ? Not Save patched ?
That Cheat Menu... Does it work with cr4ppy incoded cheats, or can you *actually* use CB and AC codes ?
(Also: how much better is it in comparison to gbaatm ?)

EDIT2: I only noticed this now... but your avatat is not a walrus... why did I think that all this years ? *thinks about eyedoc appointment*

 

[FAST6191]

It was a walrus.
First it was a screengrab of a ghost walrus from Minnie the Moocher (my favourite cartoon).

Watch the whole thing if you like but 4:20 or so is when the song starts.

After that it was a version JPH made me of the Sonic Walrus character.

For quite a while now it has been a blown up version of the mascot of sorts from minna no soft tetris on the GBA.


Not tried payback yet. I am not predicting any problems with it though -- it is mainly weaker emulators that it breaks with all its nice features.

Cheats I have also not properly put through their paces, and not sure how much I am going to for the final review ( http://doc.kodewerx.org/hacking_gba.html for the tedium that might involve). Specific failures of the older engines are getting mixed up in my head with the DS stuff right now. You could get them to fall over though if you went fairly exotic or massive.
I don't know what mode of operation GBAATM used in the end (injected cheat engine or automated instruction level alterations) but it is generally considered easier to hook a running game from a flash cart (or cheat hardware), and the EZFlash team did have a long list of entry points for it, than it is to do it automatically in a tool like GABSharky and GBAATM. To that end I am expecting slightly better than baseline GBAATM but would not be surprised to see it fall over with some 50 cheat long run of logic statements. I am certainly not expecting emulator grade offerings.
On the other hand it should be enough for most cheats people like using (your basic infinite resource, stockpile my inventory, no battles... type thing). Equally many of the logic statement based cheats were for always on type setups (be it to automatically do it at that part of the game, dodge a scripted event problem, or to do a button activator) -- if you can enable and disable at will then that dodges a lot of that.

 

[lincruste]

THIS is what I call a review. Such a thorough regard for details is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[kuwanger]

Totally off-topic, but that cartoon is very interesting. Especially how it just seems to suddenly end for no specific reason. Makes me wonder what my favorite cartoon is.

On-topic:

Did you try Payback by any chance ? Not Save patched ?

Payback works with clean boot and saves fine. Really, the thing that most impresses me about the EZ-Flash Omega so far is..how much there isn't to talk about. Stuff just loads fast and saves fine. Like FAST6191 says, maybe too many cheats will break, but there's no reason to believe a reasonable amount won't work.

 

[Sayora]

Can this play ds roms through flashme/passcard/similar?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

For somebody‘s concern, OMEGA does not have DS migration, can not play DS game by passme.

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

Payback works with clean boot and saves fine. Really, the thing that most impresses me about the EZ-Flash Omega so far is..how much there isn't to talk about. Stuff just loads fast and saves fine. Like FAST6191 says, maybe too many cheats will break, but there's no reason to believe a reasonable amount won't work.

You have to choose the corresponded cheat file and rename it with the rom for now.

but, an auto match cheat library on the way. wait and see.

 

[SirNapkin1334]

Noob question - why did it come with two carts, one of them a lot shorter?

 

[kuwanger]

Noob question - why did it come with two carts, one of them a lot shorter?

There's one cart but one and a half shells. You mix one half and another half to make a whole shell that either fits in the GBA or the NDS without sticking out or being short.

 

[danabnormal9000]

A lot of people complained that EZ-Flash Reform has a tight fit on GBA SP. Is it the same with Omega?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

A lot of people complained that EZ-Flash Reform has a tight fit on GBA SP. Is it the same with Omega?

Better than reform.

 

[iannoah440]

Does it have lower power comsumption? my reform drains my original gba without backlight in just 2 hours.

 

[element6]

Thanks for doing this review. Pretty awesome that EZ team came straight to the community with this cart. I received mine and can't wait to test them out. Another good day for the GBA

 

[Minox]

they charge a fucking 10 bucks fee added to checkout saying "moms", that's why i am giving a mad grin at them

Moms = VAT (Value-Added Tax). They have to charge that if they want to sell it legally.

 

[Shadow#1]

sad that they failed with this new cart non-removable battery

 

[DSAndi]

My GBA is stored away, when i want to play i mainly use the DS lite and a Ez 3in1 with Edge.

 

[Metoroid0]

I'd be impressed if EZ can play GB and GBC games, and i will than upgrade my old EZ!

 

[codezer0]

So, if I've already got the mini-SD EZ4 on 2.03 firmware, what does this cart do that my current one could not? Or is this an attempt to make them less expensive?

 

[Localhorst86]

So, if I've already got the mini-SD EZ4 on 2.03 firmware, what does this cart do that my current one could not? Or is this an attempt to make them less expensive?

this is not an attempt to make it less expensive, it's an attempt to improve its features.

If you have the EZ4 Mini SD and don't have any gripes with it I don't see a reason to instantly upgrade.

What the new card does that your old one doesn't:
-faster ROM loading (way faster, just a few seconds)
-cheat support
-RTC support for games that came with one (Pokemon R/S/E, Boktai)
-Save states

how solidly these features work needs to be determined. Looking forward to receiving my unit from china and also FASTs Review.

 

[migles]

Moms = VAT (Value-Added Tax). They have to charge that if they want to sell it legally.

just checked ho right....
this site is european, and as i am so used to europe pricing, vat is always already included in the price of the products...
and calling it "moms" i tought it was a cut for the dudes mom

 

[Minox]

just checked ho right....
this site is european, and as i am so used to europe pricing, vat is always already included in the price of the products...
and calling it "moms" i tought it was a cut for the dudes mom

I do believe VAT is already included in the listed price, it's just that they always tend to mention how much of it is VAT when buying things (this being a Swedish store and all).